Awards and Lists

Do you want to read a really good book? You can find award winning books on numerous lists. The following are awards for YA literature.  

• Printz Award: The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian. 

• YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction: honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a Nov. 1 – Oct. 31 publishing year. The winner is announced annually at the ALA Youth Media Awards.

• Great Graphic Novels for Teens: s a list of recommended graphic novels and illustrated nonfiction for those ages 12-18, prepared yearly by YALSA.

• Best Fiction for Young Adults:YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults Committee presents fiction titles published for young adults in the past 16 months that are recommended reading for ages 12 to 18. The purpose of the annual list it to provide librarians and library workers with a resource to use for collection development and reader’s advisory purposes.

• Margaret A. Edwards Award: Honors an author for significant and lasting contribution to literature for young adults providing a window through which they can view their world and which help them to grow and to understand themselves and their role in society. 

• ALEX Award: The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18. The winning titles are selected from the previous year's publishing.The award is sponsored by the Margaret A. Edwards Trust.The Alex Awards are named after Edwards, who was called “Alex” by her friends.

• Odyssey Award: This annual award will be given to the producer of the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States.The Odyssey Award is jointly given and administered by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), divisions of ALA, and is sponsored by Booklist.

• Morris Award:The William C. Morris YA Debut Award, first awarded in 2009, honors a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature.The award's namesake is William C. Morris, an influential innovator in the publishing world and an advocate for marketing books for children and young adults.

• Outstanding Books for the College Bound: The books on this list offer opportunities to discover new ideas, and provide an introduction to the fascinating variety of subjects within an academic discipline.This list is developed every five years.

• Popular Paperbacks: Each year, the Popular Paperbacks committee creates lists of books to encourage young adults to read for pleasure.

• Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers: Identifies titles aimed at encouraging reading among teens who dislike to read for whatever reason. The list selects both fiction and nonfiction.

• Readers' Choice: YALSA’s Readers’ Choice list seeks to engage a wide audience of librarians, educators, teens and young adult literature enthusiasts in choosing the most popular teen titles in a given year, as organized by broad genres.Nominations will be posted monthly, with a final vote taking place each November.  

• Teens Top Ten: A"teen choice" list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year.Nominations are posted on the Thursday of National Library Week, and teens across the country vote on their favorite titles each year.

• Amazing Audiobooks: Committee selects and annotates an annual list of notable audio recordings significant to young adults from those released in the past two years.

• YA Choices: Since 1987, the Young Adults' Choices project has developed an annual list of new books that will encourage adolescents to read. The books are selected by the readers themselves.

• Lone Star Reading List:The Texas Lone Star list is a recommended reading list developed by public and school librarians from the Young Adult Round Table. The purpose of the list is to encourage students in grades 6, 7, or 8 to explore a variety of current books. The Lone Star list is intended for recreational reading

• TAYSHAS Reading List:The object of the Tayshas project is to motivate young adults to become lifelong readers and to participate in the community of readers in Texas. The Tayshas High School Reading List Committee coordinates activities associated with the Tayshas program, a reading incentive program designed for young adults in Texas, grades 9-12, who are encouraged to read books for pleasure from a selected reading list prepared by the Tayshas Committee.

• Maverick Reading List: The Texas Maverick Graphic Novels Reading List (TMGNRL) is a recommended reading list developed by public and school librarians from the Young Adult Round Table (YART). The purpose of the list is to encourage students in grades 6-12 to explore a variety of current books.

• Edgar Award for Mystery:Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce, the Nominees for the 2017 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2016.

• NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children: NCTE established the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children in 1977 to honor a living American poet for his or her aggregate work for children ages 3–13.

• Orbis Pictus:The NCTE Orbis Pictus Award was established in 1989 for promoting and recognizing excellence in the writing of nonfiction for children.The name Orbis Pictus, commemorates the work of Johannes Amos Comenius, Orbis Pictus—The World in Pictures (1657), considered to be the first book actually planned for children.

• Batchelder Award: The Batchelder Award is given to the most outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States.

• Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction: Established in 1982,the annual award of $5,000 goes to an author for a meritorious book published in the previous year for children or young adults.Scott O'Dell established this award to encourage other writers--particularly new authors--to focus on historical fiction.

• Pura Belpre Award:The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. Established in 1996, is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. 

• Schneider Family Award:The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.

• Sibert Award: The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is awarded annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published in the United States in English during the preceding year. The award is named in honor of Robert F. Sibert, the long-time President of Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc. of Jacksonville, Illinois.

• Stonewall Award:The first and most enduring award for GLBT books sponsored by the American Library Association's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table. The award is announced in January and presented to the winning authors or editors at the American Library Association Annual Conference in June or July. The award winners each receive a commemorative plaque and $1,000.