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. 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". 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.
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. Worldcons are generally held in August or early September, and are held in a different city around the world each year.
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. This proposal was agreed upon by the WSFS members. The award was created and named in separate amendments to the WSFS constitution, in 2017 and 2018 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.
In the 9 years the award has been given, 32 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, the 2025 award by Darcie Little Badger, and the 2026 award by C. B. Lee. 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
+ YearAuthor(s)TitlePublisherRef. 2018 * Akata Warrior Viking Press (as T. Kingfisher) Summer in Orcus Sofawolf Press In Other Lands Big Mouth House Macmillan Publishers / Harry N. Abrams HarperTeen Alfred A. Knopf 2019 * Children of Blood and Bone Henry Holt and Company / Macmillan Publishers Little, Brown and Company / Hot Key Books Freeform / Gollancz Tess of the Road Random House / Penguin Teen Dread Nation Balzer + Bray David Fickling Books / Scholastic 2020 * Catfishing on CatNet Tor Teen Deeplight Macmillan Publishers Dragon Pearl Disney/Hyperion (as T. Kingfisher) Minor Mage Argyll Productions Riverland Amulet Books Little, Brown and Company / Hot Key Books 2021 (as T. Kingfisher)* Argyll Productions Cemetery Boys Swoon Reads Del Rey Books Elatsoe Levine Querido Legendborn Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Raybearer Amulet Books / Hot Key Books 2022 * Del Rey Books Chaos on CatNet Tor Teen Iron Widow Penguin Teen / Rock the Boat Redemptor Amulet Books / Hot Key Books Levine Querido Victories Greater Than Death Tor Teen / Titan Books 2023 * Akata Woman Viking Books for Young Readers Bloodmarked Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak Tor Teen / Titan Books Del Rey Books In the Serpent's Wake Random House Books for Young Readers Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods Margaret K. McElderry Books 2024 * To Shape a Dragon's Breath Del Rey Books Abeni's Song Starscape Liberty's Daughter Fairwood Press Promises Stronger than Darkness Tor Teen The Sinister Booksellers of Bath Katherine Tegen Books / Victor Gollancz Ltd / Allen & Unwin Unraveller Macmillan Children's Books 2025 * Sheine Lende Levine Querido Erewhon Heavenly Tyrant Tundra Books Amulet So Let Them Burn Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Moonstorm (nomination withdrawn) Delacorte Press 2026* Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe Feiwel & Friends Among Ghosts Random House Books for Young Readers Holy Terrors Holt/Hodderscape Oathbound Simon & Schuster Sunrise on the Reaping Scholastic They Bloom at Night Bloomsbury Publishing
See also Andre Norton Award
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