The Margaret A. Edwards Award, established in 1988, honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature. The annual award is administered by YALSA and sponsored by School Library Journal magazine. It recognizes an author's work in helping adolescents become aware of themselves and addressing questions about their role and importance in relationships, society, and in the world.

Susan Cooper is the recipient of the 2012 Margaret A. Edwards Award, honoring her significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens for The Dark Is Rising Sequence: OVER SEA, UNDER STONE; THE DARK IS RISING; GREENWITCH; THE GREY KING; and SILVER ON THE TREE. In one of the most influential epic high fantasies in literature, Cooper evokes Celtic and Arthurian mythology and masterly world-building in a high-stakes battle between good and evil, embodied in the coming of age journey of Will Stanton.