The William C. Morris YA Debut Award is an annual award given to a work of 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...

 by a debut author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

. It is administered by 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) 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....

 (ALA). It was named for twentieth century American publisher William C. Morris. The award is funded by the William C. Morris Endowment, established in 2000 and activated in 2003 with a bequest of $400,000 from the Morris’s estate. Morris gave the money to the ALA to fund programs, publications, events, or awards in promotion of children’s literature. In addition to being a member of the ALA, Morris was the first recipient of the Distinguished Service Award in 1992. The shortlist for the first award was announced on December 8, 2008. The winner was announced on January 26, 2009 at the ALA's midwinter meeting.

Recipients

Year	Author	Book	Citation
2011		The Freak Observer	Winner
2011		Hush Hush (2010 novel) Hush is a 2010 novel written under the pseudonym Eishes Chayil. In August 2011, the author revealed herself as Judy Brown, the daughter of Ruthie Lichtenstein, the publisher of Hamodia. It deals with sexual abuse in the Hasidic Jewish community of Boro Park, Brooklyn and is based on experiences...	Finalist
2011		Guardian of the Dead	Finalist
2011		Hold Me Closer, Necromancer	Finalist
2011		Crossing the Tracks	Finalist
2010		Flash Burnout	Winner
2010	and Margaret Stohl	Beautiful Creatures Beautiful Creatures (book) Beautiful Creatures is the debut young-adult fantasy novel written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. It was published by Little, Brown on December 2009. Amazon.com named it one of the top ten books of 2009 and the top pick for best teen book...	Finalist
2010		The Everafter	Finalist
2010		Hold Still	Finalist
2010		Ash Ash (novel) Ash is a young adult novel fantasy gay novel by Malinda Lo first published in 2009. The novel is about an abused teenage girl who longs for fairies to take her away from her terrible life. A seemly gentle and protective fairy promises to do so as payment, but shortly thereafter the girl falls in...	Finalist
2009			Winner
2009		Graceling Graceling Graceling is a young adult fantasy novel by Kristin Cashore. It is her debut novel. The story is about Katsa, a young warrior, and her journey of self-discovery. The book earned a place on the Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year for 2008 and received generally favorable reviews...	Finalist
2009		Absolute Brightness	Finalist
2009		Madapple	Finalist
2009		Me, the Missing, and the Dead	Finalist