The Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature is awarded by the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) "to honor and recognize individual work about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage, based on literary and artistic merit." The first awards were given in 2006 for Adult Literature, Picture Book, and Youth Literature. In 2008, an award for non-fiction was given in place of the fiction award, and in subsequent years awards have been given in both categories.