| Margaret A. Edwards Award | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature" |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association |
| First award | 1988 |
| Website | ala |
TheMargaret A. Edwards Award is anAmerican Library Association (ALA)literary award that annually recognizes an author and "a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature".[1] It is named afterMargaret A. Edwards (1902–1988), the longtime director ofyoung adult services atEnoch Pratt Free Library inBaltimore.[2]
The award was inaugurated in 1988 as the biennial "School Library Journal Young Adult Author Award/Selected and Administered by the American Library Association's Young Adult Services Division".[2] After 1990, it was renamed and made annual.[a] It continues to be sponsored bySchool Library Journal and administered by theYoung Adult Library Services Association, descendant of YASD.[1] The winner is announced during the ALA midwinter meeting and the citation and $2000 cash prize are presented at a luncheon during the ALA annual conference (June 27 – July 2 in 2013).[3]
The "young adult" class of books developed in library collections and publisher promotions, andyoung adult literature became a "respected field of study", in the second half of the twentieth century.[2] WhenSchool Library Journal initiated the award for YA writers, the ALA awards program recognized the YA class only by annual lists of recommended books, the Best Books for Young Adults and a list "for the reluctant YA reader".[2] (Indeed, thePrintz Award for the year's best book was established only in 1999.) Chief editor Lillian N. Gerhardt determined thatSLJ should merely sponsor the award and recruited the ALA Young Adult Services Division to administer it.[2]
The official name of the award approved in 1986 was unusually long even with initialisms, "TheSLJ Young Adult Author Award/Selected and Administered by the ALA's YASD". In the 1988 and 1990 award citations as presented online decades later, it is called the "Young Adult Services Division/School Library Journal Author Achievement Award".[b] During the third cycle it was made annual and renamed for the recently deceased Edwards.[2][c]
As of the fourth cycle, 1991/1992, the committee was charged to select "a living author or co-author whose book or books, over a period of time, have been accepted by young people as an authentic voice that continues to illuminate their experiences and emotions, giving insight into their lives." Among other specific criteria, the body of work should have "acceptable literary quality" and be "currently popular with a wide range of young adults in the many different parts of the country".[2] Furthermore, the winner must "agree to personally accept the award at the following Annual Conference", about five months after the selection.[2]
SLJ editor Gerhardt covered the award at least once, in an editorial at the time of inaugural presentation toS. E. Hinton (June 1988). For some time beginning 1990, the June issue ofSLJ covered the current award and carried an interview with the preceding winner.[2]
The honored writers have been natives and lifelong residents of the United States exceptAnne McCaffrey,Terry Pratchett,Susan Cooper, andMarkus Zusak.[d]
| Year | Author | Cited works | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | S. E. Hinton |
| |
| 1989 | (no award)[a] | ||
| 1990 | Richard Peck |
| |
| 1991 | Robert Cormier |
| |
| 1992 | Lois Duncan |
| |
| 1993 | M. E. Kerr |
| |
| 1994 | Walter Dean Myers |
| |
| 1995 | Cynthia Voigt |
| |
| 1996 | Judy Blume |
| |
| 1997 | Gary Paulsen |
| |
| 1998 | Madeleine L'Engle |
| |
| 1999 | Anne McCaffrey |
| |
| 2000 | Chris Crutcher |
| |
| 2001 | Robert Lipsyte |
| |
| 2002 | Paul Zindel | ||
| 2003 | Nancy Garden |
| |
| 2004 | Ursula K. Le Guin |
| |
| 2005 | Francesca Lia Block |
| |
| 2006 | Jacqueline Woodson |
| |
| 2007 | Lois Lowry |
| |
| 2008 | Orson Scott Card |
| |
| 2009 | Laurie Halse Anderson |
| [5] |
| 2010 | Jim Murphy | [6] | |
| 2011 | Terry Pratchett |
| [7] |
| 2012 | Susan Cooper |
| [8] |
| 2013 | Tamora Pierce |
| [3] |
| 2014 | Markus Zusak |
| |
| 2015 | Sharon M. Draper |
| |
| 2016 | David Levithan |
| |
| 2017 | Sarah Dessen |
| |
| 2018 | Angela Johnson |
| |
| 2019 | M. T. Anderson | ||
| 2020 | Steve Sheinkin |
| |
| 2021 | Kekla Magoon |
| |
| 2022 | A. S. King |
| |
| 2023 | Jason Reynolds |
| [9] |
| 2024 | Neal Shusterman |
| [10] |
| 2025 | Tiffany D. Jackson |
| [11] |
Jacqueline Woodson andWalter Dean Meyers have won both the Edwards Award and theChildren's Literature Legacy Award, which the ALA children's division (ALSC) awards for "substantial and lasting contributions to children's literature" (from 1954, now annual).
Four Edwards winners have been selected by ALSC to deliver its annualMay Hill Arbuthnot Lecture:Susan Cooper in 2001,Ursula K. Le Guin in 2004,Walter Dean Myers in 2009, andLois Lowry in 2011. ALSC considers the Arbuthnot selection, inaugurated in 1970, another career award for contribution to children's literature. The lecturer prepares and delivers—currently about 16 months after selection—"a paper considered to be a significant contribution to the field of children's literature", which is also published in the ALSC journal.[12]
