The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal was awarded for the first time in 2001 to Marc Aronson for SIR WALTER RALEIGH AND THE QUEST FOR EL DORADO. It is given to honor the authors, illustrators and/or photographers of the most distinguished informational book published for children in the preceding year. Informational books are defined as those written and illustrated to present, organize and interpret documentable factual material. The award is named in honor of Robert F. Sibert, the long-time President of Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc. of Jacksonville, Illinois.

-The winner of the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is BOMB: The Race to Build --- and Steal --- the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin.

-Three Robert F. Sibert Honor Books were named: ELECTRIC BEN: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by Robert Byrd; MOONBIRD: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 by Phillip M. Hoose; and TITANIC: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson.