The Lambda Literary Awards (also known as the "Lammys") are awarded yearly by the US-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works that celebrate or explore LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) themes. The organization is considered to be one of the main promoters of new and emerging LGBT writers.[1] [2]
The Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, one of the Lammys 25 awards, was introduced during the 2nd Lambda Literary Awards, when it was called "Young Adult/Children’s Book Award".[3] After not being present in the 1991 ceremonies, the award returned in the 4th edition under the name "Children's/Young Adult Literature".[4] Starting in 2007, it has been known as the "LGBTQ Children's/Young Adult" award.[5]
The 25th Lambda Literary Awards had a record number of submissions at the time. Due to the increased number of books submitted for evaluation, the judges of every category were encouraged to submit more finalists.[6] After that, and since the 26th edition, if the number of submissions is high enough, the Children's/Young Adult category is divided in two subcategories, "Children's/Middle Grade" and "Young Adult", which happened in the 2020[7] and 2021 editions.[8]
David Levithan has won the award a total of three times, in 2004, 2007 and 2014, and was nominated another three times. Jacqueline Woodson has been awarded two Lammys in this category, in 1996 and 1998. As of 2020, Kacen Callender, which published This is Kind of an Epic Love Story and Hurricane Child both in 2018, is the only author to have two nominations for the same year. Hurricane Child was also the winner on that same year.
| "Middle Grade" nominee/winner | YA | "Young Adult" nominee/winner | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ill. | Illustrator | ed. | Editor | |||
| Winner | ||||||
| 1990 | Losing Uncle Tim | Albert Whitman & Co. | Winner | [9] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| with Diane Souza (ill.) | Heather Has Two Mommies | In Other Words Press | Finalist | ||
| Jack | Macmillan | ||||
| Unlived Affections | Harper & Row Juvenile | ||||
| When Someone You Know Is Gay | Evans | ||||
| 1992 | with Lynette Schmidt (ill.) | The Duke Who Outlawed Jelly Beans: and Other Stories | Alyson Wonderland | Winner | [10] |
| with Russel Crocker (ill.) | Gloria Goes to Gay Pride | Alyson Wonderland | Finalist | ||
| and Meredith Maran with Kris Kovick (ill.) | How Would You Feel if Your Dad was Gay? | Alyson Wonderland | |||
| Lark in the Morning | Farrar Straus Giroux | ||||
| Sudden Strangers | St. Martin's Press | ||||
| 1993 | When Heroes Die | Atheneum | Winner | [11] | |
| with Catherine Hopkins (ill.) | A Boy's Best Friend | Alyson Wonderland | Finalist | ||
| with Catherine Hopkins (ill.) | Day They Put a Tax on Rainbows | Alyson Wonderland | |||
| Drowning of Stephan Jones | Bantam Books | ||||
| with Lynette Schmidt (ill.) | The Daddy Machine | Alyson Wonderland | |||
| 1994 | The Cat Came Back | Naiad Press | Winner | [12] | |
| Living In Secret | Bantam Books | Finalist | |||
| with Annete Hegel (ill.) | Saturday is Pattyday | New Victoria | |||
| Uncle What-Is-It Is Coming To Visit | Alyson Wonderland | ||||
| We're Not Alone | Lavender Press | ||||
| 1995 | (ed.) | Am I Blue? | Harper Children's | Winner | [13] |
| (ed.) | 2 Teenagers In 20 | Alyson Books | Finalist | ||
| Dive | Dutton Children's Books | ||||
| Oscar Wilde | Chelsea House / Infobase Publishing | ||||
| Tiger Flowers | Dial Press | ||||
| 1996 | From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun | Blue Sky Press | Winner | [14] | |
| Baby Be-Bop | HarperCollins | Finalist | |||
| My Two Uncles | Albert Whitman & Co. | ||||
| Passage of Pride | Times Books | ||||
| Toby's Lie | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| 1997 | Good Moon Rising | Farrar Straus Giroux | Winner | [15] | |
| Daddy's Wedding | Alyson Books | Finalist | |||
| and Kate Kaufman | Free Your Mind | Harper Perennial | |||
| My Dad Has HIV | Fairview Press | ||||
| The World Out There | The New Press | ||||
| 1998 | The House You Pass On the Way | Delacorte Press / Dell Publishing | Winner | [16] | |
| Amy Asks a Question: Grandma, What's a Lesbian? | Mother Courage | Finalist | |||
| Blue Coyote | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| Sanctuary: a Tale of Life in the Woods | Scribner | ||||
| The Shared Heart | William Morrow and Company | ||||
| 1999 | Telling Tales Out of School | Alyson Books | Winner | [17] | |
| I Was a Teenage Fairy | HarperCollins | Finalist | |||
| with John Canemaker (ill.) | Lucy Goes to the Country | Alyson Books | |||
| Outspoken | Morrow Junior Books | ||||
| Queer 13 | Weisbach | ||||
| 2000 | Hard Love | Simon & Schuster | Winner | [18] | |
| Dare Truth or Promise | Finalist | [19] | |||
| Name Me Nobody | |||||
| The Blue Lawn | |||||
| The Year They Burned the Books | |||||
| 2001 | and Ellen Samuels (eds.) | Out of the Ordinary | St. Martin's Press | Winner | [20] |
| Eight Seconds | Harcourt | Finalist | |||
| Holly's Secret | Farrar Straus Giroux | ||||
| (ed.) | Revolutionary Voices | Alyson Books | |||
| The XY Survival Guide | XY | ||||
| 2002 | Finding H.F. | Alyson Books | Winner | [21] | |
| Empress of the World | Viking Press | Finalist | |||
| Love Rules | Morning Glory | ||||
| Rainbow Boys | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| Spot | Window | ||||
| 2003 | Letters in the Attic | Academy Chicago Press | Winner | [22] | |
| Felicia's Favorite Story | Two Lives Publishing | Finalist | |||
| and Stern Nijland | King & King | Ten Speed Press | |||
| Lover's Legends: The Gay Greek Myths | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| The Sissy Duckling | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| 2004 | Boy Meets Boy | Knopf Books for Young Readers | Winner | [23] | |
| Geography Club | HarperTempest | Finalist | |||
| Gravel Queen | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| Keeping You a Secret | Little, Brown and Company | ||||
| Rainbow High | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| 2005 | So Hard to Say | Simon & Schuster | Winner | [24] | |
| Luna | Little, Brown and Company | Finalist | |||
| Orphea Proud | Delacorte Press / Dell Publishing | ||||
| Rosemary and Juliet | Alice Street Editions | ||||
| The Realm of Possibility | Knopf Books for Young Readers | ||||
| 2006 | Swimming in the Monsoon Sea | Tundra Publishing | Winner | [25] | |
| and Justin Richardson | And Tango Makes Three | Simon & Schuster | Finalist | ||
| Antonio’s Card/La Tarjeta de Antonio | Lee & Low Books | ||||
| Rainbow Road | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| Totally Joe | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| 2007 | and Billy Merrell (eds.) | The Full Spectrum | Random House Children's Books | Winner | [26] |
| Between Mom & Jo | Little, Brown and Company | Finalist | |||
| Erik & Isabelle’s Junior Year at Foresthill High | Foglight Press | ||||
| Tale of Two Summers | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| The Manny Files | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| 2008 | Hero | Hyperion Books | Winner | [27] [28] | |
| Freak Show | Dutton Children's Books | Finalist | |||
| Parrotfish | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| Saints of Augustine | HarperTeen | ||||
| Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You | Farrar Straus Giroux | ||||
| 2009 | Out of the Pocket | Dutton Children's Books | Winner | [29] | |
| Hit the Road, Manny: A Manny Files Novel | Simon & Schuster | Finalist | |||
| How They Met & Other Stories | Knopf Children's Books | ||||
| Love & Lies: Marisol's Story | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| Mousetraps | Carolrhoda Books / Lerner Publishing Group | ||||
| What They Always Tell Us | Random House Children's Books | ||||
| 2010 | Sprout | Bloomsbury Publishing | Winner | [30] | |
| Ash | Little, Brown and Company | Finalist | |||
| (ed.) | How Beautiful the Ordinary | HarperCollins | |||
| In Mike We Trust | HarperCollins | ||||
| The Vast Fields of Ordinary | Penguin Books | ||||
| 2011 | Wildthorn | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | Winner | [31] [32] | |
| and Peter Parnell with Amy June Bates (ill.) | Christian, the Hugging Lion | Simon & Schuster | Finalist | [33] | |
| with Juliana Neufeld (ill.) | God Loves Hair | Vivek Shraya | |||
| Jumpstart the World | Random House Books for Children | ||||
| Love Drugged | Flux Books / Llewellyn Worldwide | ||||
| 2012 | Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy | Simon & Schuster | Winner | [34] | |
| Gemini Bites | Scholastic | Finalist | |||
| Huntress | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | [35] | |||
| I am J | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | ||||
| PINK | HarperCollins | ||||
| 2013 | Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe | Simon & Schuster | Winner | [36] | |
| Adaptation | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | Finalist | |||
| Ask the Passengers | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | ||||
| Beautiful Music for Ugly Children | Flux Books / Llewellyn Worldwide | ||||
| Every Day | Knopf Books for Young Readers | ||||
| Kiss the Morning Star | Amazon Children's Publishing | ||||
| Personal Effects | Candlewick Press | ||||
| Silhouette of a Sparrow | Milkweed Editions | ||||
| and Suzy Malik | The Adventure of Tulip, Birthday Wish Fairy | Flamingo Rampant | |||
| The Miseducation of Cameron Post | Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins | ||||
| 2014 | If You Could Be Mine | Algonquin Books / Workman Publishing Company | Winner | [37] [38] | |
| Two Boys Kissing | Knopf Books for Young Readers | ||||
| Better Nate Than Ever | Simon & Schuster | Finalist | |||
| Boy In Box | Hubbub Publishing | ||||
| Girls I've Run Away With | Moonshine Press | ||||
| Openly Straight | Arthur A. Levine Books / Scholastic Corporation | ||||
| with Rebecca Short (ed.) | The Secret Ingredient | Delacorte Press / Dell Publishing | |||
| The Summer Prince | |||||
| with Fiona Smyth (ill.) | What Makes a Baby | Triangle Square / Seven Stories Press | |||
| 2015 | Five, Six, Seven, Nate! | Simon & Schuster | Winner | [39] [40] [41] | |
| Candlewick Press | Finalist | ||||
| Double Exposure | Skyhorse Publishing | ||||
| Forgive Me If I've Told You This Before | Ooligan Press | ||||
| Lies We Tell Ourselves | Harlequin Teen | ||||
| Pukawiss the Outcast | Harmony Ink Press /Dreamspinner Press | ||||
| This is Not a Love Story | Harmony Ink Press /Dreamspinner Press | ||||
| When Everything Feels Like the Movies | Arsenal Pulp Press | ||||
| 2016 | George | Scholastic | Winner | [42] [43] | |
| About a Girl: A Novel | St. Martin's Griffin | Finalist | [44] | ||
| Anything Could Happen | Push | ||||
| Gay and Lesbian History for Kids: The Century-Long Struggle for LGBT Rights | Chicago Review Press | ||||
| More Happy Than Not | Soho Press | ||||
| None of the Above | Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins | ||||
| Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda | Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins | ||||
| The Marvels | Scholastic | ||||
| 2017 | Girl Mans Up | HarperTeen | Winner | [45] [46] | |
| Beast | Alfred A. Knopf | Finalist | [47] | ||
| Gravity | Bold Stroke Books | ||||
| Highly Illogical Behavior | Dial Press | ||||
| Not Your Sidekick | Novelstream | ||||
| Our Chemical Hearts | G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers | ||||
| Symptoms of Being Human | Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins | ||||
| The Midnight Star | G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers | ||||
| 2018 | Like Water | Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins | Winner | [48] [49] | |
| Ashes to Asheville | Putnam | Finalist | [50] | ||
| Autoboyography | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| Dreadnought: Nemesis | Diversion Books | ||||
| Girls Like Me | Bedazzled Ink | ||||
| with Robert Neubecker (ill.) | Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing | Dial Press | |||
| The Sidekicks | Harlequin Teen | ||||
| We Now Return to Regular Life | |||||
| 2019 | Hurricane Child | Scholastic | Winner | [51] | |
| Anger Is a Gift: A Novel | Tor Teen / Tor Books | Finalist | [52] | ||
| Darius the Great Is Not Okay | Dial Press | ||||
| Girl Made of Stars | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | ||||
| Sawkill Girls | Katherine Tegen Books | ||||
| The Dangerous Art of Blending In | Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins | ||||
| The Poet X | HarperTeen | ||||
| This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story | Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins | ||||
| 2020 | Hazel's Theory of Evolution | HarperCollins | Winner (C) | [53] [54] [55] | |
| The Grief Keeper | G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers | Winner (Y) | |||
| All the Things We Do in the Dark | HarperTeen | Finalist | [56] [57] | ||
| Hurricane Season | Algonquin Young Readers | ||||
| Pet | Make Me a World / Random House | ||||
| Pride Colors | Orca Book Publishers | ||||
| The Meaning of Birds | HarperTeen | ||||
| Wilder Girls | Delacorte Press | ||||
| 2021 | King and the Dragonflies | Scholastic | Winner (C) | [58] [59] [60] | |
| Flamer | Henry Holt Books for Young Readers | Winner (Y) | |||
| A High Five for Glenn Burke | Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers | Finalist | [61] | ||
| Camp | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | ||||
| From Archie to Zack | Abrams Books for Young Readers | ||||
| and Leo Espinosa | Our Subway Baby | Dial Press | |||
| Sasha Masha | Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers | ||||
| The Deep & Dark Blue | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | ||||
| The Magic Fish | Random House Graphic | ||||
| You Should See Me in a Crown | Scholastic | ||||
| 2022 | and Vanessa Ford | Calvin | G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers | Winner (C) | [62] [63] |
| Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | Finalist (C) | [64] | ||
| with Charlene Chua (illus.) | Love, Violet | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | |||
| Stitch by Stitch: Cleve Jones and the AIDS Memorial Quilt | APA Magination Press | ||||
| and | The Fabulous Zed Watson! | HarperCollins Publishers | |||
| The Heartbreak Bakery | Candlewick Press | Winner (Y) | |||
| Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating | Page Street Kids | Finalist (Y) | |||
| The City Beautiful | Harlequin Trade Publishing/Inkyard | ||||
| The Passing Playbook | Dial Books for Young Readers | ||||
| What We Devour | Sourcebooks Fire | ||||
| 2023 | Mighty Red Riding Hood | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | Winner (C) | [65] | |
| and Rob Sanders, illus. by Byron McCray | Henry Holt Books for Young Readers | Finalist (C) | [66] | ||
| , Dean Hamer, and Joe Wilson, illus. by Daniel Sousa | Kapaemahu | Kokila | |||
| Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle | Candlewick Press | ||||
| , illus. by Dani Jones | Bloomsbury Publishing | ||||
| Nikhil Out Loud | HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray | Winner (M) | |||
| Answers In the Pages | Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers | Finalist (M) | |||
| Different Kinds of Fruit | Dial Books for Young Readers | ||||
| Hazel Hill Is Gonna Win This One | HarperCollins/Clarion Books | ||||
| HarperCollins | |||||
| Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins | Winner (Y) | ||||
| Burn Down, Rise Up | Sourcebooks | Finalist (Y) | [67] | ||
| with Susan McClelland | Funny Gyal: My Fight Against Homophobia in Jamaica | Dundurn Press | |||
| Lakelore | Feiwel & Friends | ||||
| Heartdrum/HarperCollins | |||||
| 2024 | , with Sonia Albert (ill.) | Chronicle Books | Winner (C) | [68] | |
| and Meridth Mckean Gimbel | Door by Door | Crown Books for Young Readers | Finalist (C) | [69] | |
| Gender Identity for Kids | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | ||||
| Grandad's Pride | Little Bee Books | ||||
| and Kip Alizadeh | Knopf Books for Young Readers | ||||
| Dear Mothman | Amulet Books | Winner (M) | |||
| Ellie Engle Saves Herself | Disney Hyperion | Finalist (M) | |||
| Just Lizzie | HarperCollins / Clarion Books | ||||
| Matteo | HarperCollins | ||||
| Scholastic Press | |||||
| Only This Beautiful Moment | HarperCollins / Balzer + Bray | Winner (Y) | |||
| Cold Girls | Flux Books | Finalist (Y) | |||
| Pritty | HarperCollins / HarperTeen | ||||
| That Self-Same Metal | Amulet Books | ||||
| Random House Books for Young Readers |