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Reviews and excerpts of books that have won major book awards.

Major book awards.

Each year literary foundations, trusts, and other groups award prizes for the best recent books. Winners of some of the most notable prizes are listed below: BookBrowse Awards Pulitzer Prize Booker Prize John Newbery Medal Michael Printz Award Edgar Awards National Book Critics Circle Awards National Book Awards Costa Book Awards Nero Book Awards Women's Prize for Fiction Hugo Awards PEN/Bellwether Prize PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

BookBrowse Awards

Since 2000, BookBrowse has asked its members and subscribers to select the best books published each year. Through a rigorous voting process, this shortlist is then honed down to find the BookBrowse Awards Winners.

• BookBrowse Fiction Award: The Covenant of Water  by Abraham Verghese
• BookBrowse Nonfiction Award: The Wager  by David Grann
• BookBrowse YA Award: Remember Us  by Jacqueline Woodson

Selection Process

Pulitzer Prize

Joseph Pulitzer, a renowned journalist, established this award in 1917. Since 1984 Pulitzer winners have received their prizes from the president of Columbia University at a luncheon in May in the rotunda of the Low Library in the presence of family members, professional associates, board members, and the faculty of the School of Journalism. If you'd like to learn more, you can read our history and overview of the Pulitzer Prize .

• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Night Watch  by Jayne Anne Phillips
• Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction: A Day in the Life of Abed Salama  by Nathan Thrall
• Pulitzer Prize for Biography: King  by Jonathan Eig Master Slave Husband Wife  by Ilyon Woo
• Pulitzer Prize for Memoir/Autobiography: Liliana's Invincible Summer  by Cristina Rivera Garza
• Pulitzer Prize for History: No Right to an Honest Living  by Jacqueline Jones
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Tripas  by Brandon Som Previous Winners

Booker Prize

Awarded in October each year, the Booker Prize is the UK's top literary prize and the most watched single-book award in the English-speaking world. Until 2013 the award was open only to citizens of the Commonwealth of nations (in essence, the UK and former British colonies). As of 2014 the award is open to authors worldwide so long as their work is in English and published in the UK.

• Booker Prize: Prophet Song  by Paul Lynch Previous Winners

John Newbery Medal

The Newbery Medal is awarded in January each year by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year.

• Newbery Medal: The Eyes and the Impossible  by Dave Eggers Previous Winners

Michael Printz Award

Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

• Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature: The Collectors  by A.S. King Previous Winners

Edgar Awards

Mystery Writers of America is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre. MWA is dedicated to promoting higher regard for crime writing and recognition and respect for those who write within the genre. Each Spring, Mystery Writers of America present the Edgar® Awards, widely acknowledged to be the most prestigious awards in the genre.

• Edgar Award for Best Novel: Flags on the Bayou  by James Lee Burke
• Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author: The Peacock and the Sparrow  by I.S. Berry
• Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime: Crooked  by Nathan Masters Previous Winners

National Book Critics Circle Awards

Each March, the NBCC presents awards for the finest books and reviews published in English in the USA during the previous year. Unlike many awards, the NBCC awards are dated for the previous year (e.g. the winners announced in March 2023 were the 2022 award winners).

• NBCC Award for Fiction: I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home  by Lorrie Moore
• NBCC Award for Nonfiction: We Were Once a Family  by Roxanna Asgarian
• NBCC Award for Biography: Winnie and Nelson  by Jonny Steinberg
• NBCC Award for Autobiography: How to Say Babylon  by Safiya Sinclair
• NBCC Award for Book in Translation: Cold Nights of Childhood  by Tezer Özlü
• NBCC Award for Criticism: Deadpan  by Tina Post
• NBCC Award for Poetry: Phantom Pain Wings  by Kim Hyesoon
• NBCC John Leonard Prize: Best First Book in Any Genre: Waiting to Be Arrested at Night  by Tahir Izgil Previous Winners

National Book Awards

First awarded in 1950, the National Book Awards recognize the best of American literature. The Awards are announced in November.

• National Book Award for Fiction: Blackouts  by Justin Torres
• National Book Award for Nonfiction: The Rediscovery of America  by Ned Blackhawk
• National Book Award for Poetry: From Unincorporated Territory [åmot]  by Craig Santos Perez
• National Book Award for Young People's Literature: A First Time for Everything  by Dan Santat
• National Book Award for Translated Literature: The Words That Remain  by Stênio Gardel Previous Winners

Costa Book Awards

The Costas were one of the UK's most prestigious book awards between 1971 and 2021. Established by Whitbread Plc in 1971, they were known as the Whitbread Awards, until being rebranded as the Costa Awards in 2006 (Costa is a UK based coffee shop chain owned by Whitbread Plc.) The awards were discontinued in early 2022, before announcing the year's winners.

• Costa Book of The Year: The Kids  by Hannah Lowe
• Costa First Novel Award (formerly Whitbread): Open Water  by Caleb Azumah Nelson
• Costa Novel Award (formerly Whitbread): Unsettled Ground  by Claire Fuller
• Costa Biography Award (formerly Whitbread): Fall  by John Preston
• Costa Children's Book Award (formerly Whitbread): The Crossing  by Manjeet Mann
• Costa Poetry Award: The Kids  by Hannah Lowe Previous Winners

Nero Book Awards

The Nero book awards were launched in May 2023, just under a year after Costa abruptly scrapped its book awards after 50 years. The new prize aims to celebrate the “best reads of the year” by writers based in the UK and Ireland.

• Nero Fiction Award: The Bee Sting  by Paul Murray
• Nero Nonfiction Award: Strong Female Character  by Fern Brady
• Nero Debut Award: Close to Home  by Michael Magee Previous Winners

Women's Prize for Fiction

One of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, the Women’s Prize for Fiction is awarded each June. It was previously known as the Orange Prize for Fiction (1996 - 2012) and the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction (2014 - 2017). It celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world. In 2017, the prize announced that it would change its name to simply "Women's Prize for Fiction" and would be supported by multiple sponsors. A sister prize, the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, was launched in 2023 and will first be awarded in 2024.

• Women's Prize for Fiction: Demon Copperhead  by Barbara Kingsolver Previous Winners

Hugo Awards

The Hugo Awards, first presented in 1953 and presented annually since 1955, are science fiction’s most prestigious award. The Hugo Awards are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention (“Worldcon”), which is also responsible for administering them.

• Hugo Award for Best Novel: Nettle & Bone  by T. Kingfisher
• Hugo Award for Best Novella: Where the Drowned Girls Go  by Seanan McGuire Previous Winners

PEN/Bellwether Prize

The PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, formerly known as the Bellwether Prize for Fiction is a biennial award given by PEN America and Barbara Kingsolver to a U.S. citizen for a previously unpublished work of fiction that address issues of social justice. The award is given for a work in progress - hence the award date is often at least a year ahead of publication. The 2023 winner is Kingdom of No Tomorrow by Fabienne Josaphat; publication date to be announced.

• PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction: Moonrise Over New Jessup  by Jamila Minnicks Previous Winners

PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction honors the best published works of fiction by American permanent residents in a calendar year. Three writers are chosen annually by the Board of Directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to serve as judges, ensuring that our awards selection process is free of commercial influence. These judges select an initial longlist of ten books, followed by five finalists, and finally one winner as the “first among equals.” The author of the winning book receives a $15,000 prize. The authors of each of the other finalists receive $5,000.

• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez  by Claire Jimenez Previous Winners

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National Book Foundation > National Book Awards

National Book Awards

Established in 1950, the National Book Awards are American literary prizes administered by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization. A pantheon of writers such as William Faulkner, Marianne Moore, Ralph Ellison, John Cheever, Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth, Robert Lowell, Walker Percy, John Updike, Katherine Anne Porter, Norman Mailer, Lillian Hellman, Elizabeth Bishop, Saul Bellow, Toni Morrison, Flannery O’Connor, Adrienne Rich, Thomas Pynchon, Alice Walker, E. Annie Proulx, Jesmyn Ward, and Ta-Nehisi Coates have all won National Book Awards. Although other categories have been recognized in the past, the Awards currently honor the best Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature, published each year.

Eligibility, the submissions process, current prizes, guidelines, FAQ.

Twenty-five judges in five categories will review submitted titles and select the five Winners of the 75th National Book Awards

The National Book Awards were established in 1950 to celebrate the best writing in America. Since 1989, they have been overseen by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of great writing in America.

2023 National Book Awards

Join National Book Foundation Executive Director Ruth Dickey, and explore the year’s National Book Award Winners along with her!

Over the past 70 years, the National Book Foundation has honored nearly 2,600 titles. You can explore our archive here. 

Seals and digital image rights are available for NBA Winner, Finalist, and Longlist titles. In addition to medallions for individual titles, we also offer medallions for 5 Under 35 honorees and Distinguished Contribution to American Letters medalists, which can be used for future or backlist titles, respectively.

What’s the Best Book of the Past 125 Years? We Asked Readers to Decide.

By The New York Times Dec. 28, 2021

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In October, as we marked the Book Review’s 125th anniversary, we invited readers to nominate the best book published during that time. This was a nod to our history: In its first few decades, the Book Review often asked readers to anoint the best books, the best short stories, the best poems. We wanted this project, like those early ones, to reflect readers’ tastes and preferences.

Responses began pouring in from all 50 states and 67 countries. In November, we presented a list of the 25 most-nominated books (one per author) for a vote. After tallying more than 200,000 ballots, the winner, by a narrow margin, is …

To Kill a Mockingbird

By Harper Lee

“I am 52. I grew up in public housing, on welfare, parented by angry, erratic alcoholics, with little guidance and even less continuity. Atticus, Jem, Scout, Calpurnia and Dill taught me everything I needed to know about life, love, friendship and honor. These lessons reverberated throughout my life and I truly believe that my path would have been very different without them.”

Corina Jensen, Stanhope, N.J.

“Each time I read it with my students, I find in the author’s words something brilliant and entirely new to discuss with my classes. ‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.’”

Ronnie Madanick, Dade County, Fla.

“I grew up in a small, insular, white, Protestant town in the West, and this book first exposed me to the cruelty of racism. I do believe it changed my life and made me a person who cares about social justice. Plus, it is beautifully written with characters I have loved my whole life. I always wanted to be Scout.”

Nancy Foxley, Fort Collins, Colo.

Our critic reconsiders “To Kill a Mockingbird”

When you revisit in adulthood a book that you last read in childhood, you will likely experience two broad categories of observation: “Oh yeah, I remember this part,” and “Whoa, I never noticed that part.” That’s what I expected when I picked up “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which was voted the best book of the past 125 years by readers in a recent New York Times poll. Two decades had passed since I’d absorbed Harper Lee’s 1960 novel. And yes, there was a huge amount I’d missed on my first time through, ranging from major themes (the prevalence of child abuse) to minor details (unfamiliar words, like “flivver”).

Inexcusable lapses in reading comprehension also surfaced, such as the fact that I hadn’t realized Mrs. Dubose — the cranky neighborhood villain — was a morphine addict. (“Mrs. Dubose is a morphine addict,” Atticus states in the book. In my defense … well, I have no defense.) As an adult, I can perceive why the novel might hold enduring appeal for many and enduring repulsion to perhaps just as many. I cannot fathom the complexities of teaching it to elementary school students in 2021, especially after reading online accounts from teachers on both the “pro” and “against” sides.

These apprehensions were present as I worked through the pages a second time, but they were overridden by the instant resurrection of exactly what I’d liked about the book the first time, which is Lee’s depiction of life in a small town. You wouldn’t think the Great Depression-era fictional Southern town of Maycomb, Ala., would have much in common with the nonfictional Northern California small town where I grew up and read “Mockingbird” in the 1990s — and yet!

Take the grim joke about a pair of Atticus’s clients, the Haverfords, who ignored their lawyer’s advice to take a plea deal and wound up hanging. No explanation is needed for their recklessness other than, as Scout puts it, that they were “Haverfords, in Maycomb County a name synonymous with jackass.” That’s on Page 5, and it’s precisely where I remember my attention perking up as a teenager. Only in a place of minimal citizenry can surnames carry such determinative weight. In my town, which had a population of approximately 1,000, the nominative shorthand took a more neutrally descriptive form: There was Barefoot Dave, who preferred to go shoeless on his rambles, and Treehouse Todd, who lived in a treehouse, and Tepee Dan — you can guess where he lived.

Much else in “Mockingbird” was recognizable from small-town living: the temptation to invent boogeymen; the excessive reliance on euphemism; the kneejerk ostracizing of those perceived as outsiders, with vandalism a common mode of reinforcement. There was the importance placed on mundane local landmarks: a certain tree, a specific fence, the house on the corner. There was the fiercely held conviction that one must mind one’s own business coupled with the exasperating practice of everyone minding everyone else’s business 100 percent of the time. (When I first moved to New York and lived in an apartment, I wondered if this last paradox would replicate itself within the diorama of my building. It did not. My urban neighbors took great pains to avoid even a molecule of anyone else’s business.)

Lee writes about the unremitting surveillance of Maycomb — of the reality that no act ultimately goes unobserved. At the age I originally read “Mockingbird,” I stole a candy bar from my town’s sole market, bragged about it to one individual and within hours was escorted by my mother back to the store and forced to apologize to the owner (and pay for the candy). There was no point in asking my mother how she knew. All knowledge was public knowledge.

I hadn’t known until reading Lee’s novel that what seemed like punishments and glories unique to my home turf were characteristic ones: the freedom to run amok, the inevitability of getting caught, the fiber-optic speed of rumor mongering, the magnification of every feud into a catastrophe.

So what struck me, rereading it, was not the totality of the book but one of its humbler accomplishments, which is how keenly Lee recreates the comforts, miseries and banalities of people gathered intimately in one little space.

— Molly Young

The Runners-Up

2. the fellowship of the ring by j.r.r. tolkien.

“The depth of lore for an imagined world and the story of friendship that it accompanies lay the foundation for the rest of the fantasy genre that would follow. Yet few stories live up to the standards set by Tolkien.” Owen Clarke, Provo, Utah

3. 1984 By George Orwell

“It still resonates with us up to this day, around 70 years after it was written. Its warning against the excesses of human pride and hunger for power and its challenge to use our love of freedom to guard against these problems are timeless and universal.” Kathlynn Rebonquin, Mandaluyong City, Philippines

4. One Hundred Years of Solitude By Gabriel García Márquez

“As a piece of literature, it was an earthquake moment, shattering the expectations of a typical realist novel and spawning influences in authors and works from Japan to India and beyond. Out of all the works to have emerged in the last 125 years, none has created a ripple effect, or changed the landscape of literature, as much as this has.” Rizowana Hussaini, Guwahati, India

5. Beloved By Toni Morrison

“It’s not a bump in the night, subtle haunting. It’s loud and sick. There are images and emotions from ‘Beloved’ that are stuck in my mind now permanently. This ghost story has taught me more about the legacy of slavery than history books ever did.” Brontë Mansfield, Chicago, Ill.

The Nominations

The story of the nominations we received is not consensus, but diversity — not just in the sheer number of books that readers nominated, but in the ways that they interpreted what “best book” meant. Of the more than 1,300 books nominated, 65 percent were nominated by only one person. And only 31 percent nominated a book that made it to our list of 25 finalists. Here are some titles that speak to the breadth of readers’ choices.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

“A bone-chillingly beautiful and heartbreaking tale of exactly what could happen if we don’t take steps now as a society to address social inequalities and the climate crisis.”

Courtney Daron, Anaheim, Calif.

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

“A beautifully written, sweeping history of the past century in America. Never heavy-handed, Wilkerson’s storytelling places real people in real places, making it possible for any reader to grasp the various impacts of inequality and inequities that still plague America.”

Patricia Methe, Cincinnati, Ohio

Dracula by Bram Stoker

“Grabbing the dark corners of one’s imagination for 125 years.”

Eleanor Najjar, San Francisco, Calif.

The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer

“It may be thin on plot or character, but it opened new worlds to me and my family.”

Cody Clark, Houston, Tex.

Watership Down by Richard Adams

“Yeah, yeah, I get it — James Joyce, Toni Morrison, Yasunari Kawabata, Clarice Lispector, Gabriel García Márquez —they're all great, they changed fiction forever. You’re not wrong. But answer me this: How many of them wrote a book entirely about rabbits that could make you laugh, cry, get angry and question the deeper meaning of life?”

Brian Dowd, Edgartown, Mass.

The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck

“His opening sentence, ‘Life is difficult’ affirmed my real-life experience. His wise insights into discipline, grace, love, and sin offered hope when I needed it. I ultimately attended seminary and became a pastor who often gifts this book.”

Marcia Bilyk, Knowlton Township, N.J.

Why readers nominated

Some readers prized lyrical writing above all..

“Silko wonderfully mixes narrative forms, incorporating poetry, rituals and Native American creation stories in a web-like structure that mirrors Pueblo Indian identity and perspective. … Her spectacularly descriptive language, the depth with which she portrays the human condition and the melancholy tone inspire readers.”

Dana Raja Wahab, Miami, Fla. on “Ceremony,” by Leslie Marmon Silko

For others, an author’s imagination was everything.

“It propels the Modernist advances of books like ‘Ulysses’ into the postmodern world, kicking and screaming. It’s a book of superlatives: It’s the smartest, stupidest, most sacred, most profane, most profound, phantasmagoric, lyrical, direct, demanding, rewarding book I’ve ever read.

C. Bleakley, Milan, Italy on “Gravity’s Rainbow,” by Thomas Pynchon

Many nominated novels expanded the kinds of stories told in literature.

“I first read this book in high school in a rural town in New Hampshire. I was one of about 10 people of color in the whole town. This book was the first time I felt seen in an English classroom in white America. The narrator’s impotent rage, and this unshakeable feeling of being a blank slate for others to place their own expectations and guilt ("No don’t worry, you’re one of the good ones."), all resonated with me. This is one of those books that awaken something in you, and it did in me.”

Ruth Ramjit, New York City on “Invisible Man,” by Ralph Ellison

Other readers considered a book’s influence and legacy.

“It exploded the idea of what literature can be.”

Susannah Breslin, Burbank, Calif. on “Ulysses,” by James Joyce

Many people nominated children’s books — especially the ones that fostered a lifelong love of reading.

“From cadence and rhythm to the art and story itself, “Where the Wild Things Are” is the most perfect book. This is a hill I will die on.”

Sara Beth West, Chattanooga, Tenn. on “Where the Wild Things Are,” by Maurice Sendak

Most popular authors

Three writers — John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner — received nominations for seven of their books.

Other popular authors included James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood and Virginia Woolf, who each had five books nominated.

And readers nominated four of Joan Didion’s books: “The Year of Magical Thinking,” “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” “The White Album” and “Play It as It Lays.”

A love for literature

Finally, so many nominations we received spoke to deeply personal relationships with books..

“The Nobel Prize winner’s novel evokes the best of modern literature, whilst keeping the classics’ heart and soul at the center of it. The central love story involves not only the two main characters, but the city of Istanbul as well (if not above), thus making it simultaneously intimate … and part of something grander.”

Dalila Sadinlija, Bosnia and Herzegovina on “The Museum of Innocence,” by Orhan Pamuk

“It’s a book … no, THE book about books, celebrating a seemingly idealized (but true!) relationship between a reader and a bookseller. There’s no better epistolary, literary memoir, bathed in the glow of wartime and mid-century New York City, looking eastward to romanticize a ration-booked London that knows its classic authors.”

Darren Sextro, Kansas City, Mo. on “84, Charing Cross Road,” by Helene Hanff

“​​This book captures what it means to be human. The writing is exquisite — you feel the pain and joy of the characters. The world building is subtle but profound. It is simply stunning.”

Chelsea Brislin, Lexington, Ky. on “Never Let Me Go,” by Kazuo Ishiguro

“Because it rails against darkness. Because it’s a testament to the enduring power of love to carry us and transcend death itself. Because it taught me to keep the fire burning, always.”

Max Widmer, New York City on “The Road,” by Cormac McCarthy

“I’ve never been more engrossed in the minutiae of nature. Reading this book nudges and reminds me to slow down and absorb the utter beauty surrounding me each day.”

Brandon O’Connor, Chicago, Ill. on “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,” by Annie Dillard

Illustrations by Timo Lenzen.

Designed by Deanna Donegan, Rebecca Lieberman and Hang Do Thi Duc. Edited by Tina Jordan, Rebecca Halleck, Joumana Khatib and John Williams, with contributions from Scott Blumenthal, John Cruickshank, Asmaa Elkeurti, MJ Franklin, Jennifer Harlan, Marie Tessier and Urvashi Uberoy. Additional production by Aliza Aufrichtig.

To Kill a Mockingbird: Cover image via Raptis Rare Books. The Fellowship of the Ring: Cover image via Heritage Auctions, HA.com. 1984: Cover image via Bauman Rare Books. One Hundred Years of Solitude: Cover image via Harper Perennial Modern Classics. Beloved: Cover image via Heritage Auctions, HA.com.

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Books Winners Nobel Prize Literature

The Nobel Prize for Literature is given for a body of work, not one specific title. The books chosen for this list are noted works by Nobel winners and reflect the variety of types of writing considered for the award. These include: novels, plays, poetry, essays, speeches, short stories, historical narratives, and philosophic writings.

View the complete list in the library catalog

• Collections

Pulitzer Prize Winning Novels

The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of seven categories of American Pulitzer permits. It highlights a work of fiction published in the previous year by an American author, preferably about the United States.

The first Pulitzer Prize for Novel was awarded in 1918. Below we leave you the award-winning books published in AliceAndBooks that are in public domain:

1918: His Family

Ernest Poole (1880–1950) and published by Macmillan (1917)

Download His Family

1919: The Magnificent Ambersons

Booth Tarkington (1869–1949) and published by Doubleday, Page & Co. (1918)

Download The Magnificent Ambersons

1920: Not awarded

The prize was not awarded in 1920. Initially, Joseph Hergesheimer was thought of, for his book Java Head, but it was decided that he did not meet the "wholesome" criteria.

1921: The Age of Innocence

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) and published by D. Appleton & Company (1920)

Download The Age of Innocence

1922: Alice Adams

Booth Tarkington (1869–1949) and published by Doubleday, Page & Co. (1921)

Download Alice Adams

1923: One of Ours

Willa Cather (1873–1947) and published by Alfred A. Knopf (1922)

Download One of Ours

1924: The Able McLaughlins

Margaret Wilson (1882–1973) and published by Harper & Brothers (1923)

Download The Able McLaughlins

1925: So Big

Edna Ferber (1885–1968) and published by Grosset & Dunlap (1924)

Download So Big

1926: Arrowsmith

Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951) and published by Harcourt Brace & Co. (1925)

Download Arrowsmith

Complete list of Pulitzer Prize-winning books in PDF and ePUB

ARROWSMITH Sinclair Lewis

ALICE ADAMS Booth Tarkington

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE Edith Wharton

THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS Booth Tarkington

ONE OF OURS Willa Cather

THE ABLE MCLAUGHLINS Margaret Wilson

SO BIG Edna Ferber

HIS FAMILY Ernest Poole

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The Award-Winning Novels of 2020

The books that took home this year's biggest literary prizes.

Spare a thought for the class of 2020. With most of the year’s awards ceremonies being cancelled or moving online, there were very few red carpets, banquet rooms, or podiums for 2020’s prize-winning authors. Trophies, statuettes, plaques and medals were boxed up and mailed across the country. Speeches were made over zoom. Everyone was, I assume, dressed in sweats from the waist down.

Despite the lack of razzmatazz, it’s important to remember that awards were still awarded, and many wonderful books were deservedly honored.

Here, then, are the winners of the biggest book prizes of 2020.

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Awarded for distinguished fiction published in book form during the year by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. Prize money: $15,000

Colson Whitehead,  The Nickel Boys (Doubleday)

“ The Nickel Boys —a tense, nervy performance—is even more rigorously controlled than its predecessor. The narration is disciplined and the sentences plain and sturdy, oars cutting into water. Every chapter hits its marks. Even if your prose taste runs to curlicue and adornment (mine does), the restraint feels significant. Whitehead comports himself with gravity and care, the steward of painful, suppressed histories; his choices on the page can feel as much ethical as aesthetic. The ordinary language, the clear pane of his prose, lets the stories speak for themselves … while Whitehead is frank about the barbarity his characters endure, there are few scenes of explicit violence—most of it happens offstage. And none of the violence is exaggerated. A reverence for the victims can be detected in this refusal to sensationalize their suffering … Whitehead has written novels of horror and apocalypse; nothing touches the grimness of the real stories he conveys here, of a cinder-block building that still stands, a school that was closed only eight years ago. Its starkness and irresolution recalls the historian Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi’s point that the opposite of forgetting is not merely remembrance. It is justice.”

–Parul Sehgal  ( The New York Times )

Finalists: Ann Patchett,  The Dutch House  (Harper) Ben Lerner,  The Topeka School   (FSG)

National Book Award

Recognizes an outstanding work of literary fiction by a United States citizen. Prize money: $10,000

Charles Yu,  Interior Chinatown (Pantheon)

“Charles Yu was a story editor for  Westworld , and his bracingly metafictive second novel,  Interior Chinatown , takes the theme of social roles beautifully sideways. The novel skewers pop-culture stereotypes of Asian Americans and contends, memorably, with assimilation … Arranged in acts and told in the second person in the form of a screenplay,  Interior Chinatown  is bold, even groundbreaking, in its form. It’s full of clever wordplay and in-jokes about the Chinese American experience …  Interior Chinatown  solders together mordant wit and melancholic whimsy to produce a moving exploration of race and assimilation that shouldn’t be missed by intellectually adventurous readers.”

–Anita Felliceli  ( San Francisco Chronicle )

Finalists: Rumaan Alam,  Leave the World Behind (Ecco) Lydia Millet, A Children’s Bible (W. W. Norton) Deesha Philyaw, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (West Virginia University Press) Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain (Grove Press)

Man Booker  Prize

Awarded for the best original novel written in the English language and published in the UK. Prize money: £50,000

Douglas Stuart,  Shuggie Bain (Grove Press)

“The body—especially the body in pain—blazes on the pages of  Shuggie Bain . . . This is the world of Shuggie Bain, a little boy growing up in Glasgow in the 1980s. And this is the world of Agnes Bain, his glamorous, calamitous mother, drinking herself ever so slowly to death. The wonder is how crazily, improbably alive it all is . . . The book would be just about unbearable were it not for the author’s astonishing capacity for love. He’s lovely, Douglas Stuart, fierce and loving and lovely. He shows us lots of monstrous behavior, but not a single monster—only damage. If he has a sharp eye for brokenness, he is even keener on the inextinguishable flicker of love that remains . . . The book leaves us gutted and marveling: Life may be short, but it takes forever.”

–Leah Hager Cohen  ( The New York Times Book Review )

Finalists : Diane Cook,  The New Wilderness (Harper) Tsitsi Dangarembga, This Mournable Body (Graywolf Press) Avni Doshi,   Burnt Sugar (Overlook Press) Maaza Mengiste,  The Shadow King (W. W. Norton) Brandon Taylor,  Real Life (Riverhead)

Man Booker International Prize

Awarded for a single book in English translation published in the UK. Prize money: £50,000, divided equally between the author and the translator

Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, tr. Michele Hutchinson,  The Discomfort of Evening (Graywolf Press)

“Rijneveld writes poetry as well as fiction, which shows: Their prose, in Michele Hutchison’s superb translation, shows a poet’s interest in small, slow details. The novel, which is set on a dairy farm in a small village, is at once spare and luminous, haunting without calling attention to the fact. Rijneveld’s sentences linger, as does their 10-year-old protagonist Jas’s grief for her brother Matthies, who dies in the novel’s first pages … Bad dreams are a risk for readers here, but Rijneveld manages their novel’s painful content delicately and well. Even the most wrenching scenes never seem gratuitous; they are thoroughly worth the emotional effort that Rijneveld asks their readers to make.”

–Lily Meyer  ( NPR )

Finalists : Shokoofeh Azar,  The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree (Europa) Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, tr. Iona MacIntyre and Fiona Macintosh,  The Adventures of China Iron (Charco Press) Daniel Kehlmann, tr. Ross Benjamin,  Tyll (Pantheon) Fernanda Melchor, tr. Sophie Hughes,  Hurricane Season (New Directions) Yoko Ogawa, tr. Stephen Snyder,  The Memory Police (Pantheon)

National Book Critics Circle Award 

Given annually to honor outstanding writing and to foster a national conversation about reading, criticism, and literature. Judged by the volunteer directors of the NBCC who are 24 members serving rotating three-year terms, with eight elected annually by the voting members, namely “professional book review editors and book reviewers.”

Edwidge Danticat,  Everything Inside (Knopf)

“ Everything Inside  is a haunting, profound collection by Edwidge Danticat—an answered prayer for those who have long treasured her essential contributions to the Caribbean literary canon … With little introduction, we drop into people’s lives midcrisis, just as they’re confronting choices from which there’s no turning back; these characters feel not like strangers, but close friends … How does an artist write so deftly from the outside about people’s interior lives?  Everything Inside  is an answer to that question: This remarkable writer shows us how.”

–Alexia Arthurs  ( Oprah Magazine )

Finalists: Myla Goldberg, Feast Your Eyes (Scribner) Ben Lerner, The Topeka School (FSG) Valeria Luiselli, Lost Children Archive (Knopf) Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys (Doubleday)

Kirkus Prize

Chosen from books reviewed by  Kirkus Reviews  that earned the Kirkus Star. Prize money: $50,000

Raven Leilani,  Luster (FSG)

“Raven Leilani’s first novel reads like summer: sentences like ice that crackle or melt into a languorous drip; plot suddenly, wildly flying forward like a bike down a hill … Leilani has a ruthless knack for the somatic, rendering flesh on paper as alluring and unidealized as it is right next to you … Strangely, Leilani’s heightened rendering of the tangle that can be one’s early 20s…is what actually lends the novel its acidic verisimilitude … The relationship between Edie and Rebecca is a living thing with its own heartbeat, and it is here that Leilani is at her most nimble, her writing sinewy and sharp … it is Edie’s hunger for recognition—more than her desire for self-improvement or the humiliation of heterosexuality or her attempts to wrestle her life into something worth the pain—that colors the novel.”

–Jazmine Hughes  ( The New York Times Book Review )

Finalists: Tola Rotimi Abraham,  Black Sunday (Catapult) Juliana Delgado Lopera, Fiebre Tropical (Amethyst Editions) Elena Ferrante, tr. Ann Goldstein,  The Lying Life of Adults (Europa) James McBride, Deacon King Kong (Riverhead) Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain (Grove Press)

Women’s Prize for Fiction

Awarded to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom.

Maggie O’Farrell,  Hamnet (Knopf)

“Such an undertaking is an enormous challenge, but O’Farrell is passionately steeped in the period … The utter fluency with which O’Farrell glides across years and decades, never lingering in one timeframe for long yet never confusing the reader, has always been one of her most remarkable achievements as a writer … Once the illness leaps from Judith to Hamnet in August 1596, the novel becomes a breathtakingly moving study of grief … O’Farrell’s portrait of maternal and sibling bereavement is so accurately expressed it’s almost too painful to read.  Hamnet  is, above all, a profound study of loss … At her best, O’Farrell is simply outstanding. Within pages, she can inhabit the mind of an owl, of a great playwright, of a dying boy, of those watching him. It seems she can pretty much do anything on the page that she puts her mind to. Immersive, at times shockingly intimate, and triumphantly brought to fruition, this is a work that ought to win prizes.”

–Joanna Briscoe  ( The Guardian )

Finalists: Angie Cruz, Dominicana (Flatiron) Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other (Grove Press) Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships (Harper) Hilary Mantel, The Mirror & the Light (Henry Holt) Jenny Offill, Weather (Knopf)

PEN/Faulkner Award

Awarded to the author of the year’s best work of fiction by a living American citizen. Prize money: $15,000

Chloe Aridjis,  Sea Monsters (Catapult)

“ S ea Monsters  is a surreal, captivating tale about the power of a youthful imagination, the lure of teenage transgression, and its inevitable disappointments … Plot has very little role to play in  Sea Monsters ; Aridjis allows her narrative to swell and recede like the sea, along with Luisa’s capacious imagination. The violent rains, the traffic, the perennial security threat—these scenes wonderfully evoke the city’s ability to make its inhabitants feel claustrophobic … Aridjis’s protagonist is so rich and interesting because she is full of contradiction. For all that she is image conscious and desirous of new experiences, her fragile sensibility is quietly revealed … Sea Monsters  is a contemplative, meandering novel—there are no unexpected plot twists, no great climactic resolution. But, Aridjis excels at writing a life lived in the borderlands between reality and fantasy, conveying the imagination of a 17-year-old with whims and fancies that are intriguing rather than exasperating or laughable.”

–Ellen Jones ( The Los Angeles Review of Books )

Finalists: Yiyun Li, Where Reasons End (Random House) Peter Rock, The Night Swimmers (Soho Press) Maurice Carlos Ruffin, We Cast a Shadow (One World) Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (Penguin Press)

PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction

Awarded to an exceptionally talented fiction writer whose debut work represents distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise. Prize money: $25,000

Mimi Lok,  Last of Her Name (Kaya Press)

“Mimi Lok’s  Last of Her Name is a smorgasbord of powerful writing and angsty emotion wrapped into eight meditations on what it means to feel slightly out of place, either in your head or in your physical surroundings … it’s quite clear Lok is on to something about the human condition … her empathy for her characters—and discerning grasp of their strained or isolated circumstances—comes through on every page. Her stories are insightful, painfully honest and deeply unsettling—a dynamite combination in a new writer on the scene.”

–Alexis Burling  ( San Francisco Chronicle )

Finalists:  Ayse Papatya Bucak, The Trojan War Museum (W. W. Norton) Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Sabrina & Corina (One World) Xuan Juliana Wang, Home Remedies (Hogarth) Bryan Washington,  Lot (Riverhead)

Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

Awards established in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. in the previous year. Administered by the American Library Association.

Prize money: $5,000 (winner), $1,500 (finalists)

Valeria Luiselli,  Lost Children Archive (Vintage)

“I wrote down the microchemical raptures I was having, one after the next, from beginning to end of this revelatory novel … The Lost Children Archives  [is] a semi-autobiographical gloss that Lueselli skillfully crafts without dipping into the pedantic accumulations that sometimes overwhelm such books … It is a breathtaking journey, one that builds slowly and confidently until you find yourself in a fever dream of convergences.  The Lost Children Archive  is simply stunning. It is a perfect intervention for our horrible time, but that fleeting concurrence is not why this book will be read and sampled and riffed on for years to come …  The Lost Children Archive  contains multitudes, contradictions, and raises difficult questions for which there are no easy answers. It is  a  great American novel. It is also a great human novel.”

–Rob Spillman  ( Guernica )

Finalists: Myla Goldberg, Feast Your Eyes (Scribner) Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Water Dancer (One World)

International DUBLIN Literary Award

An international literary award presented each year for a novel written in English or translated into English. Prize money: €100,000

Anna Burns,  Milkman (Graywolf Press)

“Burns’s agenda is not to unpack the dreary tribal squabbles that so characterised Troubles-era Northern Ireland; rather she is working in an altogether more interesting milieu, seeking answers to the big questions about identity, love, enlightenment and the meaning of life for a young woman on the verge of adulthood … in its intricate domestic study of a disparate family there are agreeable echoes of Chekov, Tolstoy and Turgenev … it is an impressive, wordy, often funny book and confirms Anna Burns as one of our rising literary star.”

–Adrian McKinty  ( The Irish Times )

Finalists: Anuradha Roy, All the Lives We Never Lived (Washington Square Press) Tayari Jones, An American Marriage (Algonquin) Négar Djavadi, tr. Tina Kover, Disoriental (Europa) Olga Tokarczuk, tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (Riverhead) Édouard Louis, tr. Lorin Stein, History of Violence (Picador) Sigrid Nunez, The Friend (Riverhead) Pat Barker, The Silence of the Girls (Anchor) Tommy Orange, There, There (Vintage) Esi Edugyan, Washington Black (Vintage)

Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

An annual award presented by The Center for Fiction, a non-profit organization in New York City, for the best debut novel. Prize money: $10,000

“The narrator’s substantial wit often comes paired with self-recriminations and worry, the novel’s humor and melancholy each making the other more potent … One of the book’s greatest strengths is its heady evocation of the senses—the pleasure and pain that comes with having a body … While some of  Luster ’s plot moves can come across as convenient or even obligatory, Leilani settles comfortably into any given scenario … the archetype Leilani has chosen suits her debut well—the protagonist who must go away in order to come back—if only because she takes full advantage of the form, using its bluntest markers as occasions to deepen an already candid, vulnerable character. That the language is often excellent doesn’t hurt either.  Luster  is lean and focused, yet dense with reference and detail, the lush prose heightening its tangible specificity. Leilani also makes smart use of the well-placed long sentence, the catharsis that can arrive when something comes to an end.”

–Laura Adamczyk  ( The A.V. Club )

Finalists: Amina Cain, Indelicacy (FSG) Maisy Card, These Ghosts Are Family (Simon & Schuster) Hilary Leichter, Temporary (Coffee House Press) Corey Sobel, The Redshirt (University Press of Kentucky) Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain (Grove Press) C Pam Zhang, How Much of These Hills Is Gold (Riverhead)

Los Angeles Times  Book Prize

Recognizes outstanding literary works as well as champions new writers. Prize money: $1,000

(Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction)

Namwali Serpell,  The Old Drift (Hogarth Press)

“Namwali Serpell’s extraordinary, ambitious, evocative first novel,  The Old Drift , contributes powerfully to this new wave …  The Old Drift  is a strong and confident enough piece of writing to stand on its own two feet and is perhaps not well served by being placed on the shoulders of giants … The novel tells the intertwined stories of three families … At first glance this may strike the reader as overly schematic. That it doesn’t read that way is a tribute to the energy with which the stories are told, and the vivid detail in which the world of the book is created … The novel’s greatest strength lies in its creation of three unforgettable female characters … the emotional devastation wrought by illness is keenly felt in these pages … an impressive book, ranging skillfully between historical and science fiction, shifting gears between political argument, psychological realism and rich fabulism … a dazzling debut, establishing Namwali Serpell as a writer on the world stage.”

–Salman Rushdie ( The New York Times Book Review )

Finalists: María Gainza, tr. Thomas Bunstead, Optic Nerve (Catapult) Lila Savage, Say, Say, Say (Knopf) Sarah Elaine Smith, Marilou Is Everywhere (Riverhead) De’shawn Charles Winslow, In West Mills (Bloomsbury)

Ben Lerner, The Topeka School (FSG)

“… awe-inspiring … Lerner has hit on something deep, and true, in the portrait of ‘debate’ in this book, as what it has long seemed to be—the knightly combat or martial arts of children of the professional-managerial class, where they can practice the linguistic violence they’ll use as adults against real targets in politics, the law, and administration … The beautiful recollections of childhood in The Topeka School  allow for a  Portrait of the Artist –type origin story in which Adam’s eventual triumph as a poet, and as the writer of this novel, occurs by the neutralization of the voices of debate and white rap with his mother’s feminism … The Darren plot seems a way to lend a convention of suspense, familiar from other contemporary novels, to a book that is better than most contemporary novels. Perhaps its virtue is as a reminder of the persistence of exclusion in a progressive civilization—our own—which redeems some new subjects only to despise and scapegoat others.”

–Mark Greif ( Bookforum )

Finalists: Tash Aw, We, the Survivors (FSG) Madeline Ffitch, Stay and Fight (FSG) Maaza Mengiste, The Shadow King (W. W. Norton) Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys (Doubleday)

Edgar Award

Presented by the Mystery Writers of America, honoring the best in crime and mystery fiction.

(Best Novel)

Elly Griffiths,  The Stranger Diaries (Houghton Mifflin)

“ Griffiths alternates points of view among Clare, her 15-year-old daughter, Georgie, and DS Harbinder Kaur, the queer policewoman in charge of the murder investigation. Thrown into the mix are excerpts from <em>The Stranger</em>, itself a delicious homage to writers like M.R. James … Griffiths (<em> The Vanishing Box</em> , 2018, etc.) hits a sweet spot for readers who love British mysteries and who are looking for something to satisfy an itch once  Broadchurch  has been binged and Wilkie Collins reread. Griffiths, who is known for the Magic Men mysteries and the Ruth Galloway series, has written her first stand-alone novel with immensely pleasurable results.”

Finalists: Barbara Bourland, Fake Like Me (Grand Central) Peter Heller,  The River (Knopf) Abir Mukherjee, Smoke and Ashes (Pegasus Crime) Michael Robotham, Good Girl, Bad Girl (Scribner)

(Best First Novel)

Angie Kim, Miracle Creek (Sarah Crichton)

“From the opening pages of  Miracle Creek , Angie Kim creates an intense atmosphere of foreboding and suspense, building swiftly to the event that triggers the rest of her debut novel, unraveling so many lives and lies … This novel is a stunner, emotionally packed, with separate characters delivering internal plot twists and turns. Part family drama, part trial drama, part culture war drama—digging into sensitive topics like parenthood, immigration, infertility, and alternative therapy—this novel is all secrets, secrets, secrets. In multiple narratives, we see events from different points of view as they unfold, or as they are recalled, or through statements and mental asides during testimony … One idea Kim explores, under-represented in popular culture, is the cost, psychic and spiritual, of leaving one’s homeland to pursue dreams or a ‘better’ future in the United States. Kim does a marvelous job in excavating the emotional toll of this move … Angie Kim gives the reader a supremely masterful unraveling in this tense, psychologically astute, emotionally riveting, suspense-filled literary thriller.”

–Désirée Zamorano  ( Los Angeles Review of Books )

Finalists: Samantha Downing, My Lovely Wife (Berkley Books) John McMahon, The Good Detective (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) Lara Prescott, The Secrets We Kept (Knopf) John Vercher, Three-Fifths (Agora) Lauren Wilkinson, American Spy (Random House)

Nebula Award

Given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for the best science fiction or fantasy novel.

Sarah Pinsker,  A Song for a New Day (Berkley Books)

“By setting this novel in a society where DIY can literally be against the law, Pinsker ups the suspense considerably. To call this novel completely dystopian wouldn’t be entirely accurate, though: there’s a passing reference to states having established a basic income, for instance. It’s a fascinating paradox: elements of this world are utterly terrifying, but Pinsker balances that neatly with elements to show its appeal … There’s something very zeitgeist-y about what Pinsker does here … Pinsker’s novel feels very relevant in 2019, she’s also grappling with some classically science fictional themes … There aren’t many books that can accurately convey the dynamics of a local DIY music scene and tap into a decades-long tradition of speculative fiction. Sarah Pinsker’s  A Song for a New Day  makes it seem effortless—but in focusing on the taxing nature of the creative process under duress, she also reminds the reader of how difficult ‘effortless’ can be. Relevant, haunting, and inspiring, this is one of the best books of 2019.”

Finalists: Charles E. Gannon,  Marque of Cain (Baen) Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January (Redhook) Arkady Martine, A Memory Called Empire (Tor) Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Gods of Jade and Shadow (Del Rey Books) Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth (Tor)

Awarded for the best science fiction or fantasy story of 40,000 words or more published in English or translated in the prior calendar year.

Arkady Martine,  A Memory Called Empire (Tor Books)

“The setup is the start to a stunning story that impressively blends together Martine’s fantastic and immersive world, a combination political thriller, cyberpunk yarn, and epic space opera that together make up a gripping read … Martine threads a delicate needle…as the plot unfurls, showing off the complex facets where politics and identity mix … it’s an excellent, gripping novel with a brisk plot, outstanding characters, and plenty to think about long after it’s over.”

–Andrew Liptak  ( The Verge )

Finalists: Seanan McGuire, Middlegame (Tor) Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth (Tor) Kameron Hurley, The Light Brigade (Gallery/Saga Press) Charlie Jane Anders, The City in the Middle of the Night (Tor) Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January (Redhook)

Bram Stoker Award

Presented by the Horror Writers Association for “superior achievement” in horror writing for novels.

Owl Goingback,  Coyote Rage (Independent Legions)

“Owl Goingback understands what makes horror fiction tick.”

– The Arizona Republic

Finalists: Josh Malerman,  Inspection (Del Rey) S. P. Miskowski,  The Worst is Yet to Come (Trepidatio Publishing) Lee Murray, Into the Ashes (Severed Press) Chuck Wendig, Wanderers (Del Rey)

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The 13 Most Prestigious Literary Awards for Book Authors

Every writer starts somewhere. And thanks to the digital age, it is easier than ever for aspiring writers to get their work out there and into the hands of readers. Receiving a writer's award is a great way to do that. If you can get an award for writing, you can give your writing career an instant boost and reach new readers while also receiving the recognition you deserve as an author.

In this blog, we will address the following:

What is a literary award?

What kinds of awards do authors get?

What is the highest award for authors?

What is the highest award in literature?

How often is a writer's award presented?

And, of course, a summary of the most prestigious literary awards for writers.

What Is a Literary Award?

A literary award is a prize that recognizes excellence in fiction, poetry, children’s books, and other types of writing. Writer awards are a great way to put your writing career on the fast track in the literary world. They can give you the recognition you deserve as an author, as well as help you reach new readers.

What Are the Different Categories of Prestigious Literary Awards for Writers?

Awards can be broken down into two main categories:, general awards.

General literary awards are not specific to any particular genre of writing, they include the Man Booker Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Award.

General literary awards are typically given to a select number of books each year that focus on a wide range of different topics and genres.

These awards are often the most prestigious awards in literature and are often the most difficult to win.

General writer awards are also often open to both first-time and experienced writers, so don’t let your lack of experience stop you from pursuing these awards. After all, outstanding work is always rewarded.

Genre-Specific Awards

Genre-specific awards are awarded to books in a specific genre, such as children's books, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, romance, prose, poetry, short stories, etc.

Are Awards for Authors Awarded Annually?

In most cases, one can expect awards for writing almost annually. In some cases, certain writer's awards, such as the Booker Prize, are awarded every two years.

What Is the Highest Award in Literature?

In 2017, the New York Times said that the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Man Booker Prize, and National Book Awards for literature are "the world's most prestigious literary prizes" and are given to authors' outstanding work.

13 Most Prestigious Awards for Authors

The four most prestigious literary awards, nobel prize.

Named after Alfred Nobel, the famous Nobel Prize is awarded in a wide range of fields, including science, medicine, and peace. The Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded since 1901 and has been awarded to writers in over 50 different languages. The highest literary award is not easy to win.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to only a select number of authors by the Nobel committee since its inception, including Samuel Beckett, Virginia Woolf, Rudyard Kipling, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and T. S. Eliot.

Winning the Nobel Prize in Literature is a great accomplishment and grants an author worldwide recognition as well as a generous cash prize.

Pulitzer Prize

The most prestigious award for fiction in the United States hails from Columbia University. Named after Joseph Pulitzer, a renowned journalist in the 1800s, the prize recognizes works in print, digital, magazine journalism, musical composition, and literature.

It is run by Columbia University and has 21 categories. Twenty of the categories give a certificate and a cash prize of $15,000 USD.

In 1918, the Pulitzer unveiled its first award for fiction, naming Ernst Poole as its first recipient for his book titled, "This Family." Pulitzer Prizes are awarded in many different fields, including fiction, nonfiction, drama, editorial writing, and criticism.

The Pulitzer Prize is awarded to a select number of novels and short stories each year.

Man Booker Prize

The Man Booker Prize is the most prestigious award for fiction awarded to writers who are citizens of the United Kingdom. The monetary reward and the overall recognition and boost in readership are something coveted by all authors. The winner is awarded £50,000 as the grand prize. And the remaining six finalists or shortlisted authors receive £2,500 each.

The Man Booker Prize is open to all genres of fiction, but the vast majority of books that are selected as finalists and winners focus on the novel form.

The prize is awarded every two years, and not awarded annually.

National Book Awards

The National Book Award is a celebration of some of the best literature written by American authors.

Founded in 1950, the National Book Awards committee meets annually and handpicks 25 “distinguished writers, translators, critics, librarians, and booksellers” to form the judging committee for the National Book Awards.

The Neustadt International Prize for Literature

The Neustadt International Prize for Literature, which used to be called the Books Abroad International Prize, is a prestigious award sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and by its international literary publication, World Literature Today.

The first Neustadt Prize was awarded in 1970. The winner gets a certificate, a silver eagle feather, and prize money—the cash prize of $50,000.

Just like the Nobel Prize, the Neustadt International Prize is one of the literary awards awarded to individuals for their entire body of work in literature.

In 1988, Raja Rao was the first Indian writer to receive the Neustadt Prize. He has authored many extraordinary books in Kannada, English, and French.

Other Popular Awards for Writing

Edgar award.

A prestigious award, or literary prize, for mystery writers in the United States, this is awarded to books that are written by an American author and are focused on a crime or mystery or to books that have “outstanding publication in the mystery or crime genre," and demonstrate a distinguished contribution in mystery writing that focuses on a wide range of different topics including crime, forensics, and more.

Named after Hugo Gernsback, also called the "Father of Magazine Science Fiction," who was a renowned magazine editor who made it his mission to bring science fiction to the masses.

He was the founder of Amazing Stories , the first major American science fiction magazine, in 1926. He is often credited for the boom in written science fiction. Not only does he have the Hugo Award named after him, but he also has a crater on the moon.

The Hugo Award was first presented in 1953, and is now presented annually—it is the most prestigious literary award one can receive for science fiction.

The Hugo Award is unique in that you cannot apply to be a candidate for this award. You have to be chosen by members of the World Science Fiction Society. These awards are presented at the World Science Fiction Convention.

Printz Award

Named after a school librarian in Topeka, Kansas, this is an annual award that honors contemporary literature for teens and focuses on young adult fiction.

America Award for American Literature

The America Award in Literature was first presented in 1994 to appreciate writers for their contributions to the literary world. It is sponsored by the Contemporary Arts Educational Project and Green Integer. The America Award has no monetary prize associated with it. Winners are chosen by a group of six to eight famous and esteemed American authors who form the awards committee.

John Newbery Medal

The John Newbery Medal is the most prestigious children’s writing award in the United States. It is awarded to a select number of fiction and nonfiction books written for readers between the ages of 9 and 14 each year.

It showcases books that “exemplify the best in children’s literature” and "young adult literature" with the most “appealing integrity of concept and execution.”

The Forward Prizes

The Forward Prizes are some of the most prestigious awards for short story writing in the United Kingdom, awarded to short story collections written by citizens of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, or the Republic of Ireland.

There are three separate prizes awarded by the Forward Prizes: The Best Book Award, the Best First Book Award, and the Best Collection Award.

Women's Prize for Fiction

The Women's Prize for Fiction is a registered charitable trust in the UK that seeks to award distinguished contributions by female authors all over the world as a means of empowerment and celebration, so they continue to share their writing and own their stories.

The Women's Prize for Fiction also has foundational programs such as Discoveries and First Chapter, which mentor and support aspiring female authors with tools, strategies, and mentorship to develop their writing. This award is presented annually as well.

They have excellent free resources online, such as their Women's Prize for Fiction Podcast. Listen in, you're in for a treat!

Costa Book Awards (Formerly Whitbread Book Awards)

Formerly known as the Whitbread Literary Awards (1971–1984), Whitbread Book Awards (1985–2005), and Costa Book Awards, these are awarded annually to writers residing in the UK and Ireland for books published in the previous year.

The Costa Book Awards have five categories: Poetry, novel, biography, first novel, and children's book or children's literature. Category winners in the Costa Awards receive a prize of £50,000 split equally amongst the winners.

The Samuel Johnson Prize

The Samuel Johnson Prize is the most prestigious award in the United Kingdom awarded to books in the nonfiction genre. The Samuel Johnson Prize is awarded to a select number of books each year that focus on a wide range of different topics, including history, biography, music, and politics.

It Is Never Too Late to Get Started. You Could Be the Next Recipient of Some Prestigious Award for Book Authors

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Best Book Awards 2024: A Complete List of Book Awards for Authors and Publishers

We maintain this list for authors and publishers because book awards are an essential tool for building an audience. In a survey of 613 authors, publishers and publicists about book marketing tactics , 73% reported that book awards are important or very important. Nevertheless, it’s surprisingly difficult to find truly credible awards that most writers are eligible for. Finding the right award to submit to can be as challenging as finding the right college scholarship.

For both authors and publishers, book awards can be life-changing, paving the way for new opportunities and elevating their status in the industry. Winning or placing in the best book awards is seen as a stamp of approval by experts and readers alike. These accolades acknowledge the author’s tireless efforts and determination, and for those using traditional publishers, underscores the publisher’s dedication to crafting exceptional work. Awards often result in tangible outcomes as well, such as increased media attention and visibility, which can translate into higher sales and a more robust market presence. This heightened exposure can unlock doors to international rights deals, film adaptations, and future publishing agreements. In essence, the best book awards act as a catalyst for growth and success, fortifying an author’s reputation and propelling their career to unprecedented heights.

About Book Award Eligibility

Eligibility for many of the best book awards depends on genre, publisher, publishing career stage, nationality, country of residence, manuscript length, and at times even gender. Making things more complicated, many of the best awards also require that the author be a member of a private writer or publishing group. Others require submissions to come from publishers or agents. Another wrinkle beyond eligibility, and one that extends beyond the publishing world, is that certain awards also require finalists and winners to purchase the award seals they earn. 

This comprehensive list of the best book awards can help cut through the madness. For convenience, the major genres are listed first, followed by specialty categories. Awards that are dependent on very specific requirements, or that are geared mostly toward inexperienced writers, are listed at the end. 

So if you are looking for a comprehensive list book of awards, you’ve come to the right place. 

Disclaimer : Summarized information is accurate as of the time of this writing, but may have changed. This article is for basic educational purposes only and is not a substitute for visiting each book award website for the latest details, including complete eligibility requirements.

Best Book Awards for Crime, Mystery and Thrillers

1) the edgar awards.

Fittingly, this award for mystery authors is named in honor of Edgar Allen Poe and put on by the Mystery Writers of America (MWA). In a very Poe-like tradition, short stories are accepted as well as several other formats and genres.

Eligibility : Self-published books are not permitted. As for membership in MWA, “while the author does not need to be a member of MWA, the work itself must make the author eligible for active status. Only works from a publisher on our approved list are eligible to be submitted.” There are also various rules about submitting to committees. We advise reading the rules closely. More details here.  

Select Past Winners : Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara; Before She Was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney; Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman; These Women by Ivy Pochoda; The Missing American by Kwei Quartey; The Distant Dead by Heather Young.

2) The BestThrillers.com Book Awards

Novelists compete in one of 15 categories, including Action, Crime, Conspiracy, Fantasy & Dystopian, Historical, Horror, Legal, Medical, Military, Mystery, Paranormal, Political, Psychological, Sci-Fi and Spy.

Eligibility : This annual award is open to all published books – traditional, indie or small. No membership in any writing organization is required. No separate fees are required to use winner and finalist seals. More details here . Announcement for the 2024 thriller book awards . 

Select Past Winners : Girl Missing by Kate Gable; The Girls in the Cabin by Caleb Stephens; Huron Breeze by Landon Beach; The Money by David Shawn Klein;  The Forgotten Girl by Daco Auffenorde; The Silver Waterfall by Kevin Miller; Have You Seen Me? by Alexandrea Weis; Tokyo Zangyo by Michael Pronko; Early Grave by Paul Levine.

3) The Daggers

This award for excellence in crime fiction is organized by the Crime Writers’ Association in the United Kingdom. The Daggers includes honors such as the “Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award.”

Eligibility : In general, publishing houses must submit books for consideration, but there are also several Daggers which are not nominated by publishers. For example, the Debut Dagger is a competition for the opening of a crime novel by a writer who isn’t represented by an agent by the time the competition closes, and who has never had a traditional contract for a full-length novel. More details here . 

Select Past Winners : City of Ghosts by Ben Creed; Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith; The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths; Midnight Atlanta by Thomas Mullen; Blacktop Wasteland by S A Cosby; House of Correction by Nicci French;  Cop Town by Karin Slaughter.

4) ITW Thriller Awards

This award series for excellence is organized by the The International Thriller Writers (IWT). There are several categories, including hardcover, softcover, audiobook, short stories and more.

Eligibility : In general, books must come from a recognized publishing house, making it difficult for self-published authors. Active IWT members may also apply. More details here .

Select Past Winners : Clive Cussler; Christopher Reich; Adam Fawer; Pride Runs Deep, R. Cameron Cooke; Michael Haneke.

The Best Book Awards for Cross-Genre

5) the costa prize.

Launched in 1971, the Costa Book Awards is one of the UK’s most prestigious and popular book prizes and celebrates the most enjoyable books of the year by writers resident in the UK and Ireland. Uniquely, the prize has five categories – First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book – with one of the five winning books selected as the overall Costa Book of the year and each category is judged separately by a panel of three judges per category. The Costa Book of the Year is then chosen by a nine-member panel which includes representatives from the original panels who are joined by other well-known people who love reading.

Eligibility : Your publisher must enter your book. Publishers should contact the Booksellers Association to ensure they receive an entry form More details here .

Select Past Winners : The Kids by Hannah Lowe; Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson.

6)  The Booker Prize

Eligibility : O nly publishers can submit entries to the prizes; authors and agents are not permitted to enter the prizes directly. Submissions can be made here .

Select Past Winners : The Testaments by Margaret Atwood; Milkman by Anna Burns; Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders.

7) The Best Indie Book Award

Eligibility : Entries are limited to independently (indie) published books, including those from small presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors.

Select Past Winners : Death’s Debt by Dennis K. Crosby; Eagle Ascending by Dan Whitfield; Gaia’s Game by Ken Stark.

8) National Book Awards

Eligibility : For the Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature Awards, authors must be US citizens, or if authors are non-US citizens or have particularly complex immigration issues, there is a petition process. Detailed guidelines define an “American” author. Authors cannot submit books directly. Self-published books are only eligible if the author/publisher publishes the work of other authors in addition to their own.

Select Past Winners : The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty; The Birdcatcher by Gayl Jones; Balladz by Sharon Olds.

9) GoodReads Choice Awards   

The Goodreads Choice Awards is a yearly award program, first launched on Goodreads in 2009. Winners are determined by users voting on books that Goodreads has nominated or books of their choosing, released in the given year.

Eligibility : GoodReads analyzes statistics from the millions of books added, rated, and reviewed on Goodreads to nominate books in each category.  Most books that Goodreads nominates are from verified Goodreads authors. 

Select Past Winners :  Lessons in Chemistry  by Bonnie Garmus;  Call Us What We Carry  by Amanda Gorman;  Hidden Pictures  by Jason Rekulak.

10) The BookLife Prize 

Eligibility : “Unpublished or self-published books–works for which the author has subvented the cost of the book’s publication–in the English language are eligible.” Authors are strongly encouraged to inspect the meaning of “subvented” in this context and also to pay close attention to numerous additional requirements, including word count.

Select Past Winners : Boys in Exile by Richard Duggin; Fairview by Kim Fielding.

List of The Best Horror Book Awards

11) bram stoker awards.

Presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA), this award named after the legendary author of Dracula offers awards in multiple categories, including first novel, anthology, young adult and even poetry. With notable authors such as Clive Barker among its winners, it is considered among the Horror genre’s best book awards.

Eligibility : There are a lot of options for both self-published and traditionally published authors. Note that the HWA has strict guidelines for publicizing awards. More details here . 

Selected List of Past Winners : Linda Addison; Maria Alexander; Michael Arnzen; Clive Barker; Laird Barron; Charles Beaumont; Robert Bloch; Bruce Boston; Nancy Holder; Alessandro Manzetti; Steve Niles.

The Best Book Awards for Legal Fiction

12) harper lee prize for legal fiction.

Presented by the University of Alabama, this award is presented annually to a published work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.

Eligibility : Books must be “Readily available to readers via commercial sources (retail or online bookstores such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or iTunes). Other rules apply. More details here . 

Select Past Winners : John Grisham; Michael Connelly; Paul Goldstein; Deborah Johnson; Attica Locke; James Grippando; C.E. Tobisman; Sharon Bala.

List of The Best Political Writing Awards

13) orwell prize.

Presented by the The Orwell Foundation, this annual award is named after 1984 and Animal Farm author George Orwell. The award honors great fictional and non-fiction works (currently including both novels and journalism) that “make political writing into an art.”

Eligibility :  While the definition of a political work is broad, works must be published “by a recognised publisher or imprint based in the UK. If a book is also published in the USA or Canada, it must be published simultaneously in the UK.”  More details here . 

Select Past Winners : Joshua Yaffa; Kate Clanchy; AliSmith; Colson Whitehead; Anna Burns; John Bew; James Week; Alan Johnson.

List of The Best Romance Book Awards

14) romantic novel awards.

Eligibility: Open to members and non-members of the RNA. Various rules apply to books not submitted by agents or publishers. More details here .

Select Past Winners : Clare Pooley; Kate Hardy; Shirley Mann; Carole Matthews; Louise Douglas; Christina Courtenay; Milly Johnson; Catherine Tinley.

15) RITA Awards

This award honoring exceptional romance writers is presented by the The Romance Writers of America (RWA). RITA includes several categories, currently including Erotic Romance, Paranormal Romance,  Historical Romance and more.

Eligibility : This is a rare award where speed is essential, as the RITA Awards currently cap submissions at 2,000 entries. As far as membership, the current eligibility requirements read as follows: “The RITA Contest is open to members of RWA as well as non-members, but priority will be given to members.” More details here .

Select Past Winners : Claim Me by J. Kenner; The Saint by Tiffany Reisz; For Real: A Spires Story by Alexis Hall; Off the Clock by Roni Loren; Wicked Dirty by J. Kenner; Three-Way Split by Elia Winters.

List of The Best Religious Book Awards

16) the christy awards.

This award, named for the bestselling novel Christy, is organized by the The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. The Christy Awards promote fiction written from a Christian worldview. There are several categories, including Historical, First Novel and Mystery/Suspense.

Eligibility: Entry for traditionally published authors is straightforward. Self-published authors are eligible only if they meet certain requirements. More details here . 

Select Past Winners : Whose Waves These Are by Amanda Dykes; Now and Then and Always by Melissa Tagg; A Long Time Comin’ by Robin W. Pearson; The Medallion by Cathy Gohlke; The Painted Castle by Kristy Cambron.

The Best Book Awards for Sci-Fi 

17) the hugo award.

Eligibility : Membership in “Worldcon” is required. Authors and publishers cannot technically submit books. The Hugo Awards nomination process is open to every member of the current and previous Worldcon, meaning that the votes can potentially be cast by thousands of people. More details here . 

Select Past Winners : Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse ; The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin ; Harrow The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir; Piranesi by Susanna Clarke ; The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal .

18) Nebula Awards

Dating back to 1965, the Nebula Awards honor the best sci-fi and fantasy books. Categories for film and TV scripts were created in succeeding decades. The awards are nominated by and selected by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). 

Eligibility : Authors and publishers cannot enter their own books per se. SFWA members nominate sci-fi and fantasy books for consideration. With that said, winners don’t have to be members of the SFWA. More details here .

Selected List of Past Winners : A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker ; The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut #1) by Mary Robinette Kowal ; The Stone Sky (Broken Earth #3) by N. K. Jemisin ; All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders ; Uprooted by Naomi Novik ; Annihilation (Southern Reach Trilogy #1)  by Jeff Vandermeer ; Ancillary Justice: Imperial Radch 1 by Ann Leckie .

The Best Young Adult & Children’s Book Awards

19) aaas/subaru prize for excellence in science books.

How cool is it that a car company is promoting great literature? The good people at Subaru and the American Association for the Advancement of Science celebrate outstanding science writing and illustration for children and young adults.

Eligibility : Books are submitted by publishers. More details here.  

20) The Morris Award

The Young Adult Library Services Association awards debut books written for young adults. The award’s namesake is William C. Morris, an influential innovator in the publishing world and an advocate for marketing books for children and young adults. Separately, publishers may purchase seals for nominees, finalists and winners.

Eligibility : Publishers, authors, agents, or editors may not nominate their own titles. More details here.

21) The Michael L. Printz Award

Eligibility: Publishers, authors, agents, or editors may not nominate their own titles.   More details here .

Past Winners: Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri; Dig by AS King. 

22) Newbery Medal

Established in 1922, and presented by the American Library Association, The John Newbery Medal is one of the oldest and most prestigious award for children’s books in the world. Frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the ALA.

Eligibility: Authors must be citizens or residents of the United States whose book is intended for children up to age 14. Aside from that, the award is open: “There are no limitations as to the character of the book considered except that it be original work. More details here .

Past Winners: New Kid by Jerry Craft; Last Stop on Market Street by Matt De la Pena. 

23) The Children’s & Teen’s Choice Book Awards

Winners are selected by kids and teens of all ages. Backed by the Children’s Book Council. The Children’s Book Council (CBC) is the nonprofit trade association of children’s book publishers in North America, dedicated to promoting children’s books and reading.

Eligibility : Find details here . 

Past Winners: The Other Talk by Brendan Klely; We Had to be Brave by Deborah Hopkinson; Wildcard by Marie Lu. 

Additional Book Awards

Some of the world’s best book awards are based on very specific criteria such as gender or geography. Others seem geared toward giving large numbers of inexperienced writers feedback from “professionals” rather than recognizing the best books. Still others are so exclusive that they they are inaccessible to most writers. Here are additional awards for publishers, writers and publicists to consider.

24) The Encore Award

This award honors UK writers who avoid the sophomore slump. Presented by the Royal Society of Literature, the honors go to outstanding second novels.

25) Eric Hoffer Book Award

Offers a grand prize for one independently published book per year, as well as miscellaneous other honors.

26) The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

A huge cash prize is awarded to the winner of this award, sponsored by the City Council of Dublin, Ireland.

27) The National Indie Excellence Awards

As the name indicates, independently books are recognized in this award sponsored by Smarketing, LLC. 

28) PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel

Internationally-recognized awards with roots in Earnest Hemingway’s beloved state of Wyoming.

29) Women’s Prize for Fiction

This UK-based award celebrates books written by women writers and typically offers a substantial monetary award.

30) The Pulitzer Prize

Not strictly for book awards, bur nevertheless extremely important, The Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. The Pulitzer Prizes and Fellowships, established in Columbia University by the will of the first Joseph Pulitzer, are awarded by the University on the recommendation of The Pulitzer Prize Board. The Board meets twice annually. There are 23 categories across journalism, books, drama and music. The Prizes are announced during the Spring.

Industry Voices on Why Book Awards are Important

In a world where book buyers can easily choose between books based on peer reviews, why do book awards still exist? The simple answer is because many great books suffer from poor distribution and non-existent marketing. Book awards help readers discover great new voices. 

Whether publishing their first book or their 100th, literary appreciation never goes out of style among novelists. Fortunately, awards also mean something to readers too. Book buyers have millions of titles to choose from, and awards help novels stand out from the avalanche of new releases each year.

“The Costa and Booker prizes may be a literary lottery but awards have more influence now than reviews…It’s literary prizes that shape the afterlives of new titles. Even in the recession-hit UK, these prizes show no sign of losing popular appeal.” Robert McCrum, The Guardian “Publishers take note of what wins, as do a large number of readers (prizes often equate to a bump in sales), which means that the bookish landscape, the one in which we’re all wandering around, changes when awards are doled out. Those effects are worth being tuned in to, no matter what you feel about book awards in general or the winning books specifically.” Josh Corman, in his Bookriot article, Like it Not, Book Awards Matter

Tyler Denning

The Ultimate Guide to Winning Book Awards: Tips and Tools

• August 9, 2021

Winning a book award is a nice ego-boost for an author but does it attract readers? How does an author weed through the proliferation of profiteering awards to find the ones that have value? This is the Alliance of Independent Authors ultimate guide to book awards. 

prizes and awards book

Winning a major book award is a clear indicator to the book-buying public of a book’s worth, at least as perceived by the judges of that prize. A prize—winner or even a shortlisted runner-up sticker on a book cover has the power to boost sales.

The top literary prizes are very high profile, making news headlines many times over whenever they are awarded, increasing  awareness, branding and notoriety around the book and author. Many other benefits may be gained beyond the winner’s cash prize—$15,000 for the Pulitzer, £50,000 for the Man Booker, and a staggering (Swedish Kronor) SEK8 million (US$1.2 million, €0.93 million, £0.6 million) for the Nobel Prize for Literature. For example, the winner may expect to accrue increased sales in their home market, new or extended contracts from overseas, sales of translation rights, higher advances for future commissions, and greater visibility for their backlist.

Announcements of long lists, short lists, winners, and the aftermath all provide valuable publicity for those authors lucky enough to be involved.

At the other end of the scale are the many awards set up in recent years to capitalise on authors' desire to be award-winning authors. If you’ve considered submitting your book, you'll know the book awards landscape is littered with high fees, small rewards, and poor transparency.

And then there are the awards that are closed to indie authors for not good reason. Today, “Over 92% of all book awards are available to indie and self-published authors,” says Hannah Jacobson, founder of Bookawardpro.com but many of the most prestigous awards still carry clauses and conditions of entry that knock author-publishers out of the running, for no reason other than a pre-formed bias. Such a clause often looks like this:

Self-published books are not eligible where the author is the publisher, or where a company has been specifically set up to publish that book.

This rule comes from the Booker Prize and it would dignify the Booker Prize to remove it.

In this Ultimate Guide to Book Awards, we look at what it takes to win an award, how to recognise the awards that are worth winning and offer tips and guidance for successful submission. We also introduce you to ALLi Awards Ratings Page, our short guide to Prizes and our Open Up to Indie Authors campaign.

Our thanks to Annie Mydla from the North Street Book Prize and Hannah Jacobson from Book Award Pro for their contributions to this post.

What Kind of Book Wins an Award?

First, I eliminate books that don't meet basic technical and editorial standards. Scores of entries are turned away right at the outset, often for tragically simple and avoidable reasons. Don't fall into the trap of sloppy entry prep—make sure your entry checks all the boxes for strong visual and stylistic technique.

• Read our submission requirements carefully, especially the genre requirements.

In our last contest, we refunded nearly 100 entry fees for books that didn’t meet our guidelines. This happens most in our Creative Nonfiction & Memoir category, where we regularly get entries that are specifically excluded in the rules: biographies, history books, self-help, and religious tracts, to name a few. If it’s unclear if your book is eligible, please ask. This helps us clarify our rules, and sometimes we add a category when we see interest. An example is our Art Book category added just this year.

• Have your book edited and proofread by someone with experience. Consistent typos and incorrect use of language will sink any entry, no matter the quality of the plot or the caliber of the characters. Books that do not seem thoroughly proofread and edited do not advance.

In poetry, tonal and stylistic consistency are key. If there's a dramatic shift in the voice, or a breakdown of the form partway through the poem (e.g. a sonnet that stops rhyming halfway through), it's essential that these choices feel authoritative rather than accidental. The same is true of prose entries where characters may speak with a regional dialect or use nonstandard grammar. Here, there's the added risk of problematic stereotypes. We highly recommend hiring a sensitivity reader and crediting them in your afterword so our judges know that you're aware of the issues.

Spell check is not enough, and even beta readers may not be enough, unless the readers you choose have editing and proofreading experience. Our judges heavily prioritize the stylistic integrity of a text, and in that context it's worth it to devote time and energy to finding someone who can help you polish your book to its most outstanding luster.

• When selecting your font and book design, make choices that increase accessibility and ease of reading. We find that especially in the Graphic Novel & Memoir and Children's Picture Book categories, the font is often too small or too stylized to be accessible for all audiences. If you're a Children's Picture Book author, consider that a percentage of your audience will be adults reading to children. Be kind to grandparents whose eyesight is not what it used to be!

In Graphic Novel & Memoir entries, the print is often too small, or the contrast between the print and background too low, to be easily readable. Though illustrations are the standout characteristic of these genres, don't focus so much on the artwork that you forget about the appeal and accessibility of your text.

Composition

In the second round of judging, I look for outstanding composition and character development. At the end of this stage, books with flat characters, too much unnecessary detail, or monotonous composition are left by the wayside. Only the most dynamic books make it to the third round.

• Experiment with the structure of your composition . A certain percentage of the books we receive in each contest demonstrate a narrative structure that is completely linear. The first thing that happens temporally appears first in the plot. The second thing appears second. The third thing appears third. And so on, until we come to the twenty-thousandth thing, which appears twenty-thousandth in the plot.

Books with such a linear structure often lack suspense, depth, and a sense of mastery. Moreover, they are unable to take advantage of one of the greatest assets of written storytelling: juxtaposition.

Among North Street entries, this happens in some genres more than others (here's looking at you, Creative Nonfiction & Memoir), but I extend the following advice to all entrants: Play with the structure. Arrange the events in your book to maximum effect—move them around and see how different configurations impact the meaning of the work as a whole. In placing scenes side by side which don't occur consecutively in terms of plot, you can open up a whole new world of thematic relationships and suspense-building, which will keep your reader more engaged.

• Practice leaving things out. Far too many of the books we receive want to include every. Single. Thing. That happens to the characters. What they ate for breakfast (eggs). How the eggs were prepared (soft-boiled). Where the eggs came from (Stop ‘n Shop). How the characters felt about them (too runny). Such details might be essential in a short essay on eggs, but in almost any other context, they bog down the narrative and bore the reader.

Make sure that every detail serves the main thrust of your book, pushing the action forward and developing the characters. Your details should answer readers' inner questions, and inspire new ones.

For example, if your book is a memoir about when you worked in a recent federal election campaign, readers might not need to know what you had for breakfast every single day, but they may want to know about the time the candidate asked you to make a run for their favorite comfort food. If your book is a fantasy novel, the reader might not want to know about every single meal the characters eat, but they may want to know about special ones that are unlike the ones we humans eat, or about how the experience of a meal is somehow different before a major battle.

Most of all, though, practice taking details away, and see how their absence makes the truly important elements of your tale stand out. While we love richly textured world-building, there's also something to be said for simple plots that allow the reader to access timeless human experiences: for example, Jerald Pope's wordless picture book, Fetch , contained only one event, two characters, and barely any exposition, and was one of the most moving entries we received this year.

• Move beyond stereotypes; construct three-dimensional characters that make us rethink what we knew about people. At North Street, we want to see characters who live and breathe. Avoid stereotypes; don't be afraid of contradictions. Stand up for humanity in all its complexity. Show us under-represented viewpoints and history we weren't taught in school.

In our 2020 winners' circle, two standouts in this respect are Caleb Rainey's poetry collection, Look, Black Boy , which challenges stereotypes about Blackness in America, and Alicia Doyle's memoir, Fighting Chance , which shows the life of a female prizefighter in the macho world of American boxing. These deeply thoughtful creators help readers engage with issues of identity in a way that is at once critical, constructive, and humane. Both books are also utterly immersive, unfolding in such a way that throughout, we feel like we are being given a complex experience of our own, rather than a lecture or a “message”.

Bob Sylva's 2019 literary fiction winner, The King of Karaoke , is a short story collection depicting the diversity and resilience of immigrant life in Sacramento, from an African man who crafts mattresses as a spiritual vocation, to a nursing-home entertainer grappling with his Japanese heritage. We look for books like these that educate as effortlessly as they give pleasure. A retired newspaper columnist, Sylva is also a master at selecting only the most relevant and resonant details.

Read our judges' comments from previous years to discover how this particular value has shown up in the work of past winners, and how to draw out the complexities within your own characters.

What Sets the Winning Books Apart?

In the final rounds of judging, my co-reader and I advance fifty semi-finalists to our lead judges, Jendi Reiter and Ellen LaFleche, author of Walking into Lightning . This is where we have to separate books that are merely excellent from books that are truly “North Street”. We're also required to send book evaluations to the judges justifying our choices, so at this stage I pay close attention to how the books relate to our values in order to make sure I can deliver a substantive assessment. Here are three core values of the North Street Book Prize that guide us as we make some of the most difficult decisions of the reading cycle.

• Let your book communicate something beyond mere knowledge of its plot and characters. Entries that make my shortlist don't just focus on what happened and to whom, but leave the reader with a new knowledge of deep social, psychological, and spiritual truths. The plot and characters are not the only level of engagement—North Street winners also give readers a profound sense of having come in touch with new ways of thinking and existing.

Our most recent Grand Prize winner, Christine Mulvey's memoir Mine to Carry , demonstrates these multiple levels of engagement. First, there's the main character, Cris herself, a young Irish woman in the early 1980s whose child is taken from her soon after birth. There's also her plot arc: a lifelong quest to understand what happened and eventually make contact with her son once more. But underlying the plot and Christine's development as a character is a third and deeper layer that puts us in touch with the Ireland of the early 1980s; social stigmas surrounding sexuality and single motherhood; how it feels to be denied basic human rights, stripped of agency, and manipulated to conform with dehumanizing social strictures. All of our 2020 winners and honorable mentions show a keen awareness of the conditions of the place and time in which their stories occur.

• Transcend your genre. The most successful North Street entries don't stick to one mode of literature. A significant sign of mastery is when an author can seamlessly join diverse influences within a single, unified composition.

Some recent examples: J.R. Weber's 2019 Grand Prize-winning verse-drama,  Lay of the Land , blends the history of Native American genocide, social commentary relevant to today, and the cadences of Greek tragedy. Ingrid Pierre's 2020 winning graphic novel Do Not Resuscitate includes strong imagery and themes from Gothic, Romance, and horror. Rachael A.Z. Mutabingwa's 2020 genre fiction winner Kunda , a time-travel narrative set in a fictional African country, combines magical realism, wartime experience, domestic drama, and humor. Jolie P. Hoang's literary fiction winner Anchorless is a narrative of escape from war-torn Vietnam, and it's also a ghost story.

• No matter what genre your book is, or when it is set, let it say something about life today . Your book doesn't have to be set in the present, or even on Earth, to show us something about our own life and times. Every genre, setting, and time period offer opportunities to weave in themes with which modern readers can identify.

Too often we receive novels and memoirs that are myopically focused on their plot and characters without ever giving a hint about why these people and events might be essential for us to know about today. For poetry collections, this issue can take the form of verse that is so focused on its theme or main set of images that it omits the emotional payoff. Something always has to be at stake for the reader.

In the picture book category, the opposite problem is actually more common: “issues” books that lack kid appeal because the characters and setting are two-dimensional props for the message.

If you reach a point in your work where you're not sure how to connect with your audience this way, probe why your subject is so compelling to you . After all, while your composition is still in progress, you are the world's only living link between the universe you've created and the spacetime in which we all exist. By exploring your own passion for your subject, you may be led to insights that help you bridge the gap between the world of your characters and that of your readers.

The North Street Book Prize accepts self-published books every year between February 15 and June 30. In 2021, entries are sought in these categories: Mainstream/Literary Fiction, Genre Fiction, Creative Nonfiction & Memoir, Poetry, Children’s Picture Book, Graphic Novel & Memoir, and Art Book. Entries may have any year of publication. Learn more at https://winningwriters.com/north 

Annie Mydla, North Street Book Prize

Annie Mydla assists with the administration and judging of the  North Street Book Prize  sponsored by Winning Writers, moderates the Winning Writers  Instagram feed  and forum on  Reddit , and helps maintain winningwriters.com . She is a literary scholar and writer. Born in Boston, she spent her childhood and early adulthood in Rhode Island and Western Massachusetts. She now resides in Poland, where she pursues research in supernatural fiction, crime fiction, and Joseph Conrad.

Find out more about the North Street Book Prize on their Facebook page.

Hannah Jacobson, Book Award Pro

We welcome Hannah Jacobson from Book Award Pro to tell us more about awards open to indie authors.

Hannah Jacobson  is the founder and CEO of Book Award Pro, the company that created technology enabling authors to become award-winning authors.  Book Award Pro began as a humble passion project and developed into the fast-growing technology startup it is today. We believe in doing great things for authors, and we create useful technology to make that happen.  Our service researches thousands of awards, continuously targets your most promising matches, and professionally submits your book for awards. This creates a windfall of fresh promotional opportunities for your book every single month.  To learn more and get started with boosting your book ’ s success, visit Book Award Pro here .

What Book Awards Are Open to Indie Authors?

  Over 92% of all book awards are available to indie and self-published authors. Indie authors are publishing beautiful, high-quality books and dazzling book awards around the globe. Most contests are acknowledging the impressive quality of indie books, and those few which aren ’ t miss out on recognizing great talent.

Here’s an interesting fact. One of the most prestigious awards in the world, the Pulitzer Prize, accepts submissions from indie and self-published authors. It ’ s an exciting time of growth and progress !

How do I Know if the Award is Worthwhile ?

What you feel is an ideal award for your book may not be a good match for someone else. Much like the indie book industry has changed and impressed the world, indie book awards are on the rise as well. During this era of growth and change, it ’ s important to continue capturing opportunities for your book. Don ’ t wait for the change to be “ done” before you begin! Start now and reap a lifetime of benefits as an award-winning author.  

When evaluating an award program, consider emailing the award to get a feel for their customer service. We find that behind the screen, there are good people wanting to do good work for authors, and friendly customer service tends to be an easy way to spot a great program.

Additionally, perform a litmus test: while reading the award website, does it seem respectful of authors? Does the program value what awards can do for authors (and not the other way around)?

How do I Choose Which Book to Submit?

Authors take a variety of approaches when it comes to deciding which book to submit. (And if you ’ re in this boat, kudos to you – it ’ s a tremendous accomplishment to publish multiple books!) As a general rule, the newer your publication date, the more likely it is to have a wide landscape of awards. That said, the world of awards is vast and opportunities are available for every book.

Use this quick guide to help decide which book you ’ d like to start submitting for awards:

Newly published book – Capture awards pre-publication and during your publication year to build award-winning excitement into your book launch strategy.

Older book – Breathe fresh life into an older publication and renew reader interest.

Highest performing book – Nominate your most “ reader tested and approved” book to awards and continue your path in the spotlight.

Least performing book – Revive your book with the fewest readers and ignite your marketing with a fresh award nomination.

Does it Have to be Literary?

While winning a world-famous literary prize would be a great honor and can bring prestige to your book, the truth is there are countless advantageous opportunities for your book to capture.

Don ’ t overlook the value of non-celebrity awards. While they might not provide a glitzy walk down the red carpet, awards add a freshness and layer of professionalism to your book and author brand.

You can leverage awards of all sizes to entice new readers and introduce your book to the world

What Makes an Award-Winning Genre Book?

High-quality indie books impress readers and awards around the world. While judges consider a variety of factors, most look for professional quality and an engaging story.  

Creating a beautiful, engaging book is a grand achievement and will certainly go a long way in helping your book reach award-winning acclaim.

What is less obvious is the dedication it takes to get your book into the hands of the judges. Your persistence and patience are critical factors in award nomination. Research awards, target your most promising opportunities, and nominate your book to be included for consideration.

Be persistent in your efforts and patient for results. Be bold and give your book a winning opportunity.

How Do I Know If My Book Is Good Enough to Win Awards?

Most awards look for quality book production (including editing, as well as interior and cover design), a compelling story, and an overall enjoyable reading experience. Additionally, consider the reading experience of your book in its entirety. A good rule of thumb is if you would be proud to hand your book to a reader, it is ready to be presented to a book award judging panel. Keep in mind award judges are readers, after all.

Some awards share general feedback to help authors gain a better understanding of the judging criteria. Winning Writers  and The Wishing Shelf Book Awards are two trusted award partner members of ALLi, and they offer helpful resources for you to get a more in-depth glimpse through the eyes of a judging panel.

How Can Book Awards Benefit Indie Authors?

Awards can be a powerful way to expand your author brand and open doors to new opportunities. Every time you enter your book for an award, you unlock fresh promotional moments.

Easily share awarding news to connect with readers on social media, newsletters, blogs, and more.

Additionally, leverage your “award-nominated” and “award-winning” status to enhance your author brand and bio. You never know who might notice your professional accolades online or at events.

Book awards can ignite your book marketing, expand your network, and draw attention to your author brand and book.

ALLi Award Resources

Do you want your indie book to be in with a chance of winning an award, prize or contest? This book is for you. Packed full of tips and advice for preparation and submission, this is the Alliance of Independent Authors guide to Prizes for Indie Authors.

ALLi members can download a complimentary ebook copy of Prizes for Indie Authors  in the Member Zone. Navigate to  allianceindependentauthors.org  and log in. Then navigate to the following menu: BOOKS > SHORTGUIDES. Other formats are available to members and non-members in  ALLi’s Bookshop

ALLi Book Award Ratings

ALLi's Watchdog Desk runs assessments of awards, prizes and contests for the benefit of the indie community culminating in a ratings page. The ratings are the opinion of the ALLi Watchdog Desk and checked against a set of guiding principles. If you're considering entering a prize or award, please make sure you check the ratings page to assess whether or not the prize is credible. Find out more on the ratings page here.

ALLi Open Up to Indie Authors Campaign

ALLi runs an ongoing campaign to encourage and aid literary events, festivals, prizes, reviewers, booksellers, government bodies, and other interested parties to find ways to include self-publishing authors in their programs, events, listings and reviews. More information here .

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Famous books and Authors list PDF

Famous books and Authors list PDF gives the list of important books and their authors name  and details like Autobiographies of Authors, Prizes won etc.,

This topic is very important for Banking exams, take a free mock test for SBI Clerk , to know the questions will be asked from this Famous books and Authors list PDF topic. If we look at SBI Clerk previous question papers we can see that 1 or 2 questions will be generally asked from Books and their Authors.

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Important Awards for Books for Books

Man Booker Prize:

The Man Booker Prize is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel, written in the English language and published in the UK.

David Grossman won the Booker Prize for his “A Horse Walks into a Bar” for the year 2017.

For more PDF’s visit GK questions and answer PDF for competitive exams

Man Booker Prize Winners from India

Salman Rushdie (Midnight’s Children-1981)

Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things-1997)

Kiran Desai (The Inheritance of Loss-2006)

Aravind Adiga (The White Tiger-2008)

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Pulitzer Prize:

The Pulitzer Prize is an International award for achievements in newspaper, magazine and online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States. Pulitzer Prizes are awarded yearly in twenty-one categories.

2017 Pulitzer Prize Winners

The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead (Fiction)

The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between – Hisham Matar (Autobiographies and Biographies)

Drama: Sweat Lynn Nottage

History: Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising in 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson

Poetry: Olio by Tyehimba Jess

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Books and Authors 2024 PDF List for Competitive Exams (UPDATED)

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Important Books and Authors 2024 PDF

List of Books and Authors 2024 PDF: General Awareness Plays an Important Role in Government exam. Learning Questions Based on Static Gk Chapters famous books and authors in India pdf Leads You to Score More Marks in Exam. In this Post, We Are Providing You List of Important Books and Authors for 2024 in Scoring Topics for competitive exams Like   SSC exams, Bank Exams, Government exams , or the UPSC exams.

The questions Related to Important books and authors have been covered under the Static GK a piece of the General Awareness segment. Questions in view of Important Books and their Authors are normally asked in Competitive Exam, IBPS SO, IPPB Officer, IBPS RRB, RBI, LIC AAO, SBI PO, SBI Clerk, IBPS PO, IBPS Clerk, and other Exams your insight in Current Affairs General Awareness segment.

Also, Check the Indian Famous List of Books and Authors in Hindi

Books and Authors 2024 Updated list: Overview

Important books and authors april 2024, important books and authors march 2024, important books and authors february 2024, important books and authors january 2024, important books and authors 2023 (january to december), important books and authors december 2023, important books and authors november 2023, important books and authors october 2023, 4 books on g20 summit: showcasing g20’s presidency success, important books and authors september 2023, important books and authors august 2023, important books and authors july 2023, important books and authors june 2023, important books and authors may 2023, important books and authors april 2023, important books and authors march 2023, important books and authors february 2023, important books and authors january 2023.

List of Famous Books and Authors

Q. what are the best books by indian authors.

Ans: Here are the Some best books by Indian authors 1.  White Tiger 2. The Great Indian Novel 3. Train to Pakistan 4.The Guide

Q. What are the 10 best Indian Books that one must read?

Ans: Malgudi Days, The Talkative Man, The Guide – R. K. NarayanJaya, Sita – Devdutt Patnaik The Namesake – Jhumpa Lahiri Feluda Series, Professor Shonku Series – Satyajit Ray Everything is written by Rabindranath Tagore Mere bachpan ke din & Gillu – Mahadevi Varma Grandfather’s private zoo, Adventures of Toto – Ruskin Bond Collected Stories – Khushwant Singh The God of small things – Arundhati Roy The collector’s wife – Mitra Phukan

Q. Which is the Best Selling Book by Indian authors.?

Ans: The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin by Manu S. Pillai is one of the Best Selling books by Indian authors

Q. Where can I download the books and authors’ PDFs?

Ans. –  You can download the Books and authors pdf 2020 from DreamBigInstitution.com

Q. Who are the top 10 authors of all time?

Ans: 1. Leo Tolstoy, 2. William Shakespeare, 3. James Joyce, 4. Vladimir Nabokov, 5. Fyodor Dostoevsky, 6. William Faulkner, 7. Charles Dickens, 8. Anton Checkhov, 9. Gustave Flaubert, 10. Jane Austen

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A conversation with author Steve Friesen about his new book about Buffalo Bill -- as a foodie The Daily Sun-Up

Today - It’s Friday, and once again time for a look at Colorado’s literary scene. This week Sun writer and editor Kevin Simpson chats with an author whose new book, a finalist for the prestigious Colorado Book Awards, takes an unconventional look at legendary 19th-century Western frontiersman “Buffalo Bill” Cody. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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WooSox Foundation Writers Series to hit it out of Polar Park with award-winning authors

WORCESTER — The Knights of the Keyboard, as Ted Williams once called writers, will hit it out of the park as the WooSox Foundation presents the new Great Polar Park Writers Series at Polar Park beginning May 18 with Ben Bradlee Jr.

The Saturday-afternoon luncheons will feature authors and speakers from Worcester and the world of baseball, including, besides Bradlee, Bill Ballou, Brian Abraham, Mike Barnicle and Dan Shaughnessy, Alex Speier and Doris Kearns Goodwin.

The luncheons begin at 1 p.m. in the DCU Club at Polar Park and will include a Q&A and Meet & Greets with the speakers.  Doors will open at 12:30 p.m. Tickets for each session are $25 and include lunch and a donation to the WooSox Foundation. Attendees can then stay in the park for a WooSox game that afternoon at 4:05 p.m. for an additional $9.

According to an announcement, the program is modeled after the Great Fenway Park Writers Series created in 2002 for the Boston Red Sox by the late George Mitrovich. It has been the only literary series presented by a professional sports team.  The program was a favorite of the late Red Sox Hall of Famer and Worcester Red Sox principal owner and chairman Larry Lucchino .

Dr. Ted Gallagher, a West Boylston dentist who was a close friend and Princeton University classmate with Lucchino, will serve as chairman of the Great Polar Park Writers Series.  

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“Larry Lucchino had pleaded with me to launch this program at Polar Park. It is fair to say that it was one of his dying wishes,” Gallagher said in the announcement.  "He loved that baseball has this beautiful confluence with literature, and he was thrilled with the lineup of stars we assembled.  They were all friends with him as well.  It is our honor to carry on his wish and his dream.”

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More: Headless horsemen, haunted houses: it's all in the books for one couple

The lineup:

May 18 — Ben Bradlee Jr.: "Spotlight on The Kid." Bradlee is the author of the biography of Ted Williams "The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams." The Pulitzer Prize-winning Globe Spotlight editor was also involved in The Boston Globe’s groundbreaking coverage of the Archdiocese of Boston that was depicted in the Oscar-winning movie “Spotlight.”  His father was the legendary Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee.

May 25 — Bill Ballou: "An Anecdotal History of Worcester (& Boston) Baseball. Untold stories and Hall of Fame voting." Ballou is known for his encyclopedic knowledge of baseball and is former sportswriter for the Telegram & Gazette

June 22 — Brian Abraham: "Where we started — where we are — and where we are going. The emergence of young talent through Worcester to Boston." As Boston Red Sox director of player development, Abraham has a unique expertise of “who’s on the way.”

July 13 — Mike Barnicle and Dan Shaughnessy: "A Fair-Minded View of the Red Sox and Other Cataclysms. Conversations on growing up in the shadow of Fenway. " Former Globe columnist Barnicle and Globe sports columnist Shaughnessy team up to present "as sagacious and engaging a duo as journalism can provide."

Aug. 3. — Alex Speier: "Homegrown — How the Red Sox built a Champion from the Ground Up. Observations of a team in transit ." Speier is a sportswriter for the Globe and covers the Boston Red Sox.

Aug. 17 — Doris Kearns Goodwin . The Pulitzer-Prize winning historian's books include "Wait Till Next Year," an acclaimed memoir of growing up in the 1950s in New York while in love with her family and baseball. 

Reservations for the series may be made on  woosox.com  or   https://fevo-enterprise.com/group/polarparkwriters .