The Michael L. Printz Award is an annual award in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature

Young adult literature

Young-adult fiction or young adult literature , also juvenile fiction, is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21. The Young Adult Library Services of the American Library Association defines a young adult as "someone between the...

. It is named for a school librarian from Topeka, Kansas

Topeka, Kansas

Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...

, who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association

Young Adult Library Services Association

The Young Adult Library Services Association , established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. The mission of YALSA is to advocate, promote and strengthen service to young adults as part of the continuum of total library service, and to support those who provide service to...

 (YALSA). The national award is sponsored by Booklist

Booklist

Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...

 magazine and administered by YALSA, a division of the American Library Association

American Library Association

The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....

.

History and creation of the Award

The Michael L. Printz Award was first awarded in 2000. The award highlights works of literary excellence that are written for a young adult audience.

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 in 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 this end, he encouraged writers to focus on the young adult audience. He created an author-in-residence program at the high school where he worked to promote new talent and encourage his students. His most noteworthy find was author Chris Crutcher

Chris Crutcher

-Biography:Crutcher was born to a World War II bomber pilot and a homemaker on July 17, 1946, in Dayton, Ohio. They later moved to Cascade, Idaho, where Crutcher grew up....

. He died at the age of 59 in 1996.

Criteria for the award

The selection committee composed of nine Young Adult Library Services Association (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 American Library Association

American Library Association

The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....

 (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 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

Year	Author	Book	Citation
2011		Ship Breaker Ship Breaker Ship Breaker is a 2010 young adult novel by Paolo Bacigalupi set in a postapocalyptic future. It was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and won the 2011 Michael L. Printz Award and the Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book...	Winner
2011		Stolen	Honor
2011		Please Ignore Vera Dietz	Honor
2011		Revolver	Honor
2011		Nothing	Honor
2010		Going Bovine Going Bovine Going Bovine is a 2009 surreal dark comedy novel by Libba Bray. It follows the experiences of high school junior Cameron Smith as he suffers from transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.-Plot summary:...	Winner
2010		Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith	Honor
2010			Honor
2010		Punkzilla	Honor
2010		Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973	Honor
2009		Jellicoe Road Jellicoe Road On the Jellicoe Road is a young adult novel by Australian novelist Melina Marchetta. It was first published in Australia in 2006 by Penguin Australia under the title On the Jellicoe Road, where it was awarded the 2008 West Australia Young Readers Book Award for Older Readers...	Winner
2009			Honor
2009			Honor
2009		Nation Nation (novel) Nation is a Terry Pratchett novel, published in the UK on September 11, 2008. It is the first non-Discworld Pratchett novel since Johnny and the Bomb . Nation is in an alternate history of our world in the 1860s. The book received recognition as a Michael L...	Honor
2009		Tender Morsels	Honor
2008			Winner
2008		Dreamquake	Honor
2008		One Whole and Perfect Day	Honor
2008		Repossessed	Honor
2008		Your Own Sylvia	Honor
2007		American Born Chinese American Born Chinese American Born Chinese is a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. Released in 2006 by First Second Books, it was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Awards in the category of Young People's Literature. It won the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award and the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: New. It...	Winner
2007			Honor
2007			Honor
2007		Surrender Surrender (novel) Surrender is a novel written by the award-winning Australian novelist, Sonya Hartnett. It was first published in 2005 in Australia by Walker Books...	Honor
2007			Honor
2006		Looking for Alaska Looking for Alaska Looking for Alaska is the first young adult novel by John Green, published in March 2005 by Dutton Juvenile. It won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association...	Winner
2006		Black Juice	Honor
2006		I Am the Messenger I Am the Messenger The Messenger is a 2002 novel by Markus Zusak, and winner of the 2003 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award.The Messenger was released in the United States under the name I Am the Messenger. The entire story is written through the eyes of the main character, Ed Kennedy, who...	Honor
2006		John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth, a Photographic Biography	Honor
2006			Honor
2005		How I Live Now How I Live Now How I Live Now is a novel by Meg Rosoff, first published in 2004. The book won three notable awards including the Michael L. Printz Award and received generally positive reviews.-Plot summary:...	Winner
2005		Airborn	Honor
2005		Chanda's Secrets	Honor
2005		Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, published by Clarion Books, is a 2004 historical fiction book by Gary D. Schmidt. The book received the Newbery Honor in 2005 and was selected as a Michael L. Printz Honor that same year. The book was based on a real event...	Honor
2004			Winner
2004			Honor
2004		Keesha's House	Honor
2004		Fat Kid Rules the World Fat Kid Rules the World Fat Kid Rules the World is a young adult novel published by American author KL Going in 2003. The story follows a suicidal, 296 pound teen, Troy Billings, who befriends a local guitar legend, Curt MacCrae, who insists that they form a band together with Troy playing drums...	Honor
2004			Honor
2003		Postcards from No Man's Land Postcards from No Man's Land Postcards from No Man's Land is a young adult novel by Aidan Chambers. The book follows the experiences of 17-year-old Jacob Todd as he visits Amsterdam during the commemmoration of the Battle of Arnhem, in which his grandfather fought....	Winner
2003			Honor
2003		My Heartbeat My Heartbeat My Heartbeat is a 2002 novel by Garret Freymann-Weyr, about a fourteen-year-old girl who discovers that her brother and his best friend, James, who she has been in love with for years, could be a couple. It was named a Printz Honor book in 2003....	Honor
2003		Hole in My Life	Honor
2002			Winner
2002			Honor
2002		Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art	Honor
2002		Freewill	Honor
2002		True Believer	Honor
2001		Kit's Wilderness Kit's Wilderness Kit's Wilderness is David Almond's second novel, published in 2000 by Delacorte Press. It won the 2001 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association, the Smarties Award Silver Medal, was Highly Commended for the Carnegie Medal, and was shortlisted for the Guardian Award.The...	Winner
2001		Many Stones	Honor
2001			Honor
2001		Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging	Honor
2001		Stuck in Neutral Stuck In Neutral Stuck in Neutral is a young adult novel by Terry Trueman. It focuses deeply on the subject of cerebral palsy, quality of life, and euthanasia, the first of which afflicts the main character Shawn McDainel. Along with his brother, sister, and mother, indirectly, and his father, directly.It received...	Honor
2000		Monster	Winner
2000		Skellig Skellig Skellig is a novel by David Almond, for which Almond was awarded the Carnegie Medal in 1998 and also the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award. The book won the 2000 Michael L. Printz Honor from YALSA in the United States...	Honor
2000		Speak Speak (novel) Speak is a 1999 novel by Laurie Halse Anderson about a girl named Melinda Sordino who is an outcast as a high school freshman. It was made into a film of the same name in 2004. The novel was a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller...	Honor
2000		Hard Love Hard Love Hard Love is an award-winning young adult novel written by author Ellen Wittlinger. It was published in 1999.-Synopsis:John can be a meany only because he has been untouchable since his parents' divorce six years ago, and Marisol, who has recently come out as a lesbian, meet through their interests...	Honor

See also

• Newbery Medal
  Newbery Medal
  The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
  
   the first children's literary award in the world
• Caldecott Medal
  Caldecott Medal
  The Caldecott Medal 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 published that year. The award was named in honor of nineteenth-century English...
  
   for outstanding American picture books
• Carnegie Medal in Literature for outstanding children's books published in the United Kingdom
• Coretta Scott King Award
  Coretta Scott King Award
  The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, part of the American Library Association...
  
   for outstanding children's books related to the African-American experience
• Guardian Award
  Guardian Award
  The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award is a prominent award for works of children's literature by British or Commonwealth authors, published in the United Kingdom during the preceding year. The award has been given annually since 1967, and is decided by a panel of authors and the...
  
   for works of children's literature written by British or Commonwealth authors
• Kate Greenaway Medal
  Kate Greenaway Medal
  The Kate Greenaway Medal was established in the United Kingdom in 1955 in honour of the children's illustrator, Kate Greenaway. The medal is given annually to an outstanding work of illustration in children's literature. It is awarded by Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...
  
   for outstanding works of illustration in children's literaure from the United Kingdom
• Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal
  Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal
  The Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal is a prize awarded by the American Library Association to writers or illustrators of children's books published in the United States who have over a period of years made substantial and lasting contributions to children's literature...
  
   for outstanding lifetime contribution to children's literature
• Young Adult Library Services Association
  Young Adult Library Services Association
  The Young Adult Library Services Association , established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. The mission of YALSA is to advocate, promote and strengthen service to young adults as part of the continuum of total library service, and to support those who provide service to...
  
  

External links

• YALSA | Michael L. Printz Award