Jeff Gottesfeld Wins Christopher Award for “Food for Hope”

Los Angeles-based author Jeff Gottesfeld and illustrator Michelle Laurentia Agatha from Jakarta, Indonesia have been honored with Christopher Awards for “Food for Hope,” (ages 8 and up, Creston Books). It is one of 12 books for adults and young people as the Christopher Awards program marks its 75th year.

The book tells the true story of John van Hengel, whose faith inspired him to create food banks for the hungry after he lost everything and experienced poverty himself. According to the publisher’s website, his was the world’s first food bank, established in 1967, which grew to the Feeding America network. “The concept of getting food that would otherwise be wasted to people who are hungry has spread throughout the world. There's no shame in being hungry — the shame lies in how long it took for someone to figure out how to feed people. All it took was one person with a good idea to change things.”

Gottesfeld writes for page, stage, screen, and television. He has won awards in America and internationally, including from American Library Association, the Association of Jewish Libraries, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the American Alliance for Theater and Education. His current focus is picture book texts for children. His other prize-winning picture books are The Tree in the Courtyard (Knopf, 2016, illustrated by Peter McCarty), No Steps Behind: Beate Sirota Gordon’s Battle for Women’s Rights in Japan (Creston, 2020, illustrated by Shiella Witanto), Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Candlewick, 2021, illustrated by Matt Tavares), and The Christmas Mitzvah (Creston, 2021, illustrated by Michelle Agatha). Upcoming are We All Serve (Candlewick, 2026, illustrated by TeMika Grooms), about the extraordinary lives of America’s military brat children, Honor Flight (Candlewick, 2026, illustrated by Matt Tavares), about the Honor Flight program that flies aging veterans and volunteer “guardians” to Washington DC to visit their monuments, and Strike! For the Right to Read! (Creston, 2027, with Michelle Y. Green, illustrated by Kim Holt), about the 1939 Alexandria VA sit-down strike to integrate its then-segregated library.

Michelle Agatha is a children’s book illustrator and designer. In addition to “Food for Hope,” her most notable work is "The Christmas Mitzvah." She also illustrated two collections of encyclopedia books. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art from San Francisco Academy of Arts University in 2019. When she was little, her parents would read her lots of children's books, which inspired her to create illustrations and write stories that would warm the hearts of children, encouraging them to read books and nurture their imagination. During her downtime, she likes to travel and hang out with her two dogs, Finn and Pippi.

Christopher Awards were also given to creators of 11 TV/Cable shows and feature films.

The Awards celebrate authors, and illustrators as well as writers, producers and directors whose work “affirms the highest values of the human spirit” and reflects the Christopher motto, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”

Tony Rossi, The Christophers’ Director of Communications, said, “We’re often told that we can better understand a person if we walk a mile in their shoes. While that may not be physically possible, our book, film, and TV winners allow us to do that through engagingly told stories that introduce us to people and places different from our own, yet relatable in a variety of ways.”

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.