Book Award Winners (YA)

You might find yourself having to read an award winning book for school at some time, so we thought we'd help out a bit and produce a list of recent award-winning books (with one or two critically acclaimed almost-award-winning books) from our Young Adult Fiction collection.

For space reasons we haven't included all past winners of the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults -- but you can find them all in this list if you're looking for them.

Updated June 19, 2024
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Wellington City LibrariesYouth team at Wellington City Libraries
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All my rage
Tahir, Sabaa
Paper Book
National Book Award WINNER Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature WINNER An INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! An INSTANT INDIE BESTSELLER! "All My Rage is a love story, a tragedy and an infectious teenage fever dream about what home...

Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Book Awards (USA) -- 2023 Printz Award winner

I must betray you
Sepetys, Ruta
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Bestseller and winner of the Carnegie Medal! A gut-wrenching, startling historical thriller about communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of Salt to...

The Carnegie Medal (UK) -- 2023 Shadowers' Choice

The prison healer
Noni, Lynette
Ebook
"Lynette Noni is a masterful storyteller. A must-read for any fantasy lover!" -- SARAH J. MAAS, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Seventeen-year-old Kiva Meridan has spent the last ten years fighting for survival in the notorious death prison, Zalindov, working as the prison healer. ...

Australian Book Industry Awards: Book of the Year for Older Children (AU) -- 2022 winner

Everything sad is untrue : (a true story)
Nayeri, Daniel
Paper Book
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award Christopher Award Winner Middle East Book Award Winner National Indie Bestseller NPR Best Book of the Year New York Times Best of the Year Amazon Best of the Year Booklist Editors' Choice ...

Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Book Awards (USA) -- 2021 Printz Award winner

The left-handed booksellers of London.
Nix, Garth
Paper Book
A girl's quest to find her father leads her to an extended family of magical fighting booksellers who police the mythical Old World of England when it intrudes on the modern world. From the bestselling master of teen fantasy, Garth Nix. In a slightly alternate London in 1983, Susan Arkshaw...

Australian Book Industry Awards: Book of the Year for Older Children (AU) -- 2021 winner

Welcome to your period! /
Stynes, Yumi, 1975-
Paper Book
This frank, funny guide to getting your period gives preteens all they need to master--and even celebrate!--menstruation. Getting your period for the first time can be mortifying, weird, and messy--and asking questions about it can feel even worse. But it doesn't have to be that...

Australian Book Industry Awards: Book of the Year for Older Children (AU) -- 2020 winner

October, October.
Balen, Katya
Paper Book
Katya Balen's October, October is a very special new addition to the shelf and deserves classic status - Times Children's Book of the WeekA classic in the making for anyone who ever longed to be WILD.October and her dad live in the woods. They know the trees and the rocks and...

The Carnegie Medal (UK) -- 2022 winner

Look both ways : a tale told in ten blocks
Reynolds, Jason
Paper Book
A National Book Award Finalist Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book UK Carnegie Medal winner An NPR Favorite Book of 2019 A New York Times Best Children's Book of 2019 A Time Best Children's Book of 2019 A...

The Carnegie Medal (UK) -- 2021 winner

The Poet X
Acevedo, Elizabeth
Paper Book
Winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, and the Pura Belpré Award! Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing New York Times-bestselling novel-in-verse by an award...
Hani and Ishu's guide to fake dating
Jaigirdar, Adiba
Paper Book
Everyone likes Humaira "Hani" Khan--she's easy going and one of the most popular girls at school. But when she comes out to her friends as bisexual, they invalidate her identity, saying she can't be bi if she's only dated guys. Panicked, Hani blurts out that she's in a relationship...with a girl...

YA Book Prize (UK and Ireland) -- 2022 winner

Loveless
Oseman, Alice
Ebook
WINNER OF THE YA BOOK PRIZE 2021 LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI CHILDREN'S & YA BOOK PRIZE 2022 A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The fourth novel from the phenomenally talented Alice Oseman, author of Solitaire and the graphic novel series Heartstopper - now a major Netflix series. ...

YA Book Prize (UK and Ireland) -- 2021 winner

Firekeeper's daughter
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
A PRINTZ MEDAL WINNER! A MORRIS AWARD WINNER! AN AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH LITERATURE AWARD YA HONOR BOOK! A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB YA PICK An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller Soon to be adapted at Netflix...

Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Book Awards (USA) -- 2022 Printz and Morris Award winner

Goodreads Choice Awards -- 2021 YA Fiction winner

The life and crimes of Hoodie Rosen.
Blum, Isaac
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD! A WILLIAM C. MORRIS AWARD WINNER! The Chosen meets Adam Silvera in this irreverent and timely story of worlds colliding in friendship, betrayal, and the hatred that divides us. Hoodie Rosen's life isn't that bad....

Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Book Awards (USA) -- 2023 Morris Award winner

We are okay : a novel
LaCour, Nina
Paper Book
Winner of the 2018 Michael L. Printz Award * An achingly beautiful novel about grief and the enduring power of friendship. "Short, poetic and gorgeously written." --The New York Times Book Review "A beautiful, devastating piece of art."<...

Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Book Awards (USA) -- 2020 Printz Award winner

We deserve monuments
Hammonds, Jas
Audiobook
What's more important: knowing the truth or keeping the peace? When her family moves to Bardell, Georgia, on the cusp of her senior year, Avery Anderson is uprooted from DC and thrust into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The...

The International Literacy Association Children's and Young Adults' Book Awards -- 2023 Honour Award

The magic fish. [graphic novel]
Trung, Le Nguyen
Paper Book
Tiến loves his family and his friends...but Tiến has a secret he's been keeping from them, and it might change everything. An amazing YA graphic novel that deals with the complexity of family and how stories can bring us together. Real life isn't a fairytale. ...

The International Literacy Association Children's and Young Adults' Book Awards -- 2021 winner

How to make friends with the dark.
Glasgow, Kathleen, 1969-
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces comes a novel about love and loss and learning how to continue when it feels like you're surrounded by darkness. "A rare and powerful novel." --Karen M. McManus, New York Times bestselling author of...

The International Literacy Association Children's and Young Adults' Book Awards -- 2020 Honour Award

Dear Rachel Maddow : a novel
Kisner, Adrienne
Paper Book
In Adrienne Kisner's Dear Rachel Maddow, a high school girl deals with school politics and life after her brother's death by drafting emails to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow in this funny and heartfelt YA debut. Brynn Haper's life has one steadying force--Rachel Maddow. ...

The International Literacy Association Children's and Young Adults' Book Awards -- 2019 winner

Clap when you land
Acevedo, Elizabeth
Paper Book
In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives. Camino Rios lives for the...

Goodreads Choice Awards -- 2020 YA Fiction winner

The beauty that remains
Woodfolk, Ashley
Paper Book
Told from three diverse points of view, this story of life and love after loss is one Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give, believes "will stay with you long after you put it down." We've lost everything...and found ourselves. Loss pulled Autumn, Shay, and...

The International Literacy Association Children's and Young Adults' Book Awards -- 2019 Honour Award

The final gambit
Barnes, Jennifer Lynn
Paper Book
OVER 4 MILLION COPIES SOLD OF THE #1 BESTSELLING SERIES! Avery's fortune, life, and loves are on the line in the game that everyone will be talking about. To inherit billions, all Avery Kylie Grambs has to do is survive a few...

Goodreads Choice Awards -- 2022 YA Fiction winner

Gallant
Schwab, Victoria
Paper Book
AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A KIRKUS BEST BOOK A USA TODAY BESTSELLER A NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER "A bone-chilling standalone . . . which fuses Shirley Jackson's gothic horror sensibilities with the warmth and dark whimsy of Neil Gaiman."--Publishers Weekly...

Goodreads Choice Awards -- 2022 YA Fantasy winner

Rule of wolves
Bardugo, Leigh
Paper Book
Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! 2021 Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fantasy! See the Grishaverse come to life on screen with the Netflix series, Shadow and Bone -- Season 2 streaming now! Discover what...

Goodreads Choice Awards -- 2021 YA Fantasy winner

Five feet apart
Lippincott, Rachael
Paper Book
Now a major motion picture starring Cole Sprouse and Haley Lu Richardson! Goodreads Choice Winner, Best Young Adult Fiction of 2019 A YALSA 2020 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers In this #1 New York Times bestselling novel...

Goodreads Choice Awards -- 2019 YA Fiction winner


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