Award Winning Youth Books

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This guide features complete listings of the award receiptents including those that are currently not in our collection, those that are are linked to our catalog.

Jane Addams Award - The Jane Addams Children's Book Award is given annually to a children's book published the preceding year that advances the causes of peace and social equality.

Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature - The goal of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature is to honor and recognize individual work about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage, based on literary and artistic merit.

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.

Pura Belpré Award - The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. The Pura Belpré Award, 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.

Amelia Bloomer Project - The Amelia Bloomer Project is an annual book list published by the Feminist Task Force of the American Library Association's Social Responsibilities Round Table for the purpose of honoring children's books with feminist themes.

Caldecott Medal - The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. 

Coretta Scott King Book Award - Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King, Jr., this award recognizes outstanding African American authors and illustrators, and is awarded for books about the African-American experience that are written for a youth audience (high school or elementary).

Theodore Seuss) Geisel Award - The Geisel Award is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year.

William C. Morris Award - The William C. Morris YA Debut Award, first given in 2009, honors a book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature.

National Book Award - The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November

Newberry Medal - The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

Odyssey Award - This annual award is given to the producer of the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States.

Michael L. Printz - The Michael L. Printz Award annually honors the best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit, each year.

Schneider Family Book Award - The Schneider Family Book Award is an award given by the ALA and meant to recognize authors and illustrators who have created stories or illustrations featuring characters with special needs.

Sibert Medal - 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 Book Award - The first and most enduring award for GLBT books is the Stonewall Book Awards, sponsored by the American Library Association's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table. Since Isabel Miller's Patience and Sarah received the first award in 1971, many other books have been honored for exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience.

Sydney Taylor Book Award - The Sydney Taylor Book Award is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience. Presented by the Association of Jewish Libraries since 1968, the award encourages the publication and widespread use of quality Judaic literature.

Find out more about the awards, their governing bodies and how they are chosen here.