The ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award recognizes one writer and a particular body of work for "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". Lipsyte won the annual award in 2001, citing four books published from 1967 to 1993. According to the citation, ""The Contender" and its sequels, "The Brave" and "The Chief" transformed the sports novel to authentic literature with their gritty depiction of the boxing world. An ongoing theme is the struggle of their protagonists to seek personal victory by their continuing efforts towards a better life despite defeats. The same theme appears in the humorous "One Fat Summer", in which an overweight boy deals with the timeless angst of body image and which was adapted by David Scearce into the 2018 film "Measure of a Man". Lipsyte's books focus on the search for self-definition by young adults."