# William C. Morris Award

The William C. Morris YA Debut Award is an annual award given to a work of young adult literature by a "first-time author writing for teens". It is administered by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). It was named for twentieth-century American publisher William C. Morris (born 1928 or 1929 and raised up in Eagle Pass, Texas, died Sept 28, 2003 in Manhattan), whom YALSA calls an innovator and "an influential innovator in the publishing world and an advocate for marketing books for children and young adults".
The award is funded by the William C. Morris Endowment, established in 2000 and activated in 2003 with a bequest of $400,000 from the Morris estate. Morris gave the money to ALA to fund programs, publications, events, or awards in promotion of children's literature. In addition to being a member of ALA, Morris was the first recipient of its Distinguished Service Award in 1992. The shortlist for the first award was announced on December 8, 2008, and the winner, A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce, was announced on January 26, 2009, at the ALA's midwinter meeting.
"To be eligible, a title must have been designated by its publisher as being either a young adult book or one published for the age range that YALSA defines as 'young adult', i.e., 12 through 18". About 4000 "YA titles" are published annually and about 10% may be debuts.

## Recipients

Morris Award winners and finalists :
| Year | Author | Book | Citation |
| 2009 | Elizabeth C. Bunce | A Curse Dark as Gold | Winner |
| 2009 | Kristin Cashore | Graceling | Finalist |
| 2009 | Celeste Lecesne | Absolute Brightness | Finalist |
| 2009 | Christina Meldrum | Madapple | Finalist |
| 2009 | Jenny Valentine | Me, the Missing, and the Dead | Finalist |
| 2010 | L. K. Madigan | Flash Burnout | Winner |
| 2010 | Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl | Beautiful Creatures | Finalist |
| 2010 | Amy Huntley | The Everafter | Finalist |
| 2010 | Nina LaCour | Hold Still | Finalist |
| 2010 | Malinda Lo | Ash | Finalist |
| 2011 | Blythe Woolston | The Freak Observer | Winner |
| 2011 | Eishes Chayil | Hush | Finalist |
| 2011 | Karen Healey | Guardian of the Dead | Finalist |
| 2011 | Lish McBride | Hold Me Closer, Necromancer | Finalist |
| 2011 | Barbara Stuber | Crossing the Tracks | Finalist |
| 2012 | John Corey Whaley | Where Things Come Back | Winner |
| 2012 | Rae Carson | The Girl of Fire and Thorns | Finalist |
| 2012 | Jenny Hubbard | Paper Covers Rock | Finalist |
| 2012 | Guadalupe Garcia McCall | Under the Mesquite | Finalist |
| 2012 | Ruta Sepetys | Between Shades of Gray | Finalist |
| 2013 | Rachel Hartman | Seraphina | Winner |
| 2013 | S. D. Crockett | After the Snow | Finalist |
| 2013 | Laura Buzo | Love and Other Perishable Items | Finalist |
| 2013 | Emily M. Danforth | The Miseducation of Cameron Post | Finalist |
| 2013 | Hannah Barnaby | Wonder Show | Finalist |
| 2014 | Stephanie Kuehn | Charm & Strange | Winner |
| 2014 | Carrie Mesrobian | Sex & Violence | Finalist |
| 2014 | Evan Roskos | Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets | Finalist |
| 2014 | Elizabeth Ross | Belle Epoque | Finalist |
| 2014 | Cat Winters | In the Shadow of Blackbirds | Finalist |
| 2015 | Isabel Quintero | Gabi, A Girl in Pieces | Winner |
| 2015 | Jessie Ann Foley | The Carnival at Bray | Finalist |
| 2015 | E. K. Johnston | The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim | Finalist |
| 2015 | Len Vlahos | The Scar Boys | Finalist |
| 2015 | Leslye Walton | The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender | Finalist |
| 2016 | Becky Albertalli | Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda | Winner |
| 2016 | Leah Thomas | Because You'll Never Meet Me | Finalist |
| 2016 | Kelly Loy Gilbert | Conviction | Finalist |
| 2016 | Stephanie Oakes | The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly | Finalist |
| 2016 | Anna-Marie McLemore | The Weight of Feathers | Finalist |
| 2017 | Jeff Zentner | The Serpent King | Winner |
| 2017 | M-E Girard | Girl Mans Up | Finalist |
| 2017 | Sonia Patel | Rani Patel in Full Effect | Finalist |
| 2017 | Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock | The Smell of Other People’s Houses | Finalist |
| 2017 | Calla Devlin | Tell Me Something Real | Finalist |
| 2018 | Angie Thomas | The Hate U Give | Winner |
| 2018 | Nic Stone | Dear Martin | Finalist |
| 2018 | S.F. Henson | Devils Within | Finalist |
| 2018 | S.K. Ali | Saints and Misfits | Finalist |
| 2018 | Akemi Dawn Bowman | Starfish | Finalist |
| 2019 | Adib Khorram | Darius the Great is Not Okay | Winner |
| 2019 | Joy McCullough | Blood Water Paint | Finalist |
| 2019 | Ngozi Ukazu | Check, Please!: #Hockey | Finalist |
| 2019 | Tomi Adeyemi | Children of Blood and Bone | Finalist |
| 2019 | Vesper Stamper | What the Night Sings | Finalist |
| 2020 | Ben Philippe | The Field Guide to the North American Teenager | Winner |
| 2020 | Nafiza Azad | The Candle and the Flame | Finalist |
| 2020 | David Yoon | Frankly in Love | Finalist |
| 2020 | Alicia D. Williams | Genesis Begins Again | Finalist |
| 2020 | Katy Rose Pool | There Will Come a Darkness | Finalist |
| 2021 | Kyrie McCauley | If These Wings Could Fly | Winner |
| 2021 | Echo Brown | Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard | Finalist |
| 2021 | Christina Hammonds Reed | The Black Kids | Finalist |
| 2021 | Nina Kenwood | It Sounded Better in My Head | Finalist |
| 2021 | Isabel Ibañez | Woven in Moonlight | Finalist |
| 2022 | Angeline Boulley | Firekeeper's Daughter | Winner |
| 2022 | Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé | Ace of Spades | Finalist |
| 2022 | Margie Fuston | Vampires, Hearts & Other Dead Things | Finalist |
| 2022 | Amber McBride | Me (Moth) | Finalist |
| 2022 | Cory Anderson | What Beauty There Is | Finalist |
| 2023 | Isaac Blum | The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen | Winner |
| 2023 | Jen Ferguson | The Summer of Bitter and Sweet | Finalist |
| 2023 | Elizabeth Kilcoyne | Wake the Bones | Finalist |
| 2023 | Sonora Reyes | The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School | Finalist |
| 2023 | Andrew Joseph White | Hell Followed with Us | Finalist |
| 2024 | Byron Graves | Rez Ball | Winner |
| 2024 | Hannah V. Sawyerr | All the Fighting Parts | Finalist |
| 2024 | Kiyash Monsef | Once There Was | Finalist |
| 2024 | Ari Tison | Saints of the Household | Finalist |
| 2024 | Trang Thanh Tran | She Is a Haunting | Finalist |