Previous Winners

2024 Winner

Better Than the Movies

by Lynn Painter
Michael, to whom Liz Buxbaum gave her heart long ago, has returned but to get his attention and, perhaps, a prom date she must scheme with her nemesis Wes, her next-door neighbor.

2023 Winners (TIE)

Blackout

by Dhonelle Clayton, Tiffany D Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon
A summer heatwave blankets New York City in darkness. But as the city is thrown into confusion, a different kind of electricity sparks as several stories weave together.

Today Tonight Tomorrow

by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Rowan and Neil have been in competition with one another since freshman year. But in the last twenty-four hours of high school, the two learn they share something much deeper than a rivalry.

2022 Winner

Stamped

by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi 
This vital volume traces the history of racism and the many political, literary, and philosophical narratives that have been used to justify slavery, oppression, and genocide.

2021 Winner

The Cheerleaders

by Kara Thomas 
There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.  There was a car accident, murders, and a suicide - no one wants to be reminded of the girls they lost.  But Monica is starting to unravel with her need to know more.

2020 Winner

One of Us is Lying

by Karen M. McManus
When the creator of a high school gossip app mysteriously dies in front of four high-profile students, all four become suspects.  It's up to them to solve the case.   

2019 Winner

The Hate U Give

by Angie Thomas
After witnessing her friend's death at the hands of a police officier, Starr Carter's life is complicated when the police and a local drug lord try to intimidate her in an effort to learn what happened the night Kahill died.

2018 Winner

Scythe

by Neal Shusterman
In a aworld where disease has been eliminates, the only way to die is to be randomly killed (gleaned by professional reapers (scythes).  Two teens must compete with each other to become a scythe--a position neither of them wants.  The one who becomes a scythe must kill the one who doesn't. 

2017 Winner

Everything Everything

by Nicola Yoon
Maddy is allergic to the outside world.  When a new family moves in next door, she finds her insular world becoming stifling and complicated. 

2016 Winner

Dogs of War

by Sheila Keenan
Based on true stories, these fictional grpahic novel vignette showcase soldiers in World War I & II, and the Vietnam War who were aided by combat dogs.

2015 Winners (TIE)

Eleanor & Park*

by Rainbow Rowell
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits---smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

Steelheart

by Brandon Sanderson
At age eight, David watched as his father was killed by an Epic, a human with superhuman powers, and now, ten years later, he joins the Reckoners--the only people who are trying to kill the Epics and end their tyranny. 

2014 Winner - The Fault in Our Stars

by John Green
Hazel has been living her life as a terminal cancer patient until she meets Augustus at the dreaded "Cancer Kid Support Group" and her life changes in unexpected ways.

2013 Winner - Divergent

by Veronica Roth
Beatrice lives in a future where she must choose between five factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she learns she doesn't belong in any one faction in a society that is far from perfect.

2012 Winner - Matched

by Allie Condie
Cassia always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her, but she begins to question just how perfect her world really is when she notices things are not what they seem.

2011 Winner - Graceling

by Kristin Cashore
Born with the Grace of strength and speed, Katsa is an assassin. Her uncle, King Randa, exploits her for his own purposes, but she wants to use her skills for nobler pursuits.

2010 Winner - The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins
Welcome to the Hunger Games, a Capitol-endorsed reality TV show in which Katniss can only prevail by killing the other players … even Peeta, who once saved her from starvation.

2009 Winner - The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

by Michael Scott
Twins Sophi and Josh are caught in a battle between two alchemists over an ancient book containing the secret of eternal life.

2008 Winner - Lush

by Natasha Friend

Sam decides to get a new friend to help her cope with her alcoholic father and a mother in denial by leaving a biographical letter in a library book.

2007 Winner - Twilight

by Stephenie Meyer
When Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who, she comes to realize, is not wholly human.

2006 Winner - One of those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

by Sonja Sones
Ruby leaves her best friend, her boyfriend, her aunt, and her mother's grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star she barely knows.

2005 Winner - Eragon

by Christopher Paolini
In Alagaesia, a 15-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters.

2004 Winner - House of the Scorpion

by Nancy Farmer

To most people around him, Matt is no better than an animal because he is a clone, but he could the only hope for the future of all humanity.

2003 

No award was given out in 2003 due to committee reorganization.                                      

2002 Winner - Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

by Ann Brashares
A "magical" pair of thrift store pants accompanies four friends on their separate summer vacations, altering their experiences, and changing their views about each other and life,

2001 Winner - Give a Boy a Gun

by Todd Strasser
Two students barricade their classmates and teachers in the gym and hold them at gunpoint. What events drove them to this desperate act.