the october 1st issue with absolutely stunning illustration of author jacqueline woodson on the cover. yeah, it was done by illustrator justin hine and it's a really fitting tribute to jackie and her and her work. please feel free to pick up an issue. if you see one around, take it home with you. leaf through it as said, we're very proud of it. i'd say we're actually looking good for a 90 year old right. now. i'd like to introduce the publisher and ceo of kirkus meg laborde kuehn. meg's belief in the import of kirkus reviews to the literary community and her unwavering leadership. the company were vital to the development of the kirkus prize and safe to say that none of us would be here tonight without her. thank you, meg meg. okay. thank you, tom the hardest working man in publishing, everybody, tom via. a decade ago we had the rare, spectacular privilege of dreaming up a new literary award. one of our owners, mark winkelman, came up with an idea for a kirkus and our other owner, herb simon, agreed to fund it this year will mark $1.5 million awarded to authors and illustrators throug