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Margaret Edwards Award facts for kids

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For the other awards granted by the American Library Association and named after Margaret Alexander Edwards, see Alex Awards.
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Margaret A. Edwards Award
Presented by Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association
Country United States
First awarded 1988

The Margaret A. Edwards Award is a special literary award given each year by the American Library Association (ALA). It celebrates an author whose books have made a big and lasting impact on young adult literature. This means their stories are important and continue to be loved by young readers.

The award is named after Margaret A. Edwards (1902–1988). She was a pioneer who helped libraries create special services for young adults. She worked for a long time at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.

The award started in 1988. At first, it was given every two years. It was called the "School Library Journal Young Adult Author Award." After 1990, it was renamed to honor Margaret A. Edwards and became an annual award. The School Library Journal still helps support it. The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) manages the award. YALSA is part of the ALA. The winner is announced at a big meeting in the winter. They receive a special certificate and a $2000 prize at a luncheon later in the year.

About the Edwards Award

The idea of "young adult" books grew a lot in the second half of the 1900s. Libraries and publishers started to focus on books just for teens. Young adult literature became a respected area of study. When the School Library Journal decided to create an award for YA writers, the ALA already had lists of recommended books for young adults. These included "Best Books for Young Adults" and a list for "reluctant YA readers." The important Printz Award for the best YA book of the year didn't even start until 1999.

Lillian N. Gerhardt, the chief editor of SLJ, wanted her magazine to sponsor the award. She asked the ALA's Young Adult Services Division (YASD) to manage it. The award's first official name was very long. It was "The SLJ Young Adult Author Award/Selected and Administered by the ALA's YASD." For the first two awards in 1988 and 1990, it was also called the "Young Adult Services Division/School Library Journal Author Achievement Award." Then, after Margaret Edwards passed away, the award was renamed in her honor.

Who Can Win the Award

Since 1991, the award committee looks for a living author. This author's books must have been popular with young people for a long time. Their stories should speak to young readers in an honest way. They should help young people understand their own feelings and experiences.

The books must also be well-written and popular with many young adults across the country. The winning author must agree to accept the award in person at the ALA's yearly conference. This happens about five months after they are chosen.

The SLJ editor, Lillian Gerhardt, wrote about the award when S. E. Hinton won the first one in 1988. For some time after 1990, the June issue of SLJ would feature the current award winner. It also included an interview with the previous year's winner.

Edwards Award Winners

The Edwards Award has been given out 35 times in 36 years, up to 2023. Most of the honored writers are from the United States. However, some winners like Anne McCaffrey, Terry Pratchett, Susan Cooper, and Markus Zusak are from other countries.

Edwards Award winners and cited works
Year Author Cited works Ref.
1988 S.E. Hinton
  • The Outsiders (1967)
  • That Was Then This Is Now (1973)
  • Tex (1982)
  • Rumble Fish (1983)
1989 (no award)  
1990 Richard Peck
  • Are You in the House Alone? (1976)
  • The Ghost Belonged to Me (1976)
  • Ghosts I Have Been (1977)
  • Father Figure (1978)
  • Secrets of the Shopping Mall (1979)
  • Remembering the Good Times (1985)
1991 Robert Cormier
  • The Chocolate War (1974)
  • I Am the Cheese (1977)
  • After the First Death (1979)
1992 Lois Duncan
  • Chapters, My Growth as a Writer (1982 autobiography)
  • Ransom (1966)
  • I Know What You Did Last Summer (1973)
  • Summer of Fear (1976)
  • Killing Mr. Griffin (1978)
  • The Twisted Window (1987)
1993 M. E. Kerr
  • Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack! (1972)
  • Gentlehands (1978)
  • Me Me Me Me Me: Not a Novel (1983)
  • Night Kites (1986)
1994 Walter Dean Myers
  • Hoops (1983)
  • Motown and Didi (1985)
  • Fallen Angels (1988)
  • Scorpions (1988)
1995 Cynthia Voigt
  • Homecoming (1981)
  • Dicey's Song (1982)
  • A Solitary Blue (1983)
  • Building Blocks (1984)
  • The Runner (1985)
  • Jackaroo (1985)
  • Izzy, Willy-Nilly (1986)
1996 Judy Blume
  • Forever... (1975)
1997 Gary Paulsen
  • Dancing Carl (1983)
  • Hatchet (1987)
  • The Crossing (1987)
  • The Winter Room (1989)
  • Canyons (1990)
  • Woodsong (1990)
1998 Madeleine L'Engle
1999 Anne McCaffrey
  • Dragonflight (1968)
  • The Ship Who Sang (1969)
  • Dragonquest (1970)
  • Dragonsong (1976)
  • Dragonsinger (1977)
  • The White Dragon (1978)
  • Dragondrums (1979)
2000 Chris Crutcher
  • Running Loose (1983)
  • Stotan! (1986)
  • The Crazy Horse Electric Game (1987)
  • Chinese Handcuffs (1989)
  • Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories (1991)
  • Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes (1993)
2001 Robert Lipsyte
  • The Contender (1967)
  • The Brave (1991)
  • The Chief (1993)
  • One Fat Summer (1977)
2002 Paul Zindel
  • The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds: A Drama in Two Acts (1965)
  • The Pigman (1968)
  • My Darling, My Hamburger (1969)
  • The Pigman's Legacy (1980)
  • The Pigman & Me (1992)
2003 Nancy Garden
  • Annie on My Mind (1982)
2004 Ursula K. Le Guin
2005 Francesca Lia Block
  • Weetzie Bat (1989)
  • Witch Baby (1991)
  • Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys (1992)
  • Missing Angel Juan (1993)
  • Baby Be-Bop (1995)
2006 Jacqueline Woodson
  • I Hadn't Meant to Tell You You This (1994)
  • From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun (1997)
  • If You Come Softly (1998)
  • Lena (1999)
  • Miracle's Boys (2000)
2007 Lois Lowry
2008 Orson Scott Card
2009 Laurie Halse Anderson  
  • Speak (1999)
  • Fever, 1793 (2002)
  • Catalyst (2003)
2010 Jim Murphy
2011 Terry Pratchett
2012 Susan Cooper
  • The Dark Is Rising Sequence (first omnibus edition, 1984)
  • Over Sea, Under Stone (1965)
  • The Dark Is Rising (1968)
  • Greenwitch (1974)
  • The Grey King (1975)
  • Silver on the Tree (1977)
2013 Tamora Pierce
  • The Song of the Lioness
  • Alanna: The First Adventure (1983)
  • In the Hand of the Goddess (1984)
  • The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (1986)
  • Lioness Rampant (1988)
  • Protector of the Small
  • First Test (1999)
  • Page (2000)
  • Squire (2001)
  • Lady Knight (2002)
2014 Markus Zusak
  • The Book Thief (2006)
  • Fighting Ruben Wolfe (2001)
  • Getting the Girl (2001)
  • I Am the Messenger (2002)
2015 Sharon M. Draper
  • Tears of a Tiger (1994)
  • Forged by Fire (1997)
  • Darkness Before Dawn (2001)
  • Battle of Jericho (2004)
  • Copper Sun (2006)
  • November Blues (2007)
2016 David Levithan
  • Boy Meets Boy (2003)
  • The Realm of Possibility (2004)
  • Wide Awake (2006)
  • Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2006)
  • How They Met, and Other Stories (2008)
  • Love is the Higher Law (2009)
2017 Sarah Dessen
  • Keeping the Moon (1999)
  • Dreamland (2000)
  • This Lullaby (2002)
  • The Truth About Forever (2004)
  • Just Listen (2006)
  • Along for the Ride (2009)
  • What Happened to Goodbye (2011)
2018 Angela Johnson
  • Toning the Sweep (1993)
  • Heaven (1998)
  • Looking for Red (2002)
  • The First Part Last (2003)
  • Bird (2004)
  • Sweet, Hereafter (2010)
2019 M. T. Anderson
  • Feed (2002)
  • The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party (2006)
  • The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 2: The Kingdom of Waves (2008)
2020 Steve Sheinkin
2021 Kekla Magoon
  • X: A Novel (2015)
  • How It Went Down (2014)
  • The Rock and the River (2009)
  • Fire in the Streets (2012)
2022 King, A.S.A.S. King
  • Ask the Passengers (2012)
  • Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future (2014)
  • Please Ignore Vera Dietz (2010)
2023 Jason Reynolds
  • Long Way Down (2017)
  • All American Boys (2015)
  • When I Was the Greatest (2014)
2024 Neal Shusterman
  • The Arc of the Scythe: Scythe (2016), Thunderhead (2018) and The Toll (2019)
  • Bruiser (2010)
  • Challenger Deep (2015)
  • Everlost (2006)
  • Full Tilt (2003)
  • The Schwa Was Here (2004)

Other Awards for Authors

No author has won both the Edwards Award and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal. The Wilder Medal is given by the ALA's children's division (ALSC). It honors authors who have made big and lasting contributions to children's literature. This award started in 1954 and is now given every year.

Four Edwards Award winners have also been chosen by ALSC to give their annual May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture. These authors are Susan Cooper (in 2001), Ursula K. Le Guin (in 2004), Walter Dean Myers (in 2009), and Lois Lowry (in 2011). The ALSC sees the Arbuthnot Lecture as another way to honor an author's career in children's literature. The chosen lecturer writes and presents a special paper about children's literature. This paper is also published in the ALSC journal.

See also

  • Michael L. Printz Award, an ALA book award for young-adult literature
  • Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, an ALA lifetime award for children's literature
  • List of ALA awards
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