Printz Award

Michael L. Printz Award
Awarded for	the year's "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit"
Country	United States
Presented by	Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association
First awarded	2000
Official website	ala.org/yalsa/printz

The Michael L. Printz Award is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit". It is sponsored by Booklist magazine; administered by the ALA's young-adult division, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA); and named for the Topeka, Kansas, school librarian Mike Printz, a long-time active member of YALSA.

Up to four worthy runners-up may be designated Honor Books and three or four have been named every year.

John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell won the 18th Printz Award (2017) for March: Book Three, published by Top Shelf Productions. It was announced during the ALA midwinter meeting, January 23, 2017, when four Honor Books were also named (below).

The Printz Award was founded in 2000 for 1999 publications. The Printz Award "was created as a counterpoint to the Newbery" in order to highlight the best and most literary works of excellence written for a young adult audience. Jonathon Hunt, a Horn Book reviewer, hopes that the Printz Award can create a "canon as revered as that of the Newbery."

Michael L. Printz was a librarian at Topeka West High School in Topeka, Kansas, until he retired in 1994. He was also an active member of YALSA, serving on the Best Books for Young Adults Committee and the Margaret A. Edwards Award Committee. He dedicated his life to ensuring that his students had access to good literature. To that end he encouraged writers to focus on the young adult audience. He created an author-in-residence program at the high school to promote new talent and encourage his students. His most noteworthy find was Chris Crutcher. Printz died at the age of 59 in 1996.

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