Michael L. Printz Award 2025: Complete list of winners

The Michael L. Printz Award, one of the most prestigious honors in young adult publishing, has announced its 2025 winners, recognizing the year’s most distinguished contributions to teen literature. Named after a pioneering librarian and advocate for YA books, the Printz Award has long served as a bellwether for quality writing that takes teenage readers seriously—stories that don’t talk down to their audience but instead meet them with complexity, emotional depth, and artistic merit. This year’s selections continue that tradition of honoring work that challenges, provokes, and resonates with the young people who read them.

The 2025 Young Adult winner is Brownstone by Samuel Teerwith Mar Julia (illustrated), a recognition that speaks to the award’s evolving appreciation for visually rich storytelling and innovative formats. Teerwith Mar Julia’s work represents the kind of boundary-pushing creation that the Printz Award has championed over its twenty-plus year history—literature that expands what young adult fiction can be and how it can communicate meaning to its readers. The selection underscores a growing trend in the field toward recognizing illustrated novels and graphic narratives as serious artistic endeavors worthy of literary distinction.

Below you’ll find complete details about this year’s honorees and the specifics that make their achievements significant in the broader landscape of young adult publishing.

Young Adult

• Brownstone by Samuel Teerwith Mar Julia (illus.)