Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book

The Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book is an award given annually to a book published for young adult readers in the field of science fiction or fantasy.^[1] The name of the award was chosen because a lodestar is "a star that guides or leads, especially in navigation, where it is the sole reliable source of light—the star that leads those in uncharted waters to safety".^[2] The nomination and selection process is administered by the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), and the award is presented at the Hugo Award ceremony at the annual World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, although it is not itself a Hugo Award.^[1]

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book
Awarded for	Best young adult science fiction or fantasy book
Presented by	World Science Fiction Society
First award	2018
Most recent winner	Darcie Little Badger (Sheine Lende)

Lodestar Award nominees and winners, using the same procedures as the Hugo Awards, are chosen by supporting or attending members of the Worldcon, and the presentation evening constitutes its central event. The final selection process is defined in the WSFS Constitution as instant-runoff voting with six finalists, except in the case of a tie. The books on the ballot are the six most-nominated by members that year, with no limit on the number of books that can be nominated. Initial nominations are made by members from January through March, while voting on the ballot of six finalists is performed roughly from April through July, depending on the dates of that year's Worldcon.^[3] Worldcons are generally held in August or early September, and are held in a different city around the world each year.^[4][5]

Prior to the creation of the award, unsuccessful attempts had been made to add a Best Young Adult Book or similar category to the Hugo Awards, leading to the creation of a WSFS committee in 2014 to make recommendations on the issue. The committee concluded in 2017 that opposition to the category was largely due to its nature as a type of story rather than a format, like the other categories, and proposed making it a named non-Hugo award instead.^[2] This proposal was agreed upon by the WSFS members. The award was created and named in separate amendments to the WSFS constitution, in 2017^[6] and 2018^[1] respectively, so it did not have a formal name in its inaugural year, and was referred to as the World Science Fiction Society Award for Best Young Adult Book.^[7]

In the 8 years the award has been given, 28 authors have had works as finalists. Nnedi Okorafor has won twice, in 2018 and 2023. Each other year has seen a different winner: the 2019 award by Tomi Adeyemi, the 2020 award by Naomi Kritzer, the 2021 award by Ursula Vernon under the alias T. Kingfisher, the 2022 award by Naomi Novik, the 2024 award by Moniquill Blackgoose, and the 2025 award by Darcie Little Badger. Charlie Jane Anders, Frances Hardinge, Kritzer, Novik, Little Badger, and Vernon (as Kingfisher) have had works on the final ballot three times, and six other authors have been finalists twice.

Winners and finalists

In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the novel was first published. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature". Entries with a yellow background have won the award; those with a gray background are the finalists.

  *   Winners

Winners and finalists

Year	Author(s)	Title	Publisher	Ref.
2018	Nnedi Okorafor*	Akata Warrior	Viking Press	[8]
	Ursula Vernon (as T. Kingfisher)	Summer in Orcus	Sofawolf Press	[8]
	Sarah Rees Brennan	In Other Lands	Big Mouth House	[8]
	Frances Hardinge	A Skinful of Shadows	Macmillan Publishers / Harry N. Abrams	[8]
	Sam J. Miller	The Art of Starving	HarperTeen	[8]
	Philip Pullman	The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage	Alfred A. Knopf	[8]
2019	Tomi Adeyemi*	Children of Blood and Bone	Henry Holt and Company / Macmillan Publishers	[9]
	Holly Black	The Cruel Prince	Little, Brown and Company / Hot Key Books	[9]
	Dhonielle Clayton	The Belles	Freeform / Gollancz	[9]
	Rachel Hartman	Tess of the Road	Random House / Penguin Teen	[9]
	Justina Ireland	Dread Nation	Balzer + Bray	[9]
	Peadar Ó Guilín	The Invasion	David Fickling Books / Scholastic	[9]
2020	Naomi Kritzer*	Catfishing on CatNet	Tor Teen	[10]
	Frances Hardinge	Deeplight	Macmillan Publishers	[10]
	Yoon Ha Lee	Dragon Pearl	Disney/Hyperion	[10]
	Ursula Vernon (as T. Kingfisher)	Minor Mage	Argyll Productions	[10]
	Fran Wilde	Riverland	Amulet Books	[10]
	Holly Black	The Wicked King	Little, Brown and Company / Hot Key Books	[10]
2021	Ursula Vernon (as T. Kingfisher)*	A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking	Argyll Productions	[11]
	Aiden Thomas	Cemetery Boys	Swoon Reads	[11]
	Naomi Novik	A Deadly Education	Del Rey Books	[11]
	Darcie Little Badger	Elatsoe	Levine Querido	[11]
	Tracy Deonn	Legendborn	Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing	[11]
	Jordan Ifueko	Raybearer	Amulet Books / Hot Key Books	[11]
2022	Naomi Novik*	The Last Graduate	Del Rey Books	[12]
	Naomi Kritzer	Chaos on CatNet	Tor Teen	[12]
	Xiran Jay Zhao	Iron Widow	Penguin Teen / Rock the Boat	[12]
	Jordan Ifueko	Redemptor	Amulet Books / Hot Key Books	[12]
	Darcie Little Badger	A Snake Falls to Earth	Levine Querido	[12]
	Charlie Jane Anders	Victories Greater Than Death	Tor Teen / Titan Books	[12]
2023	Nnedi Okorafor*	Akata Woman	Viking Books for Young Readers	[13]
	Tracy Deonn	Bloodmarked	Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers	[13]
	Charlie Jane Anders	Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak	Tor Teen / Titan Books	[13]
	Naomi Novik	The Golden Enclaves	Del Rey Books	[13]
	Rachel Hartman	In the Serpent's Wake	Random House Books for Young Readers	[13]
	Catherynne M. Valente	Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods	Margaret K. McElderry Books	[13]
2024	Moniquill Blackgoose*	To Shape a Dragon's Breath	Del Rey Books	[14]
	P. Djèlí Clark	Abeni's Song	Starscape	[14]
	Naomi Kritzer	Liberty's Daughter	Fairwood Press	[14]
	Charlie Jane Anders	Promises Stronger than Darkness	Tor Teen	[14]
	Garth Nix	The Sinister Booksellers of Bath	Katherine Tegen Books / Victor Gollancz Ltd / Allen & Unwin	[14]
	Frances Hardinge	Unraveller	Macmillan Children's Books	[14]
2025	Darcie Little Badger*	Sheine Lende	Levine Querido	[15]
	H. A. Clarke	The Feast Makers	Erewhon	[15]
	Xiran Jay Zhao	Heavenly Tyrant	Tundra Books	[15]
	Jordan Ifueko	The Maid and the Crocodile	Amulet	[15]
	Kamilah Cole	So Let Them Burn	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers	[15]
	Yoon Ha Lee	Moonstorm (nomination withdrawn)[a]	Delacorte Press	[15]

See also

• Andre Norton Award

Notes

1. Moonstorm was a finalist for the 2025 awards, but was withdrawn from consideration by the author in protest of the Worldcon's use of generative AI tools to vet potential program participants at the convention.^[16]