Katie Mazeika, Mentor, Ohio Author/Illustrator Wins a 2026 Christopher Award

Mentor, Ohio-based author/illustrator Katie Mazeika has been honored with a Christopher Award for “Maybe Just Ask Me!” (Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster, Kindergarten and up). It is one of 10 winning books for adults and young people as the Christopher Awards program marks its 77^th year.

The Awards celebrate authors, illustrators, writers, producers and directors, whose work “affirms the highest values of the human spirit” and reflect the Christopher motto, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness” which also guides the organization’s publishing and radio programs. Christopher Awards were also given to creators of nine TV/Cable shows and feature films.

According to the website, the book is “based on the author’s own childhood experience. The “picture book follows a young girl who wants to bring discussion of her disability into the open, exploring themes of acknowledging and celebrating differences. Mazie wears an eyepatch and a head scarf, and on her first day at a new school she’s prepared for her classmates to wonder why. And they do, but no one talks to her about it. Instead, wild rumors fly around the classroom that she’s a pirate or a dragon burned off her hair! Mazie doesn’t mind explaining her disability, but can she find the courage to tell the other kids to just ask her?”

Mazeika is an award-winning author and illustrator who can’t imagine a better job than making books. She loves creating stories based on real people and events. She likes to highlight disabled voices in her work. In addition to “Maybe Just Ask Me!” her books include “Beulah Has a Hunch!,” “Annette Feels Free,” and ‘Is That the Bus?” (written by Libby Koponen). Her honors include the 2026 Charlotte Huck Award Recommended Book, the 2025 Margaret Wise Brown Award Siver Medal, Junior Library Guild Selection, Banks Street Books, Best Books 2023, CBC Best Trade Social Studies Book, Septima Clark Book Award, and Northern Lights Book Award.

When she’s not drawing, writing or visiting schools and libraries, she likes to spend her time gardening or reading other people’s books.

Tony Rossi, The Christophers’ Director of Communications, said, “Mother Teresa once observed, ‘If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.’ That sense of ‘belonging to each other’ is reflected in our award-winning stories of selflessness, sacrifice, faith, and kindness that can lead us to a better, more peaceful tomorrow.”

The Christophers, a nonprofit founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity.More information about The Christophers is available at www.christophers.org.Social media: #ChristopherAwards, Facebook: The Christophers / X: @ChristophersInc