Margaret Edwards Award facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

For the other awards granted by the American Library Association and named after Margaret Alexander Edwards, see Alex Awards.

Quick facts for kids 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 prize given by the American Library Association (ALA). It celebrates an author whose books have made a big, lasting impact on young adult literature. This means their stories are important and continue to be loved by young people. The award is named after Margaret A. Edwards, who worked for many years helping young adults find great books at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.

This award started in 1988. At first, it was given every two years. After 1990, it became an annual award. The winner is announced at a big meeting of librarians. The author receives a special certificate and a cash prize at another event later in the year.

What is the Edwards Award?
- How the Award Started
- Who Can Win?
Edwards Award Winners
Other Awards for Great Authors
See also

What is the Edwards Award?

How the Award Started

In the second half of the 1900s, books for "young adults" became very popular. Libraries and publishers started to create special sections for these books. Young adult literature grew into an important field of study.

When the School Library Journal decided to create an award for young adult writers, the ALA already had lists of recommended books for young adults. But there wasn't a specific award for authors. The chief editor of School Library Journal decided to sponsor the award. The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) helps manage the award.

The award was first called a very long name. But during its third year, it was renamed to honor Margaret A. Edwards. She had recently passed away.

Who Can Win?

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

The books also need to be well-written. They should be popular with many different young adults across the country. The winning author must agree to accept the award in person at the ALA's annual conference.

Edwards Award Winners

The authors who have won this award are mostly from the United States. However, some winners are from other countries. These include Anne McCaffrey, Terry Pratchett, Susan Cooper, and Markus Zusak.

Edwards Award winners and cited works
Year	Author	Cited works
1988	S. E. Hinton	The Outsiders (1967) That Was Then This Is Now (1971) Rumble Fish (1975) Tex (1979)
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	Meet the Austins (1960) A Wrinkle in Time (1962) A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978) A Ring of Endless Light (1980)
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	A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) The Tombs of Atuan (1971) The Farthest Shore (1972) The Beginning Place (1980) Tehanu (1990)
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 This (1994) From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun (1997) If You Come Softly (1998) Lena (1999) Miracle's Boys (2000)
2007	Lois Lowry	The Giver (1993)
2008	Orson Scott Card	Ender's Game (1985) Ender's Shadow (1999)
2009	Laurie Halse Anderson	Speak (1999) Fever, 1793 (2002) Catalyst (2003)
2010	Jim Murphy	The Great Fire (1995) A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy (1996) The Long Road to Gettysburg (1992) Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America (2000) An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 (2003)
2011	Terry Pratchett	The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (2001) The Wee Free Men (2003) A Hat Full of Sky (2004) Going Postal (2004) The Colour of Magic (1983) Guards! Guards! (1989) Equal Rites (1987) Mort (1987) Small Gods (1992)
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	Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon (2012) The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights (2014) The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, & Treachery (2010)
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)
2025	Tiffany D. Jackson	Allegedly (2017) Monday's Not Coming (2018) Let Me Hear a Rhyme (2019) Grown (2020) The Awakening of Malcolm X (2021) Blackout (2021) White Smoke (2021)

Other Awards for Great Authors

Some authors have won more than one major award. For example, Jacqueline Woodson and Walter Dean Myers have won both the Edwards Award and the Children's Literature Legacy Award. The Children's Literature Legacy Award is given by the ALA's children's division. It honors authors for their important and lasting contributions to children's literature.

Four Edwards Award winners have also been chosen to give the 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). This lecture is another way to celebrate authors who have made a big difference in children's literature. The chosen author writes and presents a special paper about the field.