The judges select nonfiction titles published for young adults that were published the previous year between November 1 and October 31.[4] All print forms that are marked as intended for young adults are eligible for consideration, including graphic formats. To be eligible, "the title must include excellent writing, research, presentation and readability for young adults." The Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults award is one of few that recognizes nonfiction for young adults.[5] [6]
Year! scope="col" | Author | Title | Result | |
|---|
| 2010 | | Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith | Winner | [7] |
|---|
| | Finalist |
| |
| The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P. T. Barnum |
| Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland |
| 2011 | | Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing | Winner | [8] |
|---|
| and Peter Robertshaw | Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates | Finalist |
| Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement |
| The Dark Game: True Spy Stories |
| They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group |
| 2012 | | The Notorious Benedict Arnold A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, by Treachery
| Winner | [9] |
|---|
| Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition | Finalist |
| Music Was IT: Young Leonard Bernstein |
| and Marina Budhos | Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom and Science |
| Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) |
| 2013 | | | Winner | [10] |
|---|
| Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 | Finalist |
| Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different |
| Titanic: Voices from the Disaster |
| We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children's March |
| 2014 | | The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World's Most Notorious Nazi | Winner | [11] |
|---|
| | Finalist |
| Go: A Kidd's Guide to Graphic Design |
| Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans During World War II |
| The President Has Been Shot! The Assassination of John F. Kennedy |
| 2015 | | Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek | Winner | [12] |
|---|
| Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business -- and Won! | Finalist |
| Laughing at My Nightmare |
| The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia |
| The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights |
| 2016 | | Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War | Winner | [13] |
|---|
| Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir | Finalist |
| Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad |
| First Flight Around the World: The Adventures of the American Fliers Who Won the Race |
| This Strange Wilderness: The Life and Art of John James Audubon |
| 2017 | and Andrew Aydin with Nate Powell (Illus.) | | Winner | [14] [15] |
|---|
| Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Woman Living History | Finalist |
| In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives |
| with Gareth Hinds (Illus.) | Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune |
| This Land Is Our Land: A History of American Immigration |
| 2018 | | Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers | Winner | [16] |
|---|
| and Lisa Charleyboy | - NotYourPrincess
Voices of Native American Women
| Finalist |
| and Marina Tamar Budhos | Eyes of the World: Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and the Invention of Modern Photojournalism |
| The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives |
| The Whydah: A Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked, and Found |
| 2019 | | The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees | Winner | [17] [18] |
|---|
| Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam | Finalist |
| Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt With Family Addiction |
| The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor |
| The Faithful Spy |
| 2020 | | Free Lunch | Winner | [19] |
|---|
| A Light in the Darkness: Janusz Korczak, His Orphans, and the Holocaust | Finalist |
| A Thousand Sisters The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II
|
| The Great Nijinsky: God of Dance |
| Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of The Children's Ship |
| 2021 | | The Rise & Fall of Charles Lindbergh | Winner | [20] |
|---|
| | Finalist |
| with Laura L. Sullivan | The Cat I Never Named: A True Story of Love, War, and Survival |
| How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity's Greatest Adventure |
| You Call This Democracy?: How to Fix Our Democracy and Deliver Power to the People |
| 2022 | | Ambushed | The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield
| Winner | |
|---|
| | Finalist |
| From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement |
| In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers: The Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months and Years After the 9/11 Attacks |
| The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life |
| 2023 | and Derrick Barnes with Dawud Anyabwile (Illus.) | Victory. Stand | Raising My Fist for Justice
| Winner | [21] |
|---|
| Abuela, Don't Forget Me | Finalist | [22] |
| American Murderer: The Parasite that Haunted the South |
| A Face for Picasso: Coming of Age with Crouzon Syndrome |
| and Marc Favreau | Unequal: A Story of America |
| 2024 | Dashka Slater | Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed | Finalist | [23] |
|---|
| Ariel Aberg-Riger | America Redux: Visual Stories from Our Dynamic History |
| Thien Pham | Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam | |
