The National Book Award for Young People's Literature is one of five annual National Book Awards given by the National Book Foundation (NBF) to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers". The judging panel are five "writers who are known to be doing great work in their genre or field".
The category Young People's Literature was established in 1996. From 1969 to 1983, prior to the Foundation, there were some "Children's" categories.
The award recognizes one book written by a US citizen and published in the US from December 1 of the previous year to November 30 in the award year. The National Book Foundation accepts nominations from publishers until June 15, requires mailing nominated books to the panelists by August 1, and announces five finalists in October. The winner is announced on the day of the final ceremony in November. The award is $10,000 and a bronze sculpture; other finalists get $1000, a medal, and a citation written by the panel.
There were 230 books nominated for the 2010 award. This had risen to 333 submissions by 2024.
Books for "children" were first recognized by the National Book Awards in 1969 (publication year 1968). Through 1979, a single award category existed, called either "Children's Literature" or "Children's Books."
In 1980, under the new name The American Book Awards (TABA), the number of literary award categories jumped to 28, including two for Children's Books: hardcover and paperback. In the following three years, there were three, five, and five Children's Book award categoriesâÂÂthus fifteen in four yearsâÂÂbefore the program was revamped with only three annual awards and none for children's books. All books in the fiction paperback category were reprints except 1983's fiction paperback co-winner Marked by Fire.
From 1984 to 1995, the National Book Foundation did not present awards for young people's literature.
Two authors have won two Children's or Young People's awards twice.
Isaac Bashevis Singer won the Children's Literature award in 1970 for A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing up in Warsaw and shared the Fiction award in 1974 for A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories.