Award Winning Books for Children
Caldecott Medal
Caldecott Medal
The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It 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.
2025 Winner
Chooch Helped
- by Rebecca Lee Kunz
2025 Honor Books
Home in a Lunchbox
- by Cherry Mo
My Daddy is a Cowboy
- by Stephanie Seales
Noodles on a Bicycle
- by Kyo Maclear
Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains
- by Anita Yasuda
Goldfinch Award
Goldfinch Award
The Goldfinch Award gives children an opportunity to choose the award winning book and to suggest books for the yearly reading list. Books chosen are fiction or nonfiction titles appropriate for children in preschool through 3rd grade.
2024-2025 Nominees
Abdul’s Story
- by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
Everywhere With You
- by Charlie Sorosiak
Farmhouse
- by Sophie Blackall
Find Fergus
- by Mike Boldt
Gibberish
- by Young Vo
Hey, Bruce! An Interactive Book
- by Ryan T. Higgins
I Am Ruby Bridges
- by Ruby Bridges
I Am the Storm
- by Jane Yolen
Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn
- by Shannon Hale
Knight Owl
- by Christopher Denise
Ocean! Waves for All
- by Stacy McAnulty
Out of a Jar
- by Deborah Marcero
Pigeon & Cat
- by Edward Hemingway
Pizza! a Slice of History
- by Greg Pizzoli
Saturdays Are for Stella
- by Candy Wellins
Sprout Branches Out
- by Jessika Von Innerebner
The Legend of Gravity: a tall basketball tale
- by Charly Palmer
There is a Ghost in This House
- by Oliver Jeffers
Iowa Children's Choice Award (ICCA)
Iowa Children's Choice Award (ICCA)
The Iowa Children’s Choice Award gives children an opportunity to choose the award winning book and to suggest books for the yearly reading list. Books chosen are fiction or nonfiction titles appropriate for children in 3rd through 6th grade.
2024-2025 Nominees
A Duet for Home
- by Karina Yan Glaser
A Rover’s Story
- by Jasmine Warga
Falling Short
- by Ernesto Cisneros
Finally Seen
- by Kelly Tang
Home Away from Home
- by Cynthia Lord
Hummingbird
- by Natalie Lloyd
Lasagna Means I Love You
- by Kate O'Shaughnessy
Lines of Courage
- by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Maizy Chen’s Last Chance
- by Lisa Yee
Mysteries of Trash and Treasure: The Secret Letters
- by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy
- by Angie Thomas
On Air with Zoe Washington
- by Janae Marks
Over and Out
- by Jenni L. Walsh
Playing Through the Turnaround
- by Mylisa Larsen
Singing with Elephants
- by Margarita Engle
Swim Team
- by Johnnie Christmas
The Hurricanes of Weakerville
- by Chris Rylander
The Midnight Children
- by Dan Gemeinhart
Thirst
- by Varsha Bajaj
Wildoak
- by C.C. Harrington
Newbery Medal
Newbery Medal
The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
2025 Winner
The First State of Being
- by Erin Entrada Kelly
2025 Honor Books
Across So Many Seas
- by Ruth Behar
Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All
- by Channel Miller
One Big Open Sky
- by Lesa Cline-Ransome
The Wrong Way Home
- by Kate O'Shaughnessy
Coretta Scott King Award
Coretta Scott King Award
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 award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.
2025 Award Winner
Twenty Four Seconds From Now
- by Jason Reynolds
2025 Illustrator Award Winner
My Daddy is a Cowboy
- by Stephanie Seales
2025 Honor Books
Black Girl You Are Atlas
- by Renée Watson
Black Star
- by Kwame Alexander
One Big Open Sky
- by Lesa Cline-Ransome
2025 Illustrator Honor Books
Coretta: The Autobiography of Mrs. Coretta Scott King
- by Ekua Holmes
Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem: The Vision of Photographer Roy DeCarava
- by E. B. Lewis
Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller
- by April Harrison
Pura Belpré Award
Pura Belpré Award
The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, an ALA affiliate.
2025 Winner
Lola
- by Karla Arenas Valenti
2025 Honor Books
Benitra y las Criaturas Nocturnas
- by Mariana Llanos
Cruzita and the Mariacheros
- by Ashley Granillo
Ultraviolet
- by Aida Salazar
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
The Geisel Award is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year.
2024 Winner
Fox Has a Problem
- by Corey R Tabor
2024 Honor Books
Henry, Like Always
- by Jenn Bailey
Worm and Caterpillar are Friends
- by Kaz Windness
Award Winning Books for Teens
Alex Awards
Alex Awards
The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18. The winning titles are selected from the previous year’s publishing. The Alex Awards were first given annually beginning in 1998 and became an official ALA award in 2002.
2025 Winners
Beautiful People: My Thirteen Truths About Disability
- by Melissa Blake
Big Jim and the White Boy: An American Classic Reimagined
- by David F. Walker
Daughters of Shandong
- by Eve J. Chung
Dead Cat Tail Assassins
- by P. Djèlí Clark
How To Solve Your Own Murder: A Novel
- by Kristen Perrin
I Feel Awful, Thanks
- by Lara Pickle
I Was a Teenage Slasher
- by Stephen Graham Jones
The Witch of Colchis
- by Rosie Hewlett
The Witchstone
- by Henry H. Neff
Woman, Life, Freedom
- by Marjane Satrapi
American Indian Literature Award
American Indian Youth Literature Award
Awarded biennially, the AIYLA identifies and honors the very best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America. Books selected to receive the award present Indigenous North American peoples in the fullness of their humanity
2024 Winner
Rez Ball
- by Byron Graves
Ojibwe teen Tre works towards his dream of making the high school varsity basketball team and winning the state tournament, all while navigating friendships, romance, and the grief of losing and living in the shadow of his late older brother.
2024 Finalists
Funeral Songs for Dying Girls
- by Cherie Dimaline
Heroes of the Water Monster
- by Brian Young
Man Made Monsters
- by Andrea L. Rogers
Warrior Girl Unearthed
- by Angeline Boulley
Asian/Pacific American Literature Award
Asian / Pacific American Award for YA
The Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature honors and recognizes individual works by Asian/Pacific American authors that highlight Asian/Pacific American cultures and experiences.
2025 Winner
Everything we Never Had
- by Randy Ribay
2025 Honor Book
Lunar New Year love story
- by Gene Luen Yang
Iowa High School Book Award (IHSBA)
Iowa High School Book Award
In March, high school students across Iowa take part in the nomination of books for the Iowa High School Book Award. These books are reviewed by the IHSBA committee and teacher librarian volunteer readers and the list is narrowed. During the summer, the readers read and rate the titles. The committee members finalize the list in the fall. The list for the next school year is released in January for the following school year.
2024-2025 Nominees
Any Sign of Life
- by Rae Carson
Black Cake
- by Charmaine Wilkerson
Hollow Fires
- by Samira Ahmed
If You Could See the Sun
- by Ann Liang
Letters to a Young Athlete
- by Chris Bosh
The Agathas
- by Kathleen Glasgow & Liz Lawson
The Counselors
- by Jessica Goodman
The Davenports
- by Krystal Marquis
The Knockout
- by Sajni Patel
The Red Palace
- by June Hur
The Weight of Blood
- by Tiffany D Jackson
Throwback
- by Maurene Goo
Iowa Teen Award (ITA)
Iowa Teen Award
In March, teens across Iowa take part in the nomination of books for the Iowa Teen Award. These books are reviewed by the ITA committee and volunteer readers and the list is narrowed. During the summer, the adult readers read and rate the titles.
In March, teens also vote for their favorite book from that year’s list.
2024-2025 Nominees
A Thousand Heartbeats
- by Kiera Cass
Across the Desert
- by Dusti Bowling
Attack of the Black Rectangles
- by Amy Sarig King
Daughter of the Deep
- by Rick Riordan
Deepfake
- by Sara Darer Littman
Fifty-Four Things Wrong with Gwendolyn Rogers
- by Caela Carter
Frizzy
- by Claribel A. Ortega
Iceberg
- by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Linked
- by Gordon Korman
Omar Rising
- by Aisha Saeed
Other Boys
- by Damian Alexandar
Out of My Heart
- by Sharon M. Draper
Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams’s Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American Incarceration
- by Elizabeth Partridge
The Patron Thief of Bread
- by Lindsay Eager
What Once Was Mine: A Twisted Tale
- by Liz Braswell
Morris Award
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 award’s namesake is William C. Morris, an influential innovator in the publishing world and an advocate for marketing books for children and young adults.
2025 Winner
Not Like Other Girls
- by Meredith Adamo
2025 Finalists
Aisle Nine
- by Ian X. Cho
Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear
- by Robin Wasley
Shut Up, This Is Serious
- by Carolina Ixta
The Wilderness of Girls
- by Madeline Claire Franklin
Printz Award
Printz Award
The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association.
2025 Winner
Brownstone
- by Samuel Teer
2025 Finalists
Bright Red Fruit
- by Safia Elhillo
Compound Fracture
- by Andrew Joseph White
Road Home
- by Rex Ogle
The Deep Dark
- by Molly Knox Ostertag
Stonewall Book Award Young Adult
Stonewall Book Award Young Adult
Given to children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual & transgender experience. Stonewall Book Awards is sponsored by the American Library Association’s Rainbow Round Table.
2025 Winner
Canto Contigo
- by Jonny Garza Villa
2025 Finalists
Navigating with You
- by Jeremy Whitley
Road Home
- by Rex Ogle
Time and Time Again
- by Chatham Greenfield
YALSA Nonfiction Award
YALSA Nonfiction Award
YALSA’s Award for Excellence in Nonfiction honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a Nov. 1 – Oct. 31 publishing year.
2025 Winner
Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles 1992, Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a City on Fire
- by Paula Yoo
2025 Finalists
A Greater Goal: The Epic Battle for Equal Pay in Women’s Soccer- and Beyond
- by Elizabeth Rusch
Homebody
- by Theo Parish
Shackled: A Tale of Wronged Kids, Rogue Judges, and a Town that Looked Away
- by Candy J. Cooper
The Unboxing of a Black Girl
- by Angela Shanté
