| 
 | 
|  Winner Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul by Jack Canfield |  First runner-up Angels Watching Over Me by Lurlene McDaniel |  Second runner-up Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse | 
 1998
|  Winner Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick |  First runner-up The Doom Stone by Paul Zindel |  Second runner-up Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen | 
1997
|  Winner Hatchet by Gary Paulsen |  First runner-up Lost World by Michael Crichton |  Second runner-up Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn | 
1996
|  Winner Whispers from the Dead by Joan Lowery Nixon |  First runner-up The Giver by Lois Lowry |  Second runner-up It Happened to Nancy by Anonymous | 
1995
|  Winner Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton |  First runner-up The Client by John Grisham |  Second runner-up Baby Alicia is Dying by Lurlene McDaniel | 
1994
|  Winner Desperate Pursuit by Gloria Miklowitz |  First runner-up Locked in Time by Lois Duncan |  Second runner-up Phone Calls by R. L. Stine | 
1993
|  Winner Hugh Glass, Mountain Man by Robert McClung |  First runner-up Fudge-a-Mania by Judy Blume |  Second runner-up (tie) Missing Since Monday by Ann M. Martin |  
          Second runner-up (tie) Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry | 
1992
|  Winner Dances with Wolves by Michael Blake |  First runner-up Hatchet by Gary Paulsen | Second runner-up ? by Joan Lowery Nixon | 
1991 (Grades 10-12)
|  Winner Princess Ashley by Richard Peck |  First runner-up Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card |  Second runner-up On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony | 
|  Winner Trapped in Death Cave by Bill Wallace |  First runner-up Chain Letter by Christopher Pike |  Second runner-up The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop | 
1990 (Grades 10-12)
|  Winner Of Love and Shadows by Isabel Allende |   First runner-up Watchers by Dean Koontz |  Second runner-up (tie) The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel |  
          Second runner-up (tie) Pet Sematary by Stephen King | 
1990 (Grades 7-9)
|  Winner Someone is Hiding on Alcatraz Island by Eve Bunting |  First runner-up Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume |  Second runner-up (tie) When the Phone Rang by Harry Mazer |  
          Second runner-up (tie) Red Dog by Bill Wallace | 
1989 (Grades 7-9)
|   Winner Superfudge by Judy Blume |  First runner-up Ghost of Departure Point by Eve Bunting |  Second runner-up Soun Tetoken by Kenneth Thomasma |