Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults

About the Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults
An award for the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a November 1 – October 31 publishing year.

Administered by:

Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) logo

2020 Winner(s)

Free Lunch, written by Rex Ogle and published by Norton Young Readers, an imprint of W.W. Norton & Company.


2020 Finalist(s)

A Thousand Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II, written by Elizabeth Wein and published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers


A Light in the Darkness: Janusz Korczak, His Orphans, and the Holocaust, written by Albert Marrin and published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House


The Great Nijinsky: God of Dance, written and illustrated by Lynn Curlee and published by Charlesbridge Teen


Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of “The Children's Ship", written by Deborah Heiligman and published by Henry Holt, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group