Finalists and Winners of the Annual Literary Awards
The Virginia Literary Awards are given to outstanding Virginia authors in the areas of poetry, fiction, nonfiction (and, in the case of nonfiction, also by any author about a Virginia subject), children's literature and literary lifetime achievement.
Listed below are the authors that have been honored in past Literary Awards.
Past winners of the poetry, fiction, nonfiction, People’s Choice, the Children's Virginia Literary Award and Lifetime Achievement awards include authors such as Richard Bausch, David Baldacci, Carrie Brown, Deborah Eisenberg, Melvin Ely, Claudia Emerson, Rita Dove, Annette Gordon-Reed, John Grisham, Helon Habila, Earl Hamner Jr, Wesley Hogan, Constance Merritt, Scott Nelson, Debra Nystrom, James I. Robertson Jr, R. T. Smith, Rebecca Skloot, Lisa Spaar, Dabney Stuart, and Charles Wright
Fiction | Nonfiction | Poetry
| Children's Award |
Lifetime Achievement | People's Choice
Carole Weinstein Prize in Poetry | Mary Lynn Kotz Award | Cardozo Award
Fiction
[* - Winner]| Title and Author | Annual Awards |
|---|---|
| The House Is On Fire, Rachel Beanland | 27th Annual Awards (2024) |
| The House of Eve, Sadeqa Johnson | 27th Annual Awards (2024) |
| Happiness Falls, Angie Kim | 27th Annual Awards (2024)* |
| All the Ruined Men: Stories, Bill Glose | 26th Annual Awards (2023)* |
| The Displacements, Bruce Holsinger | 26th Annual Awards (2023) |
| Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver | 26th Annual Awards (2023) |
| My Monticello: Fiction, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson | 25th Annual Awards (2022)* |
| Now You Know It All, Joanna Pearson | 25th Annual Awards (2022) |
| The Tender Grave, Sheri Reynolds | 25th Annual Awards (2022) |
| Between Tides, Angel Khoury (Honorable Mention) | 25th Annual Awards (2022) |
| Florence Adler Swims Forever, Rachel Beanland | 24th Annual Awards (2021) |
| Nine Shiny Objects, Brian Castleberry | 24th Annual Awards (2021)* |
| The Deep, Alma Katsu | 24th Annual Awards (2021) |
| Miracle Creek, Angie Kim | 23rd Annual Awards (2020) |
| Thomas and Beal in the Midi, Christopher Tilghman | 23rd Annual Awards (2020)* |
| One Night Gone, Tara Laskowski | 23rd Annual Awards (2020) |
| Bearskin, James A. McLaughlin | 22nd Annual Awards (2019) |
| Let's No One Get Hurt, Jon Pineda | 22nd Annual Awards (2019)* |
| Yellow Stonefly, Tim Poland | 22nd Annual Awards (2019) |
| Fire is Your Water, James Minick | 21st Annual Awards (2018) |
| The Exact Nature of Our Wrongs, Janet Peery | 21st Annual Awards (2018)* |
| If the Creek Don't Rise, Leah Weiss | 21st Annual Awards (2018) |
| A Thousand Miles from Nowhere, John Gregory Brown | 20th Annual Awards (2017)* |
| Nitro Mountain, Lee Clay Johnson | 20th Annual Awards (2017) |
| Hard Red Spring, Kelly Kerney | 20th Annual Awards (2017) |
| Fall of Princes, Robert Goolrick | 19th Annual Awards (2016)* |
| This Angel on my Chest, Leslie Pietrzyk | 19th Annual Awards (2016) |
| The Shore, Sara Taylor | 19th Annual Awards (2016) |
| A Kind of Dream, Kelly Cherry | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| What is Visible, Kimberly Elkins | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| The Great, Glass Sea, Josh Weil | 18th Annual Awards (2015)* |
| The Last First Day, Carrie Brown | 17th Annual Awards (2014) |
| River of Dust, Virginia Pye | 17th Annual Awards (2014) |
| Guests on Earth, Lee Smith | 17th Annual Awards (2014)* |
| The Yellow Birds, Kevin Powers | 16th Annual Awards (2013) |
| What the Zhang Boys Know, Clifford Garstang | 16th Annual Awards (2013)* |
| The Right-Hand Shore, Christopher Tilghman | 16th Annual Awards (2013) |
| Nothing Can Make Me Do This, David Huddle | 15th Annual Awards (2012)* |
| Welcome to Americastan, Jabeen Akhtar | 15th Annual Awards (2012) |
| The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach | 15th Annual Awards (2012) |
| Honorable mention: Mercy Creek, Matt Matthews | 15th Annual Awards (2012) |
| Mattaponi Queen, Belle Boggs | 14th Annual Awards (2011)* |
| Compass Rose, John Casey | 14th Annual Awards (2011) |
| Ford County, John Grisham | 14th Annual Awards (2011) |
| Temporary Lives: Stories, Ramola D | 13th Annual Awards (2010) |
| The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver | 13th Annual Awards (2010)* |
| The New Valley, Josh Weil | 13th Annual Awards (2010) |
| People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks | 12th Annual Awards (2009) |
| Train to Trieste, Domnica Radulescu | 12th Annual Awards (2009)* |
| Success Stories, David A. Taylor | 12th Annual Awards (2009) |
| The Rope Walk, Carrie Brown | 11th Annual Awards (2008) |
| Measuring Time, Helon Habila | 11th Annual Awards (2008) |
| What the Thunder Said, Janet Peery | 11th Annual Awards (2008)* |
| Thanksgiving Night: A Novel, Richard Bausch | 10th Annual Awards (2007) |
| Twilight of the Superheroes, Deborah Eisenberg | 10th Annual Awards (2007)* |
| The Quick-Change Artist: Stories, Cary Holladay | 10th Annual Awards (2007) |
| March: A Novel, Geraldine Brooks | 9th Annual Awards* (2006) |
| Little Criminals: Short Stories, Kurt Rheinheimer | 9th Annual Awards (2006) |
| Holy Skirts, Ren' Steinke | 9th Annual Awards (2006) |
| Confinement, Carrie Brown | 8th Annual Awards* (2005) |
| How I Left the Great State of Tennessee and Went on to Better Things, Joe Jackson | 8th Annual Awards (2005) |
| A Year and a Day, Leslie Pietrzyk | 8th Annual Awards (2005) |
| The Stories of Richard Bausch, Richard Bausch | 7th Annual Awards (2004) |
| The Known World, Edward P. Jones | 7th Annual Awards* (2004) |
| True Cross, T. R. Pearson | 7th Annual Awards (2004) |
| Hello to the Cannibals: A Novel, Richard Bausch | 6th Annual Awards (2003) |
| The Gypsy Man, Robert Bausch | 6th Annual Awards (2003) |
| The House on Belle Isle and Other Stories , Carrie Brown | 6th Annual Awards (2003) |
| Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague, Geraldine Brooks | 5th Annual Awards (2002) |
| Dugan Under Ground, Tom De Haven | 5th Annual Awards* (2002) |
| I, Roger Williams, Mary Lee Settle | 5th Annual Awards (2002) |
| The Hatbox Baby: A Novel, Carrie Brown | 4th Annual Awards* (2001) |
| Graveyard of the Atlantic, Alyson Hagy | 4th Annual Awards (2001) |
| The Dress Lodger, Sheri Holman | 4th Annual Awards (2001) |
| Someone To Watch Over Me, Richard Bausch | 3rd Annual Awards (2000) |
| The Story of A Million Years, David Huddle | 3rd Annual Awards (2000) |
| Pictures of a Dying Man, Agymah Kamau | 3rd Annual Awards* (2000) |
| The Hearts of Soldiers, Joan Vannorsdall Schroeder | 3rd Annual Awards (2000) |
| The Half-Life of Happiness: A Novel, John Casey | 2nd Annual Awards (1999) |
| Wingtips: Stories, Avery Chenoweth | 2nd Annual Awards (1999) |
| Jacob’s Ladder: A Story of Virginia During The War, Donald McCaig | 2nd Annual Awards* (1999) |
| News of the Spirit, Lee Smith | 1st Annual Awards (1998) |
| The Way to Cobbs Creek, Dabney Stuart | 1st Annual Awards (1998) |
| Black Zodiac, Charles Wright | 1st Annual Awards* (1998) |
Nonfiction
[* - Winner]| Title and Author | Annual Awards |
|---|---|
| American Visions: The United States, 1800—1860, Edward L. Ayers | 27th Annual Awards (2024) |
| Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement, Ashley Shew | 27th Annual Awards (2024) |
| Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South, Elizabeth R. Varon | 27th Annual Awards (2024)* |
| What the Eyes Can't See: Ralph Northam, Black Resolve, and a Racial Reckoning in Virginia, Margaret Edds | 26th Annual Awards (2023)* |
| Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire, Jonathan M. Katz | 26th Annual Awards (2023) |
| Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America's Overdose Crisis, Beth Macy | 26th Annual Awards (2023) |
| Children Under Fire: An American Crisis, John Woodrow Cox | 25th Annual Awards (2022) |
| The Strange Genius of Mr. O: The World of the United States' First Forgotten Celebrity, Carolyn Eastman | 25th Annual Awards (2022)* |
| Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Lee's Army after Appomattox, Caroline E. Janney | 25th Annual Awards (2022) |
| The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South, Chip Jones | 24th Annual Awards (2021)* |
| Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond's Historic Cemeteries, Ryan Smith | 24th Annual Awards (2021) |
| Soul Liberty: The Evolution of Black Religious Politics in Postemancipation Virginia, Nicole Myers Turner | 24th Annual Awards (2021) |
| Hitler's Last Hostages: Looted Art and the Soul of the Third Reich, Mary M. Lane | 23rd Annual Awards (2020) |
| Thick: And Other Essays, Tressie McMillan Cottom | 23rd Annual Awards (2020)* |
| Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America, Erik Neilson and Andrea L. Dennis | 23rd Annual Awards (2020) |
| We Face the Dawn: Oliver Hill, Spottswood Robinson, and the Legal Team That Dismantled Jim Crow, Margaret Edds | 22nd Annual Awards (2019) |
| Jefferson's Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black, in a Young America, Catherine Kerrison | 22nd Annual Awards (2019)* |
| Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America, Beth Macy | 22nd Annual Awards (2019) |
| Sargent's Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas, Donna M. Lucey | 21st Annual Awards (2018) |
| Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II, Liza Mundy | 21st Annual Awards (2018)* |
| Darkness Falls on the Land of Light: Experiencing Religious Awakenings in 18th Century New England, Douglas L. Winiarski | 21st Annual Awards (2018) |
| The Art of Waiting: On Fertility, Medicine, and Motherhood, Belle Boggs | 20th Annual Awards (2017) |
| 'Most Blessed of the Patriarchs': Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination, Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter S. Onuf | 20th Annual Awards (2017) |
| Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, Margot Lee Shetterly | 20th Annual Awards (2017)* |
| Twisted, My Dreadlock Chronicles, Bert Ashe | 19th Annual Awards (2016) |
| Something Must Be Done about Prince Edward County, Kristin Green | 19th Annual Awards (2016)* |
| Madison's Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention, Mary Sarah Bilder | 19th Annual Awards (2016) |
| Give War and Peace a Chance, Andrew Kaufman | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| The Road to Black Ned's Forge: A Story of Race, Sex, and Trade on the Colonial American Frontier, Turk McCleskey | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time, Brigid Schulte | 18th Annual Awards (2015)* |
| Rose Kennedy: The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch, Barbara Perry | 17th Annual Awards (2014) |
| The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772'1832, Alan Taylor | 17th Annual Awards (2014) |
| Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War, Elizabeth Varon | 17th Annual Awards (2014)* |
| 38 Nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier's End, Scott W. Berg | 16th Annual Awards (2013)* |
| Martha Jefferson Randolph, Daughter of Monticello: Her Life and Times, Cynthia A. Kierner | 16th Annual Awards (2013) |
| Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery, Heather Andrea Williams | 16th Annual Awards (2013) |
| Slaves Waiting for Sale: Abolitionist Art and the American Slave Trade, Maurie D. McInnis | 15th Annual Awards (2012)* |
| Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War, Tony Horwitz | 15th Annual Awards (2012) |
| Brown's Battleground: Students, Segregationists, and the Struggle for Justice in Prince Edward County, Virginia, Jill Titus | 15th Annual Awards (2012) |
| The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot | 14th Annual Awards (2011)* |
| To Serve the Living: Funeral Directors and the African American Way of Death, Suzanne E. Smith | 14th Annual Awards (2011) |
| Bible Babel: Making Sense of the Most Talked About Book of All Time, Kristin Swenson | 14th Annual Awards (2011) |
| Abigail Adams, Woody Holton | 13th Annual Awards (2010)* |
| Soul of a People, David A. Taylor | 13th Annual Awards (2010) |
| Louis D. Brandeis: A Life, Melvin I. Urofsky | 13th Annual Awards (2010) |
| This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, Drew Gilpin Faust | 12th Annual Awards (2009) |
| The Heminges of Monticello: An American Family, Annette Gordon-Reed | 12th Annual Awards (2009)* |
| Remarkable Trees of Virginia, Nancy Ross Hugo and Jeff Kirwan | 12th Annual Awards (2009) |
| Many Minds, One Heart: SNCC's Dream for a New America, Wesley C. Hogan | 11th Annual Awards (2008)* |
| Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp & Camille Kingsolver | 11th Annual Awards (2008) |
| Cradle of America: Four Centuries of Virginia History, Peter Wallenstein | 11th Annual Awards (2008) |
| Archie and Emelie: Love and Madness in the Gilded Age, Donna M. Lucey | 10th Annual Awards (2007) |
| Sold American: Consumption and Citizenship, 1890-1945, Charles F. McGovern | 10th Annual Awards (2007) |
| Steel Drivin’ Man: John Henry, The Untold Story of an American Legend, Scott Reynolds Nelson | 10th Annual Awards (2007)* |
| At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past A. Roger Ekirch | 9th Annual Awards (2006)* |
| A Land As God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America James Horn | 9th Annual Awards (2006) |
| A World on Fire: A Heretic, an Aristocrat, and the Race Joe Jackson | 9th Annual Awards (2006) |
| His Excellency: George Washington Joseph J. Ellis | 8th Annual Awards (2005) |
| Israel on the Appomattox: A Southern Experiment in Black Freedom from the 1790s through the Civil War Melvin Patrick Ely | 8th Annual Awards (2005)* |
| Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma Camilla Townsend | 8th Annual Awards (2005) |
| In the Presence of Mine Enemies Edward L. Ayers | 7th Annual Awards (2004) |
| An Expendable Man: The Near-Execution of Earl Washington, Jr. Margaret Edds | 7th Annual Awards (2004) |
| A Murder in Virginia: Southern Justice on Trial Suzanne Lebsock | 7th Annual Awards (2004)* |
| Richmond Burning: The Last Days of the Confederate Capital Nelson Lankford | 6th Annual Awards (2003) |
| A Blessed Company: Parishes, Parsons, and Parishioners in Anglican Virginia, 1690-1776 John K. Nelson | 6th Annual Awards |
| Managing White Supremacy: Race, Politics, and Citizenship in Jim Crow Virginia J. Douglas Smith | 6th Annual Awards (2003)* |
| Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity Jennifer Ackerman | 5th Annual Awards (2002) |
| John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court R. Kent Newmyer | 5th Annual Awards (2002)* |
| Lift Up Thy Voice: The Grimke Family's Journey from Slaveholders to Civil Rights Leaders Mark Perry | 5th Annual Awards (2002) |
| Eye of the Storm Charles F. Bryan Jr. and Nelson Langford | 4th Annual Awards (2001) |
| Five Sisters: The Langhornes of Virginia James Fox | 4th Annual Awards (2001) |
| Princes of Ireland, Planters of Maryland: A Carroll Saga Ronald Hoffman | 4th Annual Awards* (2001) |
| German Boy: A Refugee’s Story Wolfgang W. E. Samuel | 4th Annual Awards (2001) |
| What The River Means Elizabeth Hodges | 3rd Annual Awards (2000) |
| The Rise and Fall Of the American Whig Party Michael F. Holt | 3rd Annual Awards (2000) |
| Forced Founders Woody Holton | 3rd Annual Awards (2000) |
| Robert Gwathmey Michael Kammen | 3rd Annual Awards (2000)* |
| Confederates in the Attic Tony Horwitz | 2nd Annual Awards (1999) |
| Slave Counterpoint Philip Morgan | 2nd Annual Awards (1999)* |
| We Mean To Be Counted Elizabeth Varon | 2nd Annual Awards (1999) |
| William Styron: A Life James L. W. West III | 2nd Annual Awards (1999) |
| Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings Annette Gordon-Reed | 1st Annual Awards (1998) |
| Stonewall Jackson James I. Robertson Jr. | 1st Annual Awards (1998)* |
| From Calabar to Carter’s Grove Lorena Walsh | 1st Annual Awards (1998) |
Poetry
[* - Winner]| Title and Author | Annual Awards |
|---|---|
| Black Pastoral: Poems, Ariana Benson | 27th Annual Awards (2024) |
| Water Look Away, Bob Hicok | 27th Annual Awards (2024) |
| Decade of the Brain: Poems, Janine Joseph | 27th Annual Awards (2024)* |
| Living Room, Laura Bylenok | 26th Annual Awards (2023) |
| The Night Drivers, Melanie McCabe | 26th Annual Awards (2023) |
| Selected Books of the Beloved, Gregory Orr | 26th Annual Awards (2023)* |
| Made to Explode, Sandra Beasley | 25th Annual Awards (2022) |
| Playlist for the Apocalypse: Poems, Rita Dove | 25th Annual Awards (2022)* |
| Lock Her Up, Tina Parker | 25th Annual Awards (2022) |
| Postscript to War, Bill Glose | 24th Annual Awards (2021) |
| Eros, Unbroken, Annie Kim | 24th Annual Awards (2021)* |
| White Blood: A Lyric of Virginia, Kiki Petrosino | 24th Annual Awards (2021) |
| Colonize me, Benjamin Naka-Hasebe Kingsley | 23rd Annual Awards (2020)* |
| Honeyfish, Lauren K. Alleyne | 23rd Annual Awards (2020) |
| My Surly Heart, David Huddle | 23rd Annual Awards (2020) |
| Search & Rescue, Michael Chitwood | 22nd Annual Awards (2019)* |
| Claude Before Time and Space, Claudia Emerson | 22nd Annual Awards (2019)* |
| Hold, Bob Hicok | 22nd Annual Awards (2019) |
| Holy Moly Carry Me, Erika Meitner | 22nd Annual Awards (2019) |
| Starlight & Error, Remica Bingham-Risher | 21st Annual Awards (2018) |
| Orexia, Lisa Russ Spaar | 21st Annual Awards (2018) |
| For the Scribe, David Wojahn | 21st Annual Awards (2018)* |
| Honorable mention: White Bird: A Sequence, Wendell Hawken | 21st Annual Awards (2018) |
| Collected Poems: 1974-2004, Rita Dove | 20th Annual Awards (2017)* |
| Great Bear, Cathryn Hankla | 20th Annual Awards (2017) |
| River House, Sally Keith | 20th Annual Awards (2017) |
| Impossible Bottle, Claudia Emerson | 19th Annual Awards (2016) |
| Little Anodynes, Jon Pineda | 19th Annual Awards (2016)* |
| The Regret Histories, Joshua Poteat | 19th Annual Awards (2016) |
| Honorable Mention: What the Neighbors Know, Melanie McCabe | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| Spans: New and Selected Poems, Elizabeth Seydel Morgan | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| The Cabinetmaker's Window: Poems, Steve Scafidi | 18th Annual Awards (2015)* |
| Sweet Husk, Corrie Williamson | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| Elegy Owed, Bob Hicok | 17th Annual Awards (2014) |
| The Invented Child, Margaret Mackinnon | 17th Annual Awards (2014)* |
| The Red Wolf: A Dream of Flannery O'Connor, R. T. Smith | 17th Annual Awards (2014) |
| Black Snake at the Family Reunion, David Huddle | 16th Annual Awards (2013) |
| Homeland, LuAnn Keener-Mikenas | 16th Annual Awards (2013)* |
| Secure the Shadow, Claudia Emerson | 16th Annual Awards (2013) |
| World Tree, David Wojahn | 15th Annual Awards (2012)* |
| Touch, Henri Cole | 15th Annual Awards (2012) |
| Hawks on Wires, Dave Smith | 15th Annual Awards (2012) |
| Honorable mention: Nine Acres, Nathaniel Perry | 15th Annual Awards (2012) |
| Poor-Mouth Jubilee, Michael Chitwood | 14th Annual Awards (2011) |
| The Eternal City, Kathleen Graber | 14th Annual Awards (2011)* |
| Heterotopia, Lesley Wheeler | 14th Annual Awards (2011) |
| Continental Shelf, Fred D'Aguiar | 13th Annual Awards (2010) |
| Home Remedies, Sarah Kennedy | 13th Annual Awards (2010) |
| Bad River Road, Debra Nystrom | 13th Annual Awards (2010)* |
| Figure Studies: Poems, Claudia Emerson | 12th Annual Awards (2009) |
| The Pear as one Example: New & Seleted Poems 1984-2008, Eric Pankey | 12th Annual Awards (2009) |
| Satin Cash, Lisa Russ Spaar | 12th Annual Awards (2009)* |
| Blessings and Inclemencies: Poems, Constance Merritt | 11th Annual Awards (2008) |
| Outlaw Style: Poems, R. T. Smith | 11th Annual Awards (2008)* |
| Littlefoot, Charles Wright | 11th Annual Awards (2008) |
| What to Eat, What to Drink, What to Leave for Poison, Camille Dungy | 10th Annual Awards (2007) |
| Fire Baton, Elizabeth Hadaway | 10th Annual Awards (2007)* |
| Ornithologies, Joshua Poteat | 10th Annual Awards (2007) |
| Late Wife: Poems Claudia Emerson | 9th Annual Awards (2006) |
| Reliquaries by Eric Pankey | 9th Annual Awards (2006) |
| Family Preserve: Poems Dabney Stuart | 9th Annual Awards (2006)* |
| American Smooth: Poems Rita Dove | 8th Annual Awards (2005) |
| In the Dark Ruth Stone | 8th Annual Awards (2005)* |
| Buffalo Yoga Charles Wright | 8th Annual Awards (2005) |
| Torn Sky Debra Nystrom | 7th Annual Awards (2004)* |
| Brightwood: Poems R. T. Smith | 7th Annual Awards (2004) |
| The Saint of Letting Small Fish Go Eliot Khalil Wilson | 7th Annual Awards (2004) |
| The Caged Owl: New and Selected Poems Gregory Orr | 6th Annual Awards (2003) |
| Shadow of Heaven: Poems Ellen Bryant Voigt | 6th Annual Awards (2003) |
| A Short History of the Shadow Charles Wright | 6th Annual Awards (2003)* |
| Icon and Evidence Margaret Gibson | 5th Annual Awards (2002) |
| Messenger: Poems R. T. Smith | 5th Annual Awards (2002)* |
| Alluvial Katherine Soniat | 5th Annual Awards (2002) |
| The Drowned City Jennifer Atkinson | 4th Annual Awards (2001) |
| Texas School Book Depository: Prose Poems Cathryn Hankla | 4th Annual Awards (2001) |
| Cenotaph: Poems Eric Pankey | 4th Annual Awards (2001)* |
| Summer Lake: New and Selected Poems David Huddle | 3rd Annual Awards (2000) |
| Hammerlock Tim Seibles | 3rd Annual Awards (2000) |
| Late Leisure: Poems Eleanor Ross Taylor | 3rd Annual Awards (2000)* |
| The River Hills & Beyond: Poems Lou V. Crabtree | 2nd Annual Awards (1999)* |
| On Long Mountain Elizabeth Seydel Morgan | 2nd Annual Awards (1999) |
| Gift of Jade Margaret Ward Moreland | 2nd Annual Awards (1999) |
Lifetime Achievement
| Author | Annual Awards |
|---|---|
| David Baldacci | 20th Annual Awards (2017) |
| Nikki Giovanni | 19th Annual Awards (2016) |
| Jan Karon | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| Barbara Kingsolver | 17th Annual Awards (2014) |
| Charles Wright | 16th Annual Awards (2013) |
| Tom Robbins | 15th Annual Awards (2012) |
| Earl Hamner | 14th Annual Awards (2011) |
| Lee Smith | 13th Annual Awards (2010) |
| John Grisham | 12th Annual Awards (2009) |
| Rita Dove | 11th Annual Awards (2008) |
| Tom Wolfe | 10th Annual Awards (2007) |
| William Styron | 9th Annual Awards (2006) |
| Merrill D. Peterson | 8th Annual Awards (2005) |
| George Garrett | 7th Annual Awards (2004) |
| Louis D. Rubin, Jr. | 6th Annual Awards (2003) |
| Mary Lee Settle | 5th Annual Awards (2002) |
| Booker T. Washington | 4th Annual Awards (2001) |
| Anne Spencer | 3rd Annual Awards (2000) |
| Edgar Allan Poe | 2nd Annual Awards (1999) |
| Ellen Glasgow | 1st Annual Awards (1998) |
Children's Virginia Literary Award
[* - Winner]| Title and Author | Annual Awards |
|---|---|
| An American Story, Kwame Alexander | 27th Annual Awards (2024)* |
| Something Like Home, Andrea Beatriz Arango | 27th Annual Awards (2024) |
| Big, Vashti Harrison | 27th Annual Awards (2024) |
People's Choice
| Title and Author | Annual Awards |
|---|---|
|
Fiction: The Plinko Bounce, Martin Clark
Nonfiction: Walk Through Fire: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Triumph, Sheila Johnson |
27th Annual Awards (2024) |
|
Fiction: Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver
Nonfiction: Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, The Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire, Jonathan M. Katz |
26th Annual Awards (2023) |
|
Fiction: Yellow Wife, Sadeqa Johnson
Nonfiction: The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line: Untold Mari K. Eder Stories of the Women Who Changed the Course of World War II, Mari K. Eder |
25th Annual Awards (2022) |
|
Fiction: A Time for Mercy, John Grisham
Nonfiction: The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President's Black Family, Bettye Kearse |
24th Annual Awards (2021) |
| Fiction: The Substitution Order, Martin Clark Nonfiction: Mary Ball Washington: The Untold Story of George Washington's Mother, Craig Shirley |
23rd Annual Awards (2020) |
| Fiction: Tony's Wife, Adriana Trigiani Nonfiction: Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America, Beth Macy |
22nd Annual Awards (2019) |
| Fiction: Say Nothing, Brad Parks Nonfiction: Code Girls: The Untold Story of American Women Code Breakers of World War II, Liza Mundy |
21st Annual Awards (2018) |
| Fiction: The Stargazer's Sister, Carrie Brown
Nonfiction: Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, Margot Lee Shetterly |
20th Annual Awards (2017) |
| Fiction: The Jezebel Remedy, Martin Clark Nonfiction: Something Must Be Done about Prince Edward County, Kristen Green |
19th Annual Awards (2016) |
| Fiction: The Good, The Bad and the Emus, Donna
Andrews Nonfiction: Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local – and Helped Save an American Town, Beth Macy |
18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| Fiction: King and Maxwell, David Baldacci Nonfiction: The Feud: The Hatfields and McCoys, The True Story, Dean King |
17th Annual Awards (2014) |
| Fiction: Come August, Come Freedom, Gigi
Amateau Nonfiction: Whispers of Rebellion: Narrating Gabriel's Conspiracy, Dr. Michael Nicholls |
16th Annual Awards (2013) |
| Fiction: The Sixth Man, David Baldacci Nonfiction: Lost Communities of Virginia, Terri Fisher and Kirsten Sparenborg |
15th Annual Awards (2012) |
| Fiction: In the Company of Others, Jan Karon Nonfiction: The Horse in Virginia, Julie Campbell |
14th Annual Awards (2011) |
| Fiction: Half Broke Horses,
Jeannette
Walls Nonfiction: Haunted Plantations of Virginia, Beth Brown |
13th Annual Awards (2010) |
| Fiction: The Legal Limit, Martin
Clark Nonfiction: The Place to Be: Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News, Roger Mudd |
12th Annual Awards (2009) |
| Fiction: Puss 'n Cahoots, Rita Mae
Brown Nonfiction: Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution, Woody Holton |
11th Annual Awards (2008) |
| Fiction: Big Stone Gap, Adriana
Trigiani Nonfiction: Jamestown: The Buried Truth, William M. Kelso |
10th Annual Awards (2007) |
| Fiction: St. Dale, Sharyn McCrumb Nonfiction: Clapton's Guitar: Watching Wayne Henderson Build the Perfect Instrument, Allen St. John |
9th Annual Awards (2006) |
| Fiction: Hour Game, David Baldacci Nonfiction: Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival, Dean King |
8th Annual Awards (2005) |
| Fiction: The Known World, Edward P.
Jones Nonfiction: Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, a Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy, Elizabeth R. Varon |
7th Annual Awards (2004) |
Carole Weinstein Prize in Poetry
The Carole Weinstein Prize in Poetry was awarded between 2005 through 2015 to poets with strong connections to the Commonwealth of Virginia. The $10,000 annual prize recognized significant contributions to the art of poetry and was awarded on the basis of a range of achievement in the field of poetry. More information is available at www.weinsteinpoetryprize.org.
| Author | Annual Awards |
|---|---|
| Joshua Poteat | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| Rita Dove | 17th Annual Awards (2014) |
| R. T. Smith | 16th Annual Awards (2013) |
| Kelly Cherry | 15th Annual Awards (2012) |
| Lisa Russ Spaar | 14th Annual Awards (2011) |
| Henry Hart | 13th Annual Awards (2010) |
| Eleanor Ross Taylor and Charles Wright | 12th Annual Awards (2009) |
| David Wojahn | 11th Annual Awards (2008) |
| Claudia Emerson | 10th Annual Awards (2007) |
| Brian Henry and George Garrett | 9th Annual Awards (2006) |
| Elizabeth Seydel Morgan and Ron Smith | 8th Annual Awards (2005) |
Art in Literature: Mary Lynn Kotz Award
[* - Winner]The collaboration between VMFA and LVA and the creation of Art in Literature: The Mary Lynn Kotz Award was announced in 2012. In honor of this new literary award, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ curators selected nine masterpieces from the VMFA collection, each of which inspired one of nine award-winning poets to write an original poem. These are collected in the publication Art Meets Literature: An Undying Love Affair.
| Title and Author | Annual Awards |
|---|---|
| The Story of Art Without Men, Katy Hessel | 27th Annual Awards (2024)* |
| Jo van Gogh-Bonger: The Woman Who Made Vincent Famous, Hans Luijten | 26th Annual Awards (2023)* |
| Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow South, Erin I. Kelly and Winfred Rembert | 25th Annual Awards (2022)* |
| Continuum: North American Native Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Gaylord Torrence | 24th Annual Awards (2021)* |
| Becoming Mary Sully: Toward an American Indian Abstract, Philip J. Deloria | 23rd Annual Awards (2020)* |
| Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler - Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art, Mary Gabriel | 22nd Annual Awards (2019)* |
| Sargent's Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas, Donna M. Lucey | 21st Annual Awards (2018)* |
| Georgia, Dawn Tripp | 20th Annual Awards (2017)* |
| Portraits at an Exhibition, Patrick Horrigan | 19th Annual Awards (2016)* |
| Madame Cezanne, Dita Amory | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| Poe and the Visual Arts, Barbara Cantalupo | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered, Dianne Hales | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| Rubens, Velasquez & the King of Spain, Aneta Georgievska-Shine and Larry Silver | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| The Anatomy Lesson, Nina Siegal | 18th Annual Awards (2015) |
| Lisette's List, Susan Vreeland | 18th Annual Awards (2015)* |
| Arts and Crafts Embroidery by Laura Euler | 17th Annual Awards (2014) |
| The Embrace: Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo by Carolyn Kreiter Foronda | 17th Annual Awards (2014)* |
| The Melancholy Art byMichael Ann Holly | 17th Annual Awards (2014) |
| Labyrinths: The Art of the Maze by Franco Maria Ricci | 17th Annual Awards (2014) |
| Balthus: Cats and Girls by Sabine Rewald | 17th Annual Awards (2014) |
| The Innocence of Objects by Orhan Pamuk | 16th Annual Awards (2013)* |
| Cezanne, A Life by Alex Danchev | 16th Annual Awards (2013) |
| Titian, His Life by Sheila Hale | 16th Annual Awards (2013) |
| Artists in Love by Veronica Kavass | 16th Annual Awards (2013) |
| Bernini’s Beloved by Sarah McPhee | 16th Annual Awards (2013) |
Annual Whitney and Scott Cardozo Award for Children's Literature
The Whitney and Scott Cardozo Award for Children’s Literature was established in 2007 to recognize outstanding works of children’s literature by authors living in Virginia and the mid-Atlantic region. The award was part of the Virginia Literary Awards Celebration from 2007 – 2012. Past winners of the award are listed below.
| Title and Author | Annual Awards |
|---|---|
| When a Dragon Moves In, Jodi Moore | 15th Annual Awards (2012) |
| The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, Tom Angleberger | 14th Annual Awards (2011) |
| Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation, Jacqueline Jules | 13th Annual Awards (2010) |
| Abe's Honest Words, Doreen Rappaport | 12th Annual Awards (2009) |
| The Old House, Pamela Duncan Edwards | 11th Annual Awards (2008) |
| Duck & Goose, Tad Hills | 10th Annual Awards (2007) |
