The Michael L. Printz Award is an

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded Literature, literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award c ...

that annually recognizes the "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit". It is sponsored by ''

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is ...

'' magazine; administered by the ALA's young-adult division, the

Young Adult Library Services Association The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. YALSA is a national association of librarians, library workers and advocates whose mission is to expand the capacity of l ...

(YALSA); and named for the

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...

, school librarian Mike Printz, a long-time active member of YALSA."The Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature"

(YALSA). American Library Association. (ALA). Retrieved 2012-04-20. Up to four worthy runners-up may be designated Honor Books and three or four have been named every year.

History

The Printz Award was founded in 2000 for 1999 young adult publications. Waddle, Linda. "The Association's Associations: YALSA Becomes Printz-Oriented. (Young Adult Library Services Association introduces Michael L. Printz Award) (Michael L. Printz Award) (Brief Article)". ''American Libraries'' 30.11 (Dec 1999): 7. Student Resource Center - Gold. Gale. Hennepin County Library. June 30, 2009. The award "was created as a counterpoint to the Newbery" in order to highlight the best and most literary works of excellence written for a young adult audience. Jonathon Hunt, a '' Horn Book'' reviewer, hopes that the Printz Award can create a "canon as revered as that of the Newbery." Michael L. Printz was a librarian at Topeka West High School in Topeka, Kansas, until he retired in 1994. He was also an active member of YALSA, serving on the Best Books for Young Adults Committee and the Margaret A. Edwards Award Committee. He dedicated his life to ensuring that his students had access to good literature. To that end he encouraged writers to focus on the young adult audience. He created an author-in-residence program at the high school to promote new talent and encourage his students. His most noteworthy find was Chris Crutcher. Printz died at the age of 59 in 1996.

Criteria and procedure

Source: "The Michael L. Printz Award Policies and Procedures""The Michael L. Printz Award Policies and Procedures"
YALSA. ALA. Retrieved 2012-04-20. The selection committee comprises nine YALSA members appointed by the president-elect for a one-year term. They award one winner and honor up to four additional titles. The term 'young adult' refers to readers from ages 12 through 18 for purposes of this award. The Michael L. Printz Award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the

(ALA). * Non-fiction, fiction, poetry and anthologies are all eligible to receive the Printz Award. * Books must have been published between January 1 and December 31 of the year preceding the announcement of the award. * Titles must be designated 'young adult' by its publisher or published for the age range that YALSA defines as "young adult," i.e., 12 through 18. Adult books are not eligible. * Works of joint authorship or editorship are eligible. * The award may be issued posthumously. * Books previously published in another country are eligible (presuming an American edition has been published during the period of eligibility).

Recipients

The Printz Medal has been awarded for one work annually without exception. Only A. S. King has received the award twice, one for a single-authored book in 2020 and another as editor and contributor to an anthology in 2024.

Multiple awards

As of 2025, only A. S. King has won the Printz twice; she also received an Honor. Marcus Sedgwick and M. T. Anderson have written one Award winner and two Honor Books.

David Almond David Almond (born 15 May 1951) is a British author who has written many novels for children's literature, children and young adult fiction, young adults from 1998, each one receiving critical acclaim. He is one of thirty children's writers, and ...

John Green John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author and YouTuber. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including ''The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012), which is one of the List of best-selling books#Bet ...

Geraldine McCaughrean Geraldine McCaughrean ( ; born 6 June 1951) is a British children's literature, children's novelist. She has written more than 170 books, including ''Peter Pan in Scarlet'' (2004), the official sequel to ''Peter and Wendy, Peter Pan'' commissi ...

, and Gene Luen Yang have written one Award winner and one Honor Book. Seven people have two Honor Books but have never won the Award: Margo Lanagan,

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

Markus Zusak Markus Zusak (born 23 June 1975) is an Australian-German writer. He is best known for ''The Book Thief'' and ''The Messenger (Zusak novel), The Messenger'', two novels that became international bestsellers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award in 2 ...

, Deborah Heiligman,

Mariko Tamaki Mariko Tamaki (born 1975) is a Canadian artist and writer. She is known for her graphic novels '' Skim'', ''Emiko Superstar,'' and '' This One Summer''."Mariko Tamaki". CBC Radio, '' The Next Chapter'', 12 November 2012. In 2016 she began writing ...

, Candice Iloh, and Angie Thomas. Six writers have won both the Printz Award and the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians:

Aidan Chambers Aidan Chambers (27 December 1934 – 11 May 2025) was a British author of children's and young-adult novels. He won both the British Carnegie Medal and the American Printz Award for '' Postcards from No Man's Land'' (1999). For his "lastin ...

Meg Rosoff Meg Rosoff (born 16 October 1956) is an American writer based in London, United Kingdom. She is best known for the novel '' How I Live Now'' (Puffin, 2004), which won the Guardian Prize, the Printz Award, the Branford Boase Award and made ...

, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Jason Reynolds. Only Chambers and Acevedo have won both for the same book; Chambers won the 1999 Carnegie and 2003 Printz for '' Postcards from No Man's Land'', and Acevedo won the 2019 Carnegie and Printz for The Poet X. In its scope, books for children or young adults (published in the UK), the British Carnegie corresponds to the American Newbery and Printz awards.

References

External links

ALA Youth Media Awards

YALSA's Teen Book Finder
— free

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...