Findlay, Ohio, May 14, 2002 — The Mazza Museum at The University of Findlay will award its Mazza Medallion of Excellence for Artistic Diversity to author and illustrator Ed Young on Thursday, May 23, at 7 p.m. in the Alumni Memorial Union on the UF campus.

The Mazza Medallion is a biennial award given by the Mazza Museum at The University of Findlay to recognize an outstanding artist of children’s books. The key criterion for choosing a recipient is the candidate’s sensitivity to the varying requirements of different stories. Therefore, this award is given to an artist of children’s books who has demonstrated his or her willingness to experiment with both styles and media of illustrating.

This year’s recipient, Ed Young, was born in China but attended college in California and Illinois. He received his formal art education at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and is a graduate of the Pratt Institute in New York. He has worked as an illustrator in art studios and has taught art classes at the Pratt Institute and Sarah Lawrence College.

The first book Young wrote and illustrated, The Emperor and the Kite, was named a Caldecott Honor Book in 1968. Another book, Chinese Mother Goose, was on the Horn Book Honor List in 1969. In 1973, The Girl Who Loved the Wind was a Children’s Book Showcase Title. Young received the Caldecott Medal in 1990 for Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China, which includes the incorporation of ancient Chinese panel art in Young’s own retelling of the folk-tale variant.

Skilled in the use of a variety of media, Young is also skilled in choosing the best medium with which to illustrate a particular story. For example, he used the ancient Chinese paper-cutting technique in The Emperor and the Kite, which perfectly suits the poetic beauty of the narrative. In Lon Po Po, Young’s illustrations reveal his interest in the panel art found in a number of cultures. The paintings are split into sections that give the art the appearance of Chinese decorative panels. However, strong color and dramatic angles transform the art, giving it a thoroughly contemporary look.

This is just the fourth Mazza Medallion of Excellence awarded by the Mazza Museum, which is the first and largest teaching gallery in the world specializing in the art from children’s books.