2006: The Boys of San Joaquin by D. James Smith
2005: Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
2004: Bernie Magruder and the Bats in the Belfry by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
2003: Harriet Spies Again by Helen Ericson
2002: Dangling by Lillian Eige
2001: Dovey Coe by Frances O'Roark Dowell
2000: The Night Flyers by Elizabeth McDavid Jones
1999: Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief by Wendelin Van Draanen
1998: Sparrows in the Scullery by Barbara Brooks Wallace
1997: The Clearing by Barbara Brooks Wallace
1996: Looking for Jamie Bridger by Nancy Springer
1995: The Absolutely True Story..How I Visited Yellowstone Park with the Terrible Rubes by Willo Davis Roberts
1994: The Twin in the Tavern by Barbara Brooks Wallace
1993: Coffin on a Case! by Eve Bunting
1992: Wanted...Mud Blossom by Betsy Byars
1991: Stonewords by Pam Conrad
1989: Megan's Island by Willo Davis Roberts
1988: Lucy Forever and Miss Rosetree, Shrinks by Susan Shreve
1987: The Other Side of Dark by Joan Lowery Nixon
1986: The Sandman's Eyes by Patricia Windsor
1985: Night Cry by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
1984: The Callender Papers by Cynthia Voigt
1983: The Murder of Hound Dog Bates by Robbie Branscum
1982: Taking Terri Mueller by Norma Fox Mazer
1981: The Seance by Joan Lowery Nixon
1980: The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore by Joan Lowery Nixon
1979: Alone in Wolf Hollow by Dana Brookins
1978: A Really Weird Summer by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
1977: Are You in the House Alone? by Richard Peck
1976: Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
1975: The Dangling Witness by Jay Bennett
1974: The Long Black Coat by Jay Bennett
1973: Deathwatch by Robb White
1972: Nightfall by Joan Aiken
1971: The Intruder by John Rowe Townsend
1970: Danger at Black Dyke by Winfred Finlay
1969: The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton
1968: Signpost to Terror by Gretchen Sprague
1967: Sinbad and Me by Kin Platt
1966: The Mystery of 22 East by Leon Ware
1965: Mystery at Crane's Landing by Marcella Thum
1964: Mystery of the Hidden Hand by Phyllis A. Whitney
1963: Cutlass Island by Scott Corbett
1962: The Phantom of Walkaway Hill by Edward Fenton
1961: The Mystery of the Haunted Pool by Phyllis A. Whitney