Literary Prizes

Learn what each prize recognizes, then use its winners to reinforce authors and works already studied. Awards provide a comparison and recognition layer rather than a chronological history of literature.

International Recognition

Learn what international prizes recognize before studying laureates and their works.

Nobel Prize in Literature

Awarded annually by the Swedish Academy (Stockholm) since 1901 “for the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.” The prize usually recognizes an author’s body of work, but citations can highlight particular books, as with Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks and Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Announcements come each October. The prize was not awarded in some years, including 1940–1943 during World War II. The 2018 award was delayed until 2019 and went to Olga Tokarczuk.¹

• Nobel Prize — The annual award named for Alfred Nobel, given in categories such as Physics, Literature, Medicine, and Peace. Its laureates have included Richard Heck and Bob Dylan. Ernest Hemingway once called it “that little Swedish thing,” and later gave his medal to the mayor of Havana.
  • The Nobel Prize in Literature — The Nobel Prize in Literature is the annual literary Nobel awarded by the Swedish Academy, established by Alfred Nobel’s will, to an author for a lifetime body of work. Recipients include Sinclair Lewis, Jean-Paul Sartre, Herta Müller, Kenzaburo Oe, Bob Dylan, Louise Glück, and Jon Fosse.

    • Erik Axel Karlfeldt — Erik Axel Karlfeldt was a Swedish poet whose traditional, regionally rooted verse earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature posthumously in 1931. He had refused the prize in 1918, making him the unusual recipient associated with both refusal and posthumous award.

    • the Swedish Academy — The Swedish Academy is the body that awards the Nobel Prize in Literature. Founded in Stockholm by Gustav III, it has also been known for controversial selections and omissions.

  • They All DECLINED Or REJECTED Or REFUSED Them — The people named in the prompt all declined their Nobel Prizes when they were announced. Examples include Jean-Paul Sartre, Boris Pasternak, and Le Duc Tho, all of whom refused to accept the award under different circumstances.
• Nobel Prizes — Nobel Prizes are the annual awards endowed by Alfred Nobel and presented in fields including Physics, Literature, and Peace. The family includes the Nobel Prize in Literature won by Bob Dylan and the later-added economics prize sponsored by a national bank.
  • Peace
    • The Nobel Peace Prize — The Nobel Peace Prize is the Nobel Prize awarded outside Stockholm, traditionally in Oslo. It has been given to both individuals and organizations, including figures such as Bertha von Suttner and groups such as the UN Peacekeeping Forces.

Criteria and notable patterns

• The Swedish Academy judges on literary merit across all forms: novels, poetry, drama, essays.

• A running criticism is the prize’s historic Eurocentric tilt; the Academy has made visible efforts since the 1990s to recognize non-Western writers.

• The prize has famously passed over major figures including Leo Tolstoy, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust, Jorge Luis Borges, and Graham Greene.

• American laureates include Sinclair Lewis (1930), Eugene O’Neill (1936), Pearl Buck (1938), William Faulkner (1949), Ernest Hemingway (1954), John Steinbeck (1962), Saul Bellow (1976), and Toni Morrison (1993).²

Selected laureates

Note: 2018 was not awarded; Olga Tokarczuk (Poland) received the 2018 prize in 2019 alongside Peter Handke.

• Olga Tokarczuk (2018/2019) — Flights, The Books of Jacob; Polish novelist.

• Carl Spitteler — Carl Spitteler was a Swiss poet and novelist who won the 1919 Nobel Prize in Literature. His major works include Olympian Spring, Prometheus and Epimetheus, Imago, and Two Little Misogynists.

• Giosue Carducci — Giosue Carducci was a major Italian poet and critic associated with the Barbarian Odes and the poem “Hymn to Satan.” He won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Literature and was celebrated as Italy’s national poet.

Related Concepts and Applications

• Nobel Prize for Literature — The Nobel Prize for Literature is one of the annual Nobel Prizes awarded by the Swedish Academy. Recent winners mentioned in the evidence include Olga Tokarczuk, Louise Glück, and Peter Handke.

International Booker Prize

Awarded for a single work of fiction translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. Prize is split equally between author and translator. Initially awarded biennially from 2005; restructured in 2016 to an annual prize focused exclusively on translated fiction.

Selected winners

• 2005 — Ismail Kadare (Albania), career prize

• 2016 — Han Kang, The Vegetarian (trans. Deborah Smith); first under new format

• 2017 — David Grossman, A Horse Walks into a Bar (Israel)

• 2018 — Olga Tokarczuk, Flights (Poland; trans. Jennifer Croft)

• 2019 — Jokha Alharthi, Celestial Bodies (Oman; first Arabic-language winner)

• 2020 — Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, The Discomfort of Evening (Netherlands)

• 2021 — David Diop, At Night All Blood Is Black (France/Senegal)

• 2022 — Geetanjali Shree, Tomb of Sand (India; first Hindi-language winner)

Neustadt International Prize for Literature (USA)

Biennial prize awarded by the University of Oklahoma and its journal World Literature Today since 1969; sometimes called the “American Nobel” for its focus on international writers. Nominations made by a jury of international writers.

Selected laureates

• 1970 — Gabriel García Márquez (inaugural)

• 1974 — Francis Ponge (France)

• 1976 — Elizabeth Bishop (USA)

• 1980 — Josef Škvorecký (Czechoslovakia/Canada)

• 1982 — Octavio Paz (Mexico)

• 1992 — Edmond Jabès (Egypt/France)

• 2000 — David Malouf (Australia)

• 2016 — Nuruddin Farah (Somalia)

• Multiple Neustadt laureates subsequently won the Nobel Prize, giving the prize predictive credibility.

American Literary Awards

Distinguish American literary awards by purpose, eligibility, and recognized works.

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (Novel)

Administered by Columbia University; awarded annually since 1918 for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably about American life. Some years the jury declines to award the prize.

Selected winners

• The prize was notably not awarded in 1977, 2012, and several other years when no consensus was reached.

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and Drama

Poetry (selected)

• 1947 — Robert Frost, A Witness Tree (Frost won four Pulitzers total, a record)

• 1952 — Marianne Moore, Collected Poems

• 1967 — Anne Sexton, Live or Die It was also associated with Robert A. Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress in the novel category. In the United States, it was marked by the Detroit and Newark riots, the Algiers Motel incident, and the ratification of the Twenty-fifth Amendment. Abroad and in politics, it also saw the USS Liberty incident, the Glassboro Summit, and the first Super Bowl.

• 1973 — Maxine Kumin, Up Country

• 1987 — Rita Dove, Thomas and Beulah

• 1992 — James Tate, Selected Poems

• 2012 — Tracy K. Smith, Life on Mars

• 2016 — Peter Balakian, Ozone Journal

Drama (selected)

• 1931 — Susan Glaspell (first woman to win)

• 1949 — Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman

• 1953 — William Inge, Picnic

• 1960 — Jerome Weidman, Fiorello!

• 1976 — Michael Bennett, A Chorus Line

• 1998 — Paula Vogel, How I Learned to Drive

• 2002 — Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog

• 2008 — Tracy Letts, August: Osage County

Related Concepts and Applications

• Pulitzer Prize — The Pulitzer Prize is an annual set of awards established by the will of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer and administered by Columbia University. It recognizes work in journalism, literature, drama, history, music, and photography; categories mentioned include fiction, drama, and music. Recipients named in the records include Gwendolyn Brooks, Kendrick Lamar, Nilo Cruz, Junot Díaz, Oscar Hijuelos, Andrew Sean Greer, and Wynton Marsalis.
  • Drama
    • Pulitzer Prize for Drama — The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the Pulitzer awards, often given to major American plays and sometimes musicals or operas. Clues include Rent, Harvey, Rabbit Hole, Water by the Spoonful, and Disgraced.
  • Fiction
    • Pulitzer Prize for Fiction — The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is a major American literary award founded in 1917 and named for newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer. It has honored novels such as All the Light We Cannot See and is one of the country’s best-known prizes for fiction.

      • Pulitzer Prize for Literature — The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, formerly called the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, honors distinguished American prose fiction. Notable winners mentioned in the evidence include The Color Purple, Breathing Lessons, A Confederacy of Dunces, and James.

      • Winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction — Winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is a rare honor, and only a few writers, including William Faulkner and Andrew Sean Greer, have earned it more than once.

  • Poetry
    • American Poetry — The American Poetry Pulitzer category honors poets such as Sylvia Plath, Robert Penn Warren, James Wright, and William Meredith. The clue set points to the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry rather than a separate organization.

  • Pulitzer Prize for Music — The Pulitzer Prize for Music is an annual American award recognizing distinguished musical composition. Clues often mention George Walker’s Lilacs, Wynton Marsalis’s Blood on the Fields, and Kendrick Lamar’s controversial win for DAMN.

  • The Pulitzer Prizes — The Pulitzer Prizes honor American journalism, literature, and music composition, and they are named for newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer. The awards include fiction and other literary categories, and the fiction prize was notably not awarded in 2012.

National Book Award (USA)

Given by the National Book Foundation since 1950. Four main categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature (added 1996). Considered the most prestigious all-American literary prize alongside the Pulitzer.

Fiction (selected)

• 1953 — Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

• 1960 — Philip Roth, Goodbye, Columbus

• 1963 — J. F. Powers, Morte d’Urban

• 1974 — Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow

• 1979 — Tim O’Brien, Going After Cacciato

• 1983 — Alice Walker, The Color Purple

• 1990 — Charles Johnson, Middle Passage

• 2001 — Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections

• 2005 — William T. Vollmann, Europe Central

• 2014 — Phil Klay, Redeployment

• 2016 — Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad

• 2019 — Susan Choi, Trust Exercise

Poetry (selected)

• 1955 — Wallace Stevens, The Collected Poems (his second NBA)

• 1959 — Theodore Roethke, Words for the Wind

• 1974 — Allen Ginsberg, The Fall of America

• 1992 — Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems

• 2011 — Nikki Finney, Head Off & Split

PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

Given by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation since 1981 for the best published work of American fiction in a given year. Named for William Faulkner, who used his Nobel Prize money to establish awards for young writers. Peer-judged by published fiction writers.

Selected winners

• 1981 — Walter Abish, How German Is It (inaugural)

• 1983 — Toby Olson, Seaview

• 1985 — Tobias Wolff, The Barracks Thief

• 1993 — E. Annie Proulx, Postcards

• 1994 — Philip Roth, Operation Shylock

• 2000 — Ha Jin, Waiting

• 2007 — Ha Jin, War Trash (second win)

• 2012 — Philip Roth, The Human Stain (won twice)

National Book Critics Circle Award (USA)

Awarded since 1975 by the National Book Critics Circle, a professional organization of book reviewers and critics. Separate from the National Book Award; categories include Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Poetry, Criticism, and Autobiography.

Fiction (selected winners)

• 1975 — E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime (inaugural)

• 1979 — John Irving, The World According to Garp

• 1987 — Philip Roth, The Counterlife

• 2000 — Jim Crace, Being Dead

• 2005 — E. L. Doctorow, The March (his second NBCC)

• 2011 — Edith Pearlman, Binocular Vision

• 2018 — Rachel Kushner, The Mars Room

Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award

A special NBCC honor; past recipients include Toni Morrison, John Updike, and Grace Paley.

British Literary Awards

Compare British awards through their eligibility and literary scope.

Booker Prize

Awarded for a work of long-form fiction written originally in English and published in the UK and/or Ireland. Since 2014, authors of any nationality have been eligible; publication by an eligible Irish imprint was explicitly included from 2018.³

• Booker Prize — A major English-language literary award for fiction, originally limited to Commonwealth authors and later opened to American writers. In 1995 it was awarded to Pat Barker for The Ghost Road, beating Salman Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh. Among its winners are Schindler’s Ark, Wolf Hall, The Luminaries, and Lincoln in the Bardo.

  • 1994 Booker Prize controversy — The 1994 Booker Prize decision went to James Kelman for How late it was, how late, a choice that drew sharp criticism and public controversy. Commentators attacked the win as a provocative literary upset, making the novel and its author a recurring pair of clues for the prize controversy.

  • Fiction
    • Man Booker Prize for Fiction — The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is the annual award for the best novel written in English, historically open to writers from the Commonwealth, Ireland, and Zimbabwe. Winners mentioned here include The Bone People, Lincoln in the Bardo, and The Luminaries.
  • International
    • International Booker Prize — The International Booker Prize is the prize for fiction translated into English that is awarded to the author and translator of a single work. It replaced the earlier Man Booker International Prize format, and recent winners have included Han Kang and Deborah Smith as well as David Grossman and Jessica Cohen.

• Administered by the Booker Prize Foundation; winner announced each autumn.

• Prize money: £50,000.

Selected winners

• “Booker of Bookers” — Midnight’s Children (Rushdie) was selected as the best Booker winner on the prize’s 25th (1993) and 40th (2008) anniversaries.

Costa Book Awards (formerly Whitbread, UK)

British prizes awarded since 1971 (as the Whitbread) in five categories: Novel, First Novel, Biography, Poetry, and Children’s Book, with an overall Book of the Year selected from category winners. Renamed “Costa” in 2006 after the coffee chain assumed sponsorship.

Selected Book of the Year winners

Poetry Prizes and Laureateships

Connect poetry prizes and laureateships to poets and institutions.

Major Poetry Prizes

T. S. Eliot Prize (UK)

Awarded since 1993 by the Poetry Book Society for the best new collection of poetry published in the UK or Ireland. Named after T. S. Eliot.

• 1993 — Ted Hughes, The Iron Woman (inaugural)

• 1998 — Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters

• 2007 — Sean O’Brien, The Drowned Book

Griffin Poetry Prize (Canada)

International prize founded in 2001 by entrepreneur Scott Griffin; awarded for collections in English or translated into English.

• 2001 — Anne Carson, Men in the Off Hours (Canadian category)

• Regarded as the most lucrative English-language poetry prize (CAD $65,000 per category).

Yale Series of Younger Poets

Oldest annual literary competition in the United States (since 1919); for poets who have not previously published a full-length collection.

Poet Laureate (USA)

Appointed by the Librarian of Congress since 1986 (formerly Consultant in Poetry since 1937). Recent holders include Tracy K. Smith (2017–2019), Joy Harjo (2019–2022, three terms), and Ada Limón (2022–).

• awards and honors
  • U.S. Poet Laureate — The U.S. Poet Laureate is an official literary appointment of the Library of Congress, created to honor and promote poetry. The holder gives a public reading and lecture during the term. Holders have included Joseph Brodsky, Robert Penn Warren, Mona Van Duyn, Rita Dove, Louise Glück, Ted Kooser, and Joy Harjo.

UK Poet Laureate

Appointed by the monarch on advice of the Prime Minister; a royal appointment. Recent holders include Carol Ann Duffy (2009–2019) and Simon Armitage (2019–).

Bollingen Prize in Poetry (USA)

Administered by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale (originally a Library of Congress prize) since 1948; given biennially to an American poet for lifetime achievement or a distinguished collection.

• 1948 — Ezra Pound (inaugural; caused controversy given Pound’s wartime fascism)

• 1949 — Wallace Stevens

• 1950 — John Crowe Ransom

• 1962 — Robert Frost Yale award history.

• 1965 — Horace Gregory 1965 was the year of the Selma marches, the passage of the Voting Rights Act, and the Hart-Celler Immigration and Nationality Act. It also marked a major turning point in American civil rights politics under Lyndon B. Johnson’s first full term.

• 1973 — James Merrill

• 1975 — A. R. Ammons

• 1979 — W. S. Merwin Yale award history.

• 1981 — Howard Nemerov and May Swenson (joint) Yale award history.

• 1991 — Laura Riding Jackson

• 2001 — Louise Glück

• 2003 — Adrienne Rich

• Poetry awards

  • Bollingen Prize — The Bollingen Prize is an American poetry award originally funded by Paul Mellon and named for Carl Jung’s Swiss home. Ezra Pound was its first recipient, after which administration shifted from the Library of Congress to Yale.

Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (USA)

Awarded by the Poetry Foundation (Chicago) since 1986 for lifetime achievement in poetry; among the largest prizes in American poetry at $100,000.

• 1986 — Adrienne Rich (inaugural)

• 1990 — Hayden Carruth Poetry Foundation award history.

• 2000 — Carl Dennis University at Buffalo announcement.

• 2002 — Lisel Mueller Poetry Foundation award history.

• Laureates include W. S. Merwin, A. R. Ammons, and C. K. Williams.

Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award (USA)

Given by Claremont Graduate University since 1993 for a mid-career American poet; $100,000, one of the richest annual poetry prizes.

• 1993 — Susan Mitchell, Rapture (inaugural) Claremont Graduate University winners.

• 1994 — Yusef Komunyakaa (Neon Vernacular; also won the 1994 Pulitzer)

• Distinguished from the smaller Kate Tufts Discovery Award for emerging poets.

National Poetry Prizes and Their Namesakes

• Hayim (Nahman) Bialik — Hayim Nahman Bialik was a major Hebrew poet and compiler of The Book of Legends, or Sefer HaAggadah. He is especially associated with “In the City of Slaughter,” written in response to the Kishinev pogrom, and lends his name to a major Israeli literary prize.

Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Mystery

Distinguish science fiction, fantasy, and mystery awards by genre.

Hugo Award

Science fiction’s oldest fan-voted award, given at Worldcon annually since 1953. Named after Hugo Gernsback, founder of Amazing Stories. Categories include novel, novella, novelette, short story, and others.

Novel — selected winners

• 1962 — Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

• 1966 — Frank Herbert, Dune (tie with Zelazny’s …And Call Me Conrad)

• 1967 — Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

• 1970 — Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

• 1975 — Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

• 1980 — Arthur C. Clarke, The Fountains of Paradise

• 1993 — Vernor Vinge, A Fire Upon the Deep

• 2000 — Vernor Vinge, A Deepness in the Sky

• 2001 — J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

• 2015 — Liu Cixin, The Three-Body Problem (trans. Ken Liu; first win by a Chinese author)

• 2016 — N. K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season (first of three consecutive wins)

• N. K. Jemisin won the Hugo for Novel three years in a row (2016, 2017, 2018) for the Broken Earth trilogy — a unique achievement. N. K. Jemisin is an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for the Broken Earth trilogy. That series is set in the geologically unstable Stillness, where orogenes try to control devastating earthquakes, and it helped make her the first writer to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel three years in a row. She also debuted with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and has written the New York Times column “Otherworldly.”

• Hugo Award — Major annual prize for science fiction and fantasy, named after Hugo Gernsback. First won in 1953 by Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man. It has recognized novels such as Dune, Neuromancer, A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Dispossessed, and Blue Mars, and is often linked with the Nebula Award because many recipients have won both honors.

• Hugo Awards — The Hugo Awards are the annual science-fiction and fantasy prizes presented by the World Science Fiction Society at Worldcon. Named for Hugo Gernsback, they have rewarded works such as The Three-Body Problem and The Paper Menagerie.

  • Best Novel
    • Hugo Award for Best Novel — The Hugo Award for Best Novel is the annual World Science Fiction Convention prize for the year’s best science-fiction novel in English. Winners mentioned in this set include Stranger in a Strange Land, The Three-Body Problem, and N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth novels.

Nebula Award

Given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) since 1966; a peer-voted award (writers vote, not fans). Often runs alongside the Hugo; the two awards frequently overlap but diverge.

Novel — selected winners

• 1966 — Frank Herbert, Dune

• 1969 — Alexei Panshin, Rite of Passage

• 1974 — Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

• 1985 — William Gibson, Neuromancer

• 1988 — Lois McMaster Bujold, Falling Free

• 2006 — Jack McDevitt, Seeker

• 2017 — Becky Chambers, A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (retroactively added via the “Compton Crook” category; verify exact Nebula year)

• Nebula Awards — The Nebula Awards are major annual honors for speculative fiction, given for excellence in works of science fiction and fantasy. They are commonly paired with the Hugo Awards as the field’s two best-known prizes.

Edgar Award (Mystery Writers of America)

Formally the Edgar Allan Poe Award, given by the Mystery Writers of America since 1954 for superior works of crime, mystery, and suspense writing. Multiple categories including Best Novel, Best First Novel, Best Short Story, and Grand Master.

Best Novel (selected winners)

• 1954 — Herbert Brean, Wilders Walk Away (inaugural)

• 1963 — Eric Ambler, The Light of Day (Topkapi)

• 1982 — William Bayer, Peregrine

• 1992 — Lawrence Block, A Dance at the Slaughterhouse

• 2005 — Mo Hayder, The Treatment

• 2014 — Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

• Mystery Writers of America awards

  • Edgar Award — The Edgar, or Edgar Allan Poe Award, is given annually by the Mystery Writers of America. It honors the best mystery story and is named for Edgar Allan Poe.

Grand Master (lifetime achievement; selected)

• 1955 — Agatha Christie (inaugural)

• 1961 — Erle Stanley Gardner

• 1986 — Michael Gilbert

• 2002 — Donald E. Westlake

• 2012 — Sue Grafton

Children’s and Illustrated Literature

Connect children’s and illustrated-book awards to their audiences and forms.

Children’s literature awards

• Carnegie Medal — The Carnegie Medal is an annual British award for an outstanding children’s book written in English and first published in the United Kingdom. It was first awarded in 1937, with Arthur Ransome’s Pigeon Post as the inaugural winner.

• Newbery Medal — The Newbery Medal is the American Library Association’s annual award for the most distinguished contribution to American children’s literature. It was first awarded in 1922 and was established by Frederic G. Melcher in 1921. The medal is named for the English bookseller John Newbery. It is not limited to picture books; recipients named in the records include Holes, The View from Saturday, Moon Over Manifest, The Higher Power of Lucky, Johnny Tremain, The Whipping Boy, The Trumpeter of Krakow, The Slave Dancer, and Shiloh.

• Coretta Scott King Award — The Coretta Scott King Award is an ALA prize for books about the African American experience. It honors works by African American authors or illustrators and is not named for its first recipient.

Newbery Medal

Awarded by the American Library Association (ALA) since 1922 for the most distinguished contribution to American children’s literature published the preceding year. Named after 18th-century British bookseller John Newbery. One of the oldest children’s book awards in the world.

Selected winners

• 1922 — Hendrik van Loon, The Story of Mankind (inaugural)

• 1927 — Will James, Smoky, the Cowhorse

• 1934 — Cornelia Meigs, Invincible Louisa

• 1938 — Kate Seredy, The White Stag

• 1944 — Esther Forbes, Johnny Tremain

• 1954 — Joseph Krumgold, …And Now Miguel

• 1964 — Emily Neville, It’s Like This, Cat

• 1970 — William H. Armstrong, Sounder

• 1972 — Robert C. O’Brien, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

• 1977 — Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

• 1984 — Beverly Cleary, Dear Mr. Henshaw

• 1987 — Patricia MacLachlan, Sarah, Plain and Tall

• 1999 — Louis Sachar, Holes

• 2002 — Linda Sue Park, A Single Shard

• 2006 — Lynne Rae Perkins, Criss Cross

Caldecott Medal

Also awarded by the ALA since 1938 for the most distinguished American picture book illustration. Named after British illustrator Randolph Caldecott. Awarded simultaneously with one or more Honor designations.

Selected winners

• 1938 — Dorothy P. Lathrop, Animals of the Bible (inaugural)

• 1942 — Robert McCloskey, Make Way for Ducklings

• 1948 — Roger Duvoisin, White Snow, Bright Snow

• 1963 — Ezra Jack Keats, The Snowy Day

• 1970 — William Steig, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

• 1972 — Nonny Hogrogian (two-time winner)

• 1982 — Chris Van Allsburg, Jumanji

• 1988 — John Schoenherr, Owl Moon

• 1992 — David Wiesner, Tuesday

• 2002 — David Wiesner, The Three Pigs

• 2007 — David Wiesner, Flotsam (three Caldecotts total)

• 2009 — Beth Krommes, The House in the Night

• Children’s book illustration awards

  • Caldecott Medal — The Caldecott Medal is the American Library Association award given annually to the most distinguished American children’s picture book. It is named for the illustrator Randolph Caldecott and often appears alongside mentions of notable picture-book winners. The award recognizes the book’s illustrations rather than its text.

European and Latin American Prizes

Place European and Latin American prizes within their literary traditions.

Prix Goncourt (France)

France’s most prestigious literary prize, awarded since 1903 by the Académie Goncourt (ten members) for the best imaginative prose work of the year, almost always a novel. The prize itself is symbolic (€10), but the commercial impact is enormous — winners typically sell hundreds of thousands of copies.

Selected winners

• Jorge Luis Borges was famously never awarded the Goncourt (or the Nobel); the prize is restricted to works published in French. An Argentine writer known for compact philosophical fiction and poetry centered on labyrinths, mirrors, infinity, dreams, and unstable identity. Major works include Ficciones, The Garden of Forking Paths, The Library of Babel, The Aleph, Funes, the Memorious, Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote, Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, and The Book of Imaginary Beings. He was blind in later life.

• Romain Gary won in 1956 for Les Racines du ciel and again in 1975 under the pseudonym Émile Ajar for La Vie devant soi. Académie Goncourt laureates.

• Prix Goncourt — The Prix Goncourt is France’s best-known literary prize, awarded annually to a French prose work. It is closely associated with major twentieth-century novels such as Céline’s Journey to the End of the Night and Modiano’s Missing Person.

  • the Prix Goncourt — The Prix Goncourt is France’s most prestigious literary prize and is awarded annually to a promising author. Named for the Goncourt brothers, it has been won by writers such as Romain Gary and rejected by Julien Gracq.

Premio Cervantes (Spain/Latin America)

The most prestigious prize in the Spanish-language literary world, awarded annually since 1976 by the Spanish Ministry of Culture. Honors a writer’s lifetime body of work. Named after Miguel de Cervantes; often called the “Spanish Nobel.”

Selected winners

• 1976 — Jorge Guillén (inaugural)

• 1977 — Alejo Carpentier (Cuba)

• 1980 — Juan Carlos Onetti (Uruguay)

• 1981 — Octavio Paz (Mexico)

• 1989 — Augusto Roa Bastos (Paraguay)

• 1994 — Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru) — later won the 2010 Nobel

• 1995 — Dulce María Loynaz (Cuba)

• 2002 — José Jiménez Lozano (Spain)

• 2010 — Ana María Matute (Spain)

• 2014 — Juan Goytisolo (Spain)

• 2016 — Rafael Cadenas (Venezuela)

• Jorge Luis Borges never won the Cervantes; he was repeatedly considered but repeatedly passed over — a noted controversy in Hispanic letters.

• Cervantes Prize — The Cervantes Prize is a major Spanish-language literary award. Alejo Carpentier is one of its winners.

• The prize alternates informally between Spanish and Latin American authors in successive years.

Premio Strega (Italy)

Italy’s most prestigious literary prize, awarded since 1947 by the Fondazione Maria e Goffredo Bellonci and sponsored by the Strega liqueur company. Judged by a panel of about 400 “Friends of Sunday” (intellectuals, writers, publishers). Awarded each July in Rome.

Selected winners

• 1947 — Ennio Flaiano, Tempo di uccidere (inaugural)

• 1959 — Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) — posthumous; Lampedusa had died in 1957

• 1981 — Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa, first published in 1980) Library of Congress prize bibliography.

• 2015 — Nicola Lagioia, La ferocia In literary prizes, it was the year of Nicola Lagioia’s La ferocia and Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem (translated by Ken Liu), the latter marking the first win by a Chinese author. It was also the futuristic year depicted in Back to the Future Part II, with its hoverboards and other comic predictions, and a baseball season notable for seven no-hitters under the modern definition.

• Elena Ferrante’s The Story of the Lost Child (Storia della bambina perduta), the fourth Neapolitan novel, was a 2015 finalist. Premio Strega result.

Camões Prize (Portugal/Brazil)

The most prestigious prize for Portuguese-language literature, awarded jointly by the governments of Portugal and Brazil since 1989. Honors a lifetime body of work; named after the Renaissance poet Luís de Camões (Os Lusíadas).

Selected laureates

• 1989 — Miguel Torga (Portugal; inaugural)

• 1990 — João Cabral de Melo Neto (Brazil) Biblioteca Nacional laureates.

• 1994 — Jorge Amado (Brazil) Biblioteca Nacional laureates.

• 1999 — Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (Portugal) Biblioteca Nacional laureates.

• 2000 — Autran Dourado (Brazil) Biblioteca Nacional laureates.

• 2002 — Maria Velho da Costa (Portugal) Biblioteca Nacional laureates.

• 2026 — Lídia Jorge (Portugal) Portuguese government announcement.

• José Saramago (Nobel 1998) was also a Camões laureate.

African, Asian, Canadian, and Australian Prizes

Locate African, Asian, Canadian, and Australian awards in regional contexts.

Caine Prize for African Writing (UK)

Awarded since 2000 for the best short story by an African writer published in English; administered by a UK foundation. Often called the “African Booker.” Named after Sir Michael Caine, former chairman of Booker plc. Prize: £10,000.

Selected winners

• 2000 — Leila Aboulela, “The Museum” (Sudan; inaugural)

• 2002 — Binyavanga Wainaina, “Discovering Home” (Kenya)

• 2008 — Henrietta Rose-Innes, “Poison” (South Africa)

• 2013 — NoViolet Bulawayo, “Hitting Budapest” (Zimbabwe) — later published the novel We Need New Names

• 2017 — Bushra al-Fadil, “The Story of the Girl Whose Birds Flew Away” (Sudan)

Related Concepts and Applications

• Caine Prize — The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual award for the best African short story written in English. It is named for a former chairman of the Booker Group. Past winners mentioned include Leila Aboulela, Helon Habila, Binyavanga Wainaina, and Henrietta Rose-Innes, whose winning story was “Poison,” about a chemical disaster and its aftermath.

Akutagawa Prize & Naoki Prize (Japan)

Both awarded twice yearly (January and July) since 1935 by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature.

• Akutagawa Prize: for the best serious literary work (junbungaku) by a new or emerging author, published in a magazine or newspaper. Named after Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (In a Grove, Rashōmon). Winners cited in the clues include Hiromi Kawakami and Yuko Kono. Kenzaburo Oe’s Nip the Bud, Shoot the Kids also won the prize.

• Naoki Prize: for the best work of popular or entertainment fiction (taishū bungaku) by a new or emerging author.

Notable Akutagawa winners

• 1935 — Tatsuzō Ishikawa, Sōbō (inaugural winner) Official Akutagawa register.

• 1954, first half — Junnosuke Yoshiyuki, Shūu and other stories Official Akutagawa register.

• 1976, first half — Ryū Murakami, Almost Transparent Blue Official Akutagawa register.

• Haruki Murakami famously never received the Akutagawa Prize; he has been a perennial outsider to Japan’s literary establishment.

Scotiabank Giller Prize (Canada)

Canada’s richest literary award (CAD $100,000 to the winner), awarded since 1994 for the best English-language Canadian novel or short story collection. Named after journalist Doris Giller by her husband Jack Rabinovitch; subsequently sponsored by Scotiabank.

Selected winners

• 1994 — M. G. Vassanji, The Book of Secrets (inaugural)

• 1996 — Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace

• 2002 — Austin Clarke, The Polished Hoe

• 2004 — Alice Munro, Runaway

• 2009 — Linden MacIntyre, The Bishop’s Man

• 2019 — Ian Williams, Reproduction

• Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize in 2013; her Giller win for Runaway (2004) is considered a career landmark.

Miles Franklin Literary Award (Australia)

Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, established by the estate of author Miles Franklin (My Brilliant Career); awarded since 1957 for the novel that best presents Australian life. Named after Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin.

Selected winners

• 1957 — Patrick White, Voss (inaugural) — White later won the 1973 Nobel Prize

• 1974 — Ronald McKie, The Mango Tree

• 1977 — Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds

• 2001 — Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang (also won the Booker that year)

• 2007 — Alexis Wright, Carpentaria

• 2013 — Michelle de Kretser, Questions of Travel

• Peter Carey is one of a small number of authors to win both the Miles Franklin and the Booker.

Short Fiction and Other Awards

Connect short-fiction and other awards to the forms they recognize.

Short story awards

• O. Henry Award — The O. Henry Award is given for the best short story published in an American periodical and is named for the author O. Henry. Writers such as Eudora Welty have been multiple-time winners of the prize.

Humorous and satirical awards

• Darwin Awards — The Darwin Awards are a satirical set of posthumous prizes for people said to have removed themselves from the gene pool through fatal stupidity. The joke is that such acts supposedly improve the human species’ overall fitness; the name references Charles Darwin and natural selection.

• Literary Review awards

  • Bad Sex in Fiction Award — The Bad Sex in Fiction Award is a Literary Review prize given for notoriously clumsy or embarrassing sexual description in fiction. Past recipients and nominees have included writers such as Melvyn Bragg, Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer, and Salman Rushdie.

  • The Bad Sex in Fiction Award — The Bad Sex in Fiction Award is the Literary Review’s annual prize for especially awkward writing about sex. Created in 1993, it has gone to writers including Tom Wolfe, A. A. Gill, and Morrissey.