Home   Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Awards & Grants

YALSA is pleased to offer the following grants and awards to librarians and authors who serve young adults. Each year, the YALSA office distributes more than $33,000 in awards and grants. Please click on the individual grant for application information.

Book Awards

• Alex Awards. Each year, ten books published for adults are selected to receive the Alex Award because of their potential appeal to teens. These awards are part of the Adult Books for Young Adults Project sponsored by YALSA and Booklist and supported by the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust.
• Margaret A. Edwards Award. Sponsored by School Library Journal, this $2000 award is given to an author whose book or books have provided young adults with a window through which they can view their world and which will help them to grow and to understand themselves and their role in society. The winner is announced annually at the ALA Awards Press Conference at the Midwinter Meeting.
• Michael L. Printz Award. Sponsored by Booklist, this award honors the highest literary achievement in books for young adults for a book published during the preceding year, beginning in 2000.
• Odyssey Award. Given to the producer of the best audiobook produced for children and young adults, available in English in the United States.
• William C. Morris YA Debut Award. Beginning in 2009, this award will honor the best book written for young adults by a first-time author during the preceding year. It is supported by the William C. Morris endowment.

Member Awards and Grants

• Baker and Taylor/YALSA Conference Grants. This grant is funded by the Baker and Taylor Company. The two grants of $1,000 each are awarded to librarians who work directly with young adults in a public or school library to enable them to attend the Annual Conference for the first time. Applications must be received in the YALSA office by December 1.
• BWI/YALSA Collection Development Grant. This biennial grant is funded by BWI and awards $1000 for collection development to YALSA members who represent a public library, and who work directly with young adults ages 12 to 18. Applications must be received in the YALSA office by December 1.
• YALSA/Greenwood Publishing Group Service to Young Adults Achievement Award. This grant of $2,000 is funded by Greenwood Publishing and recognizes the national contributions of a YALSA member who has demonstrated unique and sustained devotion in two or more of the following areas to young adult services: promoting literature or programming for young adults, conducting and publishing research about young adults, mentoring other professionals in the field, or for notable efforts in the work of the Young Adult Library Services Association.  The purpose of the cash award will be to enable the recipient to further his or her good work in the field of young adult librarianship. The award will next be given in 2010, with the applicatications due Dec. 1, 2009.
• The MAE Award for a Young Adult Reading or Literature Program. (File in .pdf.) The Sagebrush Award is designed to honor a member(s) of the Young Adult Library Services Association who has developed an outstanding reading or literature program for young adults. The award provides a grant of $1,000 to support the winning member's attendance at the ALA Annual Conference. The award is made possible through the Margaret A. Edwards Trust. Applications must be received in the YALSA office by December 1.
• Frances Henne/YALSA/VOYA Research Grant. This grant of $500 is to provide seed money for small scale projects which will encourage research that responds to the YALSA Research Agenda. Applications must be received in the YALSA office by December 1.
• Great Book Giveaway Competition.  Each year the YALSA office receives approximately 1200 newly published children's, young adult and adult books, videos, CD's and audio cassettes for review. YALSA and the cooperating publishers are offering one year's worth of review materials as a contribution to a library in need. Applications must be received in the YALSA office by the first business day of December. The estimated value of this collection is $25,000.