She is only the second publisher in the award's 18-year history to achieve the accolade.
Longacre Press co-founding publisher Barbara Larson will be awarded the 2010 Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal at a ceremony in Auckland on March 27, for her "specific and outstanding contribution to the important genre of young adult fiction".
Ms Larson joins Wellington-based publisher of Lynley Dodd's Hairy Maclary books Ann Mallinson, who was the first publisher to win the award.
Other recipients include writers Joy Cowley, Maurice Gee and Dorothy Butler, and illustrators Gavin Bishop and Robyn Belton.
Storylines Trust chairwoman Libby Limbrick said Ms Larson's continuing personal dedication to publishing high-quality novels for teenagers for more than a decade had been remarkable.
While Ms Larson was gratified by the achievement, she was also modest.
"It's a credit to our former editors Paula Boock, Emma Neale and Penelope Todd.
"This is a great honour and I'm really pleased to see Longacre recognised in this way."
Since Longacre Press was established in 1994, the publishing company has become a leading independent publisher, producing non-fiction and at least six works for young readers each year.
Ms Larson said she still remembered the excitement of publishing Longacre's first novel - Owen Marshall's first novel A Many Coated Man.
The company has gone on to publish books by many well-established authors such as William Taylor, Jack Lasenby, Joanna Orwin and Kate De Goldi.
"We never dreamed the company would be this successful when we started out. It was a brave little venture."
The Margaret Mahy Medal was the publishing company's last accolade under the name Longacre Press.
Since the award winner had been decided, Longacre Press had been bought by Random House, and Ms Larson is now Random House's Longacre commissioning editor.
As part of the award, Ms Larson will deliver the annual Margaret Mahy lecture at the ceremony.
"I'll talk about the history of the business, how we got established, and what it's like to publish authors like Kate De Goldi, Bernard Beckett and many others.
"To be honest, I'm a little nervous about having to give a lecture.
"But it's a great honour."
