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The William C. Morris YA Debut Award, first awarded in 2009, honors a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature. The award's namesake is William C. Morris, an influential innovator in the publishing world and an advocate for marketing books for children and young adults. Bill Morris left an impressive mark on the field of children’s and young adult literature. He was beloved in the publishing field and the library profession for his generosity and marvelous enthusiasm for promoting literature for children and teens.
List of Morris winner and finalists from 2009 to present. The William C. Morris Award honors a book written for young adults by a first-time, previously unpublished author.
2024 Morris Award Winner
2024 Morris Award Winner
Rez Ball
Rez Ball
written by Byron Graves and published by Heartdrum, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school team—even though he can’t help but be constantly gut-punched with memories of his big brother, Jaxon, who died in an accident. When Jaxon's former teammates on the varsity team offer to take Tre under their wing, he sees this as his shot to represent his Ojibwe rez all the way to their first state championship. This is the first step toward his dream of playing in the NBA, no matter how much the odds are stacked against him. But stepping into his brother’s shoes as a star player means that Tre can’t mess up. Not on the court, not at school, and not with his new friend, gamer Khiana, who he is definitely not falling in love with. After decades of rez teams almost making it, Tre needs to take his team to state. Because if he can live up to Jaxon's dreams, their story isn’t over yet.
2024 Morris Award Finalists
2024 Morris Award Finalists
All the Fighting Parts
All the Fighting Parts
written by Hannah V. Sawyerr and published by Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams.
In the vein of Grown and The Poet X, a searing and defiant novel in verse about reclaiming agency after a sexual assault within the church community
Once There Was
Once There Was
written by Kiyash Monsef and published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
A novel about an Iranian American girl who discovers that her father was secretly a veterinarian to mythical creatures—and that she must take up his mantle, despite the many dangers.
Saints of the Household
Saints of the Household
written by Ari Tison and published by Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group.
Saints of the Household is a haunting contemporary YA about an act of violence in a small-town--told by a debut Indigenous Costa Rican-American writer.
She Is a Haunting
She Is a Haunting
written by Trang Thanh Tran and published by Bloomsbury YA, a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.
A house with a terrifying appetite haunts a broken family in this atmospheric horror, perfect for fans of Mexican Gothic.
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