The Michael L. Printz Award is an literary award that honors the best Young Adult book of the year, as judged by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association (ALA). It is awarded as part of the Youth Media Awards and the ALA Midwinter Meeting, with much fanfare. It compliments the The William C. Morris YA Debut Award for new YA authors, the less prestigious Best Fiction for Young Adults and YALSA's Readers' Choice Booklist, and a handful of others, all of which are put up by various divisions of the ALA.
Winners of the Printz Award are judged entirely on their literary merit, as opposed to their popularity or their message. Books may be fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or anthology, although the great majority of them are novels. To be eligible a work must be published for young adults (ages 12 through 18), either be published in America or have had an American edition published, and the eligible edition must have been published between January 1 and December 31 of the year preceding the award. If no books are deemed eligible, no award is given. However, it is much more frequently the case that there are too many eligible books, so up to four honor books may also be named.
The award is named after Michael "Mike" Printz , a school librarian who later became marketing consultant for a major company; he had a passion for books and reading, and particularly appreciated YA authors. He was an active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). He lived in Topeka, Kansas until his death in 1996. The award named in his honor was first awarded in 2000.
2012
Winner: Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
Honor Books:
Why We Broke Up, written by Daniel Handler, art by Maira Kalman
The Returning, by Christine Hinwood
Jasper Jones, by Craig Silvey
The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater
2011
Winner: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
Honor Books:
Stolen by Lucy Christopher
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
Nothing by Janne Teller
2010
Winner: Going Bovine by Libba Bray
Honor Books:
Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
Punkzilla by Adam Rapp
Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973 by John Barnes
2009
Winner: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Honor Books:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 2: The Kingdom on the Waves by M. T. Anderson
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
2008
Winner: The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
Honor Books:
Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet by Elizabeth Knox
One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke
Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins
Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill
2007
Winner: American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang
Honor Books:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; v. 1: The Pox Party, by M.T. Anderson.
An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green
Surrender, by Sonya Hartnett
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
2006
Winner: Looking for Alaska, by John Green
Honor Books:
Black Juice, by Margo Lanagan
I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak
John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth, a Photographic Biography, by Elizabeth Partridge
A Wreath for Emmett Till, by Marilyn Nelson
2005
Winner: how i live now, by Meg Rosoff
Honor Books:
Airborn, by Kenneth Oppel
Chanda’s Secrets, by Allan Stratton
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, by Gary D. Schmidt
2004:
Winner: The First Part Last, by Angela Johnson
Honor Books:
A Northern Light, by Jennifer Donnelly
Keesha’s House, by Helen Frost
Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
2003
Winner: Postcards from No Man’s Land, by Aidan Chambers
Honor Books:
The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer
My Heartbeat, by Garret Freymann-Weyr
Hole in My Life, by Jack Gantos
2002
Winner: A Step From Heaven, by An Na
Honor Books:
The Ropemaker, by Peter Dickinson
Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art, by Jan Greenberg Abrams
Freewill, by Chris Lynch
True Believer, by Virginia Euwer Wolff
2001
Winner: Kit’s Wilderness, by David Almond
Honor Books:
Many Stones, by Carolyn Coman
The Body of Christopher Creed, by Carol Plum-Ucci
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, by Louise Rennison
Stuck in Neutral, by Terry Trueman
2000
Winner: Monster, by Walter Dean Myers
Honor Books:
Skellig, by David Almond
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
Hard Love, by Ellen Wittlinger
References:
American Library Association: YALSA
American Library Association: Michael L. Pintz Award
Wikipedia: Michael L. Printz Award