Michael L. Printz Award 2020s: A decade of winners
The first half of the 2020s proved to be a transformative period for the Michael L. Printz Award, the American Library Association’s annual honor for the most distinguished literature written for young adults. As the award entered its third decade, it found itself recognizing increasingly diverse narratives that refused to be confined by conventional YA storytelling. A. S. King’s Dig (2020) opened the decade with its mind-bending exploration of family trauma and excavation—both literal and psychological—while Daniel Nayeri’s Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story) (2021) shattered genre boundaries by weaving together memoir, poetry, and philosophical inquiry. These early selections set a tone: the Printz was rewarding experimental storytelling and authentic complexity over polished accessibility.
By mid-decade, the award’s scope continued to expand in fascinating ways. Angeline Boulley’s Firekeeper’s Daughter (2022) brought Indigenous narratives to the forefront with its gripping exploration of tribal sovereignty and identity, while Sabaa Tahir’s All My Rage (2023) demonstrated how the Printz increasingly centered stories of Muslim American teens alongside their struggles and joys. Perhaps most notably, the 2024 award recognized The Collectors: Stories, an ambitious collaborative anthology edited by A. S. King that brought together ten acclaimed authors—from Jason Reynolds to David Levithan to Jenny Torres Sanchez—creating a conversation across voices that showcased young adult literature’s capacity for collective storytelling. These selections reflect a decade in which the Printz award has become a barometer for literary ambition in YA, championing books that challenge, experiment, and insist on being heard.
Below, explore the complete list of Michael L. Printz Award winners and honors from 2020 through 2024:
2020
Young Adult
Dig by A. S. King
2021
Young Adult
- Everything Sad Is Untrue(a true story) by Daniel Nayeri
2022
Young Adult
- Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
2023
Young Adult
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
2024
Young Adult
The Collectors: Stories by A. S. King(ed.), written by King,M. T. Anderson,E.E. Charlton-Trujillo,David Levithan,Cory McCarthy,Anna-Marie McLemore,Greg Neri,Jason Reynolds,Randy Ribay, andJenny Torres Sanchez