Awards season continues with the American Library Association Youth Media Awards!
Each year, ALA honors books, audiobooks, and other outstanding materials for children and teens. Selected by committees composed of librarians and other literature and media experts, the awards encourage original and creative work in the field of children’s and young adult literature and media.
The 2026 Youth Media Awards were announced Monday, January 26th. Here are some highlights (linked titles are in the CA Library collection):
Michael L. Printz Award
The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.
The 2026 Printz Award Winner is Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook).
2026 Printz Honor Books:
-
- Cope Field by T.L. Simpson
- The House That No One Sees by Adina King (Get the Audiobook)
- Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook)
- Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout (Get the eBook)
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults
The YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18).
The 2026 Excellence in YA Nonfiction Award Winner is Death In The Jungle: Murder, Betrayal and the Lost Dream of Jonestown by Candace Fleming (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook).
2026 Excellence in YA Nonfiction Finalists:
-
- American Spirits: The Famous Fox Sisters and the Mysterious Fad That Haunted a Nation by Barb Rosenstock (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook)
- White House Secrets: Medical Lies and Cover-Ups by Gail Jarrow (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook)
- White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History by Ann Bausum (Get the eBook)
- A World Without Summer: A Volcano Erupts, A Creature Awakens, and the Sun Goes Out by Nicholas Day (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook)
Margaret A. Edwards Award
The Margaret A. Edwards Award, established in 1988, honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.
This year’s winner is Candace Fleming, whose books include The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia, The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum, Murder Among Friends: How Leopold and Loeb Tried to Commit the Perfect Crime, and more titles available at CA Library.
William C. Morris Award
The William C. Morris YA Debut Award honors a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature.
The 2026 Morris Award winner is All The Noise at Once by DeAndra Davis (Get the eBook).
2026 Morris Award finalists:
-
- First Love Language by Stefany Valentine
- Love, Misha by Askel Aden
- Red Flags and Butterflies by Sheryl Azzam
- You and Me on Repeat by Mary Shyne
Alex Awards
The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults.
-
- The Favorites by Layne Fargo
- The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley
- Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen
- Hole in the Sky by Daniel H. Wilson
- Insectopolis: A Natural History by Peter Kuper
- Plum by Andy Anderegg
- Sonita: My Fight Against Tyranny and My Escape to Freedom by Sonita Alizada
- These Heathens by Mia McKenzie
- What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown
- The Whyte Python World Tour by Travis Kennedy
Coretta Scott King Book Awards
The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.
The winner of the 2026 Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award is Will’s Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes.
2026 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books:
-
- The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze by Derrick Barnes
- The Library in the Woods by Calvin Alexander Ramsey
- Split the Sky by Marie Arnold
2026 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award: Under The Neon Lights by Arriel Vinson
- 2026 Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement: Kadir Nelson
Pura Belpré Awards
The Pura Belpré Awards are presented annually to Latino/Latina writers and illustrators whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
The 2026 Pura Belpré Young Adult Author Award Winner is Vanessa L. Torres for On the Wings of la Noche (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook).
2026 Belpré Young Adult Author Honor Books:
-
- Rosa by Any Other Name by Hailey Alcaraz (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook)
- Silenced Voices: Reclaiming Memories from the Guatemalan Genocide by Pablo Leon
- The Story of My Anger by Jasminne Mendez (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook)
American Indian Youth Literature Awards
The American Indian Youth Literature Awards were established to identify and honor the very best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians and Alaska Natives.
The 2026 American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Young Adult Book is Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee Nation) (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook).
2026 American Indian Youth Literature Young Adult Honor Books:
-
- Sheine Lende: A Prequel to Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger (Lipan Apache) (Get the Audiobook)
- Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook)
- Super Indian, Volume Three by Arigon Starr (Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma)
- The Unfinished by Cheryl Isaacs (Kanyen’keha) (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook)
- Where Wolves Don’t Die by Anton Treuer (Ojibwe) (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook)
Asian/Pacific American Awards For Literature
Asian/Pacific American Awards For Literature honors and recognizes individual works about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage, based on literary and artistic merit.
The 2026 Asian/Pacific American Award Winner for Young Adult Literature is Red Car To Hollywood by Jennie Liu (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook).
2026 Asian/Pacific American Honor Book for Young Adult Literature:
-
- Tall Water by SJ Sindu
Sydney Taylor Book Awards
The Sydney Taylor Book Awards are presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.
The 2026 Sydney Taylor Gold Medal Book Award Winner for Young Adults is D.J. Rosenblum Becomes the G.O.A.T. by Abby White.
Sydney Taylor Book Award Silver Medalist For Young Adults:
-
- The Rebel Girls of Rome by Jordyn Taylor
Schneider Family Book Awards
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.
The 2026 Schneider Award Winner for Young Adults is Whale Eyes: A Memoir About Seeing and Being Seen James Robinson (Get the Audiobook).
2026 Schneider Honor Books (Young Adult):
-
- The Golden Boy’s Guide to Bipolar by Sonora Reyes
- The Poetry of Car Mechanics by Heidi E.Y. Stemple
Stonewall Book Awards
The Stonewall Book – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Awards are given annually to English-language works of exceptional merit for children or teens relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.
The 2026 Stonewall Young Adult Literature Award winner is One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook)
2026 Stonewall Honor Books:
-
- Devils Like Us by L. T. Thompson
- He’s So Possessed with Me by Corey Liu
- Hick: The Trailblazing Journalist Who Captured Eleanor Roosevelt’s Heart by Sarah Miller (Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook)
- Sometimes the Girl by Jennifer Mason-Black (Get the eBook)
Odyssey Awards
The Odyssey Awards recognize the best audiobooks produced for children and young adults, available in English in the United States.
The 2026 Odyssey Award for Young Adults goes to Trans History: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, written and illustrated by Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett and narrated by the authors and a full cast (Get the Audiobook).
2026 Odyssey Honor Audiobooks:
-
- The Dead of Summer, written by Ryan La Sala and narrated by the author and a full cast (Get the Audiobook)
- Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith and narrated by a full cast (Get the Audiobook)
- Soundtrack, written by Jason Reynolds and narrated by a full cast (Get the Audiobook)
- Whale Eyes: A Memoir About Seeing and Being Seen, written and narrated by James Robinson, illustrated by Brian Rea (Get the Audiobook)