2022 Awards for Books Published in 2021
HISTORY
Winner: Edward McClelland, Midnight in Vehicle City: General Motors, Flint, and the Strike That Created the Middle Class, Beacon Press. (Author is from Lansing, Michigan, and Chicago.)
Honorees:
Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, Indentured Students: How Government-Guaranteed Loans Left Generations Drowning in College Debt, Belknap Press. (Author is from Chicago.)
Brendan Goff, Rotary International and the Selling of American Capitalism, Harvard University Press. (Author is from Chicago.)
Judges: John Holden, Joseph Gustaitis, and Dominic Pacyga
ADULT FICTION
Winner: Andrew J. Graff, Raft of Stars, Ecco. (Author is from Cedarville, Iowa.)
Honorees:
Anthony Bukoski, The Blondes of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin Press. (Author is from Superior, Wisconsin.)
Kate McIntyre, Mad Prairie: Stories and a Novella, University of Georgia Press. (Author is from Kansas.)
Jakob Guanzon, Abundance, Graywolf Press. (Author was raised in Minnesota.)
Judges: Dan Chaon, Kent Meyers, and Jean Thompson
RICHARD FRISBIE AWARD FOR ADULT NONFICTION
Winner: Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar, You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism, Grand Central Publishing. (Authors are from Omaha, Nebraska.)
Honoree: Kim Todd, Sensational: The Hidden History of America’s “Girl Stunt Reporters,” Harper. (Author is from Minneapolis.)
Judges: Marie Mockett, Jack Shuler, and Kim Hiltwein
BERNARD J. BROMMEL AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner: Steve Paul, Literary Alchemist: The Writing Life of Evan S. Connell, University of Missouri Press. (Author is from Kansas City, Missouri.)
Honorees:
Sarah Vogel, The Farmer’s Lawyer: The North Dakota Nine and the Fight to Save the Family Farm, Bloomsbury. (Author is from Bismarck, North Dakota.)
Melissa J. Homestead, The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather & Edith Lewis, Oxford University Press. (Author is from Lincoln, Nebraska.)
Yveline Alexis, Haiti Fights Back: The Life and Legacy of Charlemagne Péralte, Rutgers University Press. (Author is from Oberlin, Ohio.)
Judges: John Hallwas, Bob Remer, and Gary Schmidt
POETRY
Winner: Kaveh Akbar, Pilgrim Bell: Poems, Graywolf Press. (Author is from West Lafayette, Indiana.)
Honorees:
Tracy Fuad, about: blank, University of Pittsburgh Press. (Author was born and raised in Minnesota.)
Simone Muench and Jackie K. White, Hex & Howl, Black Lawrence Press. (The authors are from Chicago.)
Diane Seuss, frank: sonnets, Graywolf Press. (Author is from Kalamazoo, Michigan.)
Judges: Chris Abani, Nandi Comer, and Emilio DeGrazia
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner: Kelly J. Baptist, The Swag Is in the Socks, Crown Books for Young Readers. (Author is from Berrien Springs, Michigan.)
Honorees:
Anuradha D. Rajurkar, American Betiya, Knopf Books for Young Readers. (Author is from Evanston, Illinois.)
Molly Beth Griffin, Ten Beautiful Things, Charlesbridge. (Author is from Minneapolis.)
Andrea Zimmerman, If I Were a Tree, Lee & Low Books. (Author is from originally from Ohio, now residing in Los Angeles.)
Judges: Laura Hirshfield, Julie Novak, and Sandy Renner
CHILDREN’S READING ROUND TABLE AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner: Suzanne Slade, June Almeida, Virus Detective!: The Woman Who Discovered the First Human Coronavirus, Sleeping Bear Press. (Author is from Libertyville, Illinois.)
Honorees:
Kao Kalia Yang, Yang Warriors, University of Minnesota Press. (Author is from St. Paul, Minnesota.)
Laurie Lawlor, Fearless World Traveler: Adventures of Marianne North, Botanical Artist, Holiday House. (Author is from Evanston, Illinois.)
Judges: Mary Losure, Marianne Malone, and Judith Schein Cohen
2021 Awards for Books Published in 2020
ADULT FICTION
Winner: Tiffany McDaniel, Betty, Alfred A. Knopf. (Author lives in Circleville, Ohio.)
Honorees: TaraShea Nesbit, Beheld, Bloomsbury Publishing. (Author lives in Oxford, Ohio.)
Kathleen Rooney, Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey, Penguin Books. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Brandon Taylor, Real Life, Riverhead Books. (Author lives in Iowa City, Iowa.)
The judges for Adult Fiction were Angela Jackson-Brown, William O’Rourke and Barbara Shoup.
RICHARD FRISBIE AWARD FOR ADULT NONFICTION
Winner: Jack Shuler, This Is Ohio: The Overdose Crisis and the Front Lines of a New America, Counterpoint Press. (Author is from Granville, Ohio.)
Honorees: Marie Mutsuki Mockett, American Harvest: God, Country, and Farming in the Heartland, Graywolf Press. (Author grew up in Nebraska and currently lives in San Francisco.)
Laurence Ralph, The Torture Letters: Reckoning with Police Violence, University of Chicago Press. (Author graduated from University of Chicago and currently lives in Princeton, New Jersey.)
Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law, Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms, The New Press. (Schenwar lives in Chicago; Law in New York.)
The judges for Adult Nonfiction were Michael Fedo, Joseph Gustaitis and Carol Saller.
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner: Helen Frost, All He Knew, FSG Macmillan. (Author is from Fort Wayne, Indiana.)
Honorees: Heather Dean Brewer, Love Is Powerful, Candlewick Press. (Author is from North Muskegon, Michigan.)
Elizabeth C. Bunce, Premeditated Myrtle, Algonquin Young Readers. (Author is from Lenexa, Kansas.)
Amy Timberlake, Skunk and Badger, Algonquin Young Readers. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Children’s Fiction were Amelia Cotter, Laura Hirshfield and Anne O’Malley.
CHILDREN’S READING ROUND TABLE AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner: Alan Page and Kamie Page, Bee Love (Can Be Hard), Page Education Foundation. (Authors live in Minneapolis.)
Honorees: Amy Alznauer, Flying Paintings: The Zhou Brothers: A Story of Revolution and Art, Candlewick Press. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Patricia Hruby Powell, Lift As You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker, McElderry/Simon & Schuster. (Author from Champaign, Illinois.)
The judges for Children’s Nonfiction were Judith Schein Cohen, Helen Frost and Artika Tyner.
POETRY
Winner: Nandi Comer, Tapping Out: Poems, Northwestern University Press. (Author lives in Detroit.)
Honoree: Philip Metres, Shrapnel Maps, Copper Canyon Press. (Author is from University Heights, Ohio.)
The judges for Poetry were Grace Bauer, David Radavich and Chris Abani.
BERNARD J. BROMMEL AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner: Riva Lehrer, Golem Girl: A Memoir, One World, Penguin/Random House. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees: Craig Fehrman, Author in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote, Simon & Schuster/Avid Reader Press. (Author is from Bloomington, Indiana.)
Miles Harvey, The King of Confidence: A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, and the Murder of an American Monarch, Little, Brown and Company. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Carolyn Holbrook, Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify: Essays, University of Minnesota Press. (Author is from Saint Paul, Minnesota.)
The judges for Biography & Memoir were Emilio DeGrazia, Libby Fischer Hellmann and Bob Remer.
The coordinator of this year’s contest was Marlene Targ Brill.
Read more about the contest winners and honorees.
ADULT FICTION
Winner: Tim Johnston, The Current: A Novel, Algonquin Books. (Author lives in Iowa City, Iowa.)
Honorees: Chris Fink, Add This to the List of Things That You Are, University of Wisconsin Press. (Author lives near Beloit, Wisconsin.)
Julie Justicz, Degrees of Difficulty, Fomite Press. (Author lives in Oak Park, Illinois.)
Devin Murphy, Tiny Americans: A Novel, Harper Perennial. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Adult Fiction were Lynn Sloan, Jonis Agee and Robert Hellenga.
RICHARD FRISBIE AWARD FOR ADULT NONFICTION
Winner: David Treuer, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, Riverhead Books. (Author lives in both on the Leech Lake Reservation, Minnesota and Los Angeles.)
Honorees: Erika Lee, America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States, Basic Books. (Author lives in Minnesota).
Christopher Leonard, Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America, Simon & Schuster. (Author is a University of Missouri graduate and currently lives in Washington, D.C.)
The judges for Adult Nonfiction were Jillian McKeown, Ted Anton and Pamela Olander.
CHILDREN’S READING ROUND TABLE AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner: Andrea Warren, Enemy Child: The Story of Norman Mineta, a Boy Imprisoned in a Japanese American Internment Camp During World War II, Margaret Ferguson Books. (Author lives in Lawrence, Kansas.)
Honorees: Sarah Miller, The Miracle & Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets, Schwartz & Wade Books. (Author lives in Michigan.).
Elizabeth Brown, Dancing Through Fields of Color: The Story of Helen Frankenthaler, Abrams Books for Young Readers. (Author teaches at St. Augustine College, Chicago.)
The judges for Children’s Nonfiction were Anne O’Malley, Alice Joseph and Mary Wisniewski.
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner: Heather Shumaker, The Griffins of Castle Cary, Simon & Schuster. (Author lives in northern Michigan.)
Honorees: Cathleen Young, The Pumpkin War, Wendy Lamb Books. (Author grew up in Wisconsin.)
Andrea Beaty, Sofia Valdez, Future Prez, Abrams Books. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Charlotte Nicole Davis, The Good Luck Girls, Tor Teen. (Author has lived in Overland Park, Kansas.)
The judges for Children’s Fiction were Joyce Burns Zeiss and Melinda Braun.
POETRY
Winner: Chelsea Wagenaar, The Spinning Place, Southern Indiana Review Press. (Author lives in Indiana.)
Honorees: Rebecca Hazelton, Gloss, University of Wisconsin Press. (Studied at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.)
Lee Ann Roripaugh, Tsunami v the Fukushima 50, Milkweed Editions. (Author lives in South Dakota.)
The judges for Poetry were Lisa Fay Coutley, George Bilgere and Marcia Pradzinski.
BERNARD J. BROMMEL AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner: Iliana Regan, Burn the Place: A Memoir, Agate Publishing. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees: Peter Copeland, Finding the News: Adventures of a Young Reporter, LSU Press. (Author lived and worked in Chicago.)
Margaret McMullan, Where the Angels Lived, Calypso Editions. (Author lives in Evansville, Indiana).
Ann Durkin Keating, The World of Juliette Kinzie: Chicago Before the Fire, University of Chicago Press. (Author teaches in Naperville, Illinois.)
The judges for Biography & Memoir were Bob Remer, Jim Merriner and Mickey Maurer.
Read more about the 2020 contest winners and honorees for books published in 2019.
ADULT FICTION
Winner: Kelly O’Connor McNees, Undiscovered Country, Pegasus Books. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees: David W. Berner, A Well-Respected Man, Strategic Publishing. (Author lives in Clarendon Hills, Illinois.)
Sarah Stonich, Laurentian Divide, University of Minnesota Press. (Author is from Minneapolis.)
Linda Spalding, A Reckoning, Knopf Pantheon. (Author was born in Kansas.)
The judges for Adult Fiction were Melinda Braun, Sue Harrison, and Richard Reeder.
RICHARD FRISBIE AWARD FOR ADULT NONFICTION
Winner: Shane Bauer, American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment, Penguin. (Author grew up in Onamia, Minnesota.)
Honorees: David Quammen, The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life, Simon & Schuster. (Author is a Cincinnati native.)
Susan Orlean, The Library Book, Simon & Schuster. (Author grew up in Cleveland.)
Eve L. Ewing, Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side, University of Chicago Press. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Adult Nonfiction were Jillian McKeown, Don Rose and Jim Schwab.
BERNARD J. BROMMEL AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner: Will McGrath, Everything Lost Is Found Again: Four Seasons in Lesotho, Dzanc Books. (Author lives in Collegeville, Minnesota.)
Honorees: David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, Simon & Schuster. (Author lives in Flint, Michigan.)
Ken Krimstein, The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth, Bloomsbury Publishing. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Art Cullen, Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper, Viking. (Author lives in Storm Lake, Iowa.)
The judges for Biography & Memoir were Jonathan Eig, Sue William Silverman and Mary Kay Shanley.
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner: Samira Ahmed, Love, Hate & Other Filters, Soho Teen. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees: Gloria Chao, American Panda, Simon Pulse. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Chad Sell, The Cardboard Kingdom, Knopf Books for Young Readers. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Jeff Newman, Found, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. (Author lives in Milwaukee.)
The judges for Children’s Fiction were Debbi Chocolate, Shari Frost and Brian E. Wilson.
CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner: Patricia Hruby Powell, Struttin’ With Some Barbecue: Lil Hardin Armstrong Becomes the First Lady of Jazz, Charlesbridge Publishing. (Author lives in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.)
Honorees: Patricia Sutton, Capsized! The Forgotten Story of the SS Eastland Disaster, Chicago Review Press. (Author lives in Madison, Wisconsin.)
Kate Hannigan, A Lady Has the Floor: Belva Lockwood Speaks Out for Women’s Rights, Calkins Creek. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Children’s Nonfiction were Patricia Kummer, Janet Riehecky and Carol Saller.
POETRY
Winner: Claire Wahmanholm, Wilder, Milkweed Editions. (Author lives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.)
Honorees: Aaron Coleman, Threat Come Close, Four Way Books. (Author has lived in Kalamazoo and West Bloomfield, Michigan.)
The judges for Poetry were Lisa Fay Coutley, Joseph G. Peterson and Leland James Whipple.
ADULT FICTION
Winner: Tim Johnston, The Current: A Novel, Algonquin Books. (Author lives in Iowa City, Iowa.)
Honorees: Chris Fink, Add This to the List of Things That You Are, University of Wisconsin Press. (Author lives near Beloit, Wisconsin.)
Julie Justicz, Degrees of Difficulty, Fomite Press. (Author lives in Oak Park, Illinois.)
Devin Murphy, Tiny Americans: A Novel, Harper Perennial. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Adult Fiction were Lynn Sloan, Jonis Agee and Robert Hellenga.
RICHARD FRISBIE AWARD FOR ADULT NONFICTION
Winner: David Treuer, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, Riverhead Books. (Author lives in both on the Leech Lake Reservation, Minnesota and Los Angeles.)
Honorees: Erika Lee, America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States, Basic Books. (Author lives in Minnesota).
Christopher Leonard, Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America, Simon & Schuster. (Author is a University of Missouri graduate and currently lives in Washington, D.C.)
The judges for Adult Nonfiction were Jillian McKeown, Ted Anton and Pamela Olander.
CHILDREN’S READING ROUND TABLE AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner: Andrea Warren, Enemy Child: The Story of Norman Mineta, a Boy Imprisoned in a Japanese American Internment Camp During World War II, Margaret Ferguson Books. (Author lives in Lawrence, Kansas.)
Honorees: Sarah Miller, The Miracle & Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets, Schwartz & Wade Books. (Author lives in Michigan.).
Elizabeth Brown, Dancing Through Fields of Color: The Story of Helen Frankenthaler, Abrams Books for Young Readers. (Author teaches at St. Augustine College, Chicago.)
The judges for Children’s Nonfiction were Anne O’Malley, Alice Joseph and Mary Wisniewski.
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner: Heather Shumaker, The Griffins of Castle Cary, Simon & Schuster. (Author lives in northern Michigan.)
Honorees: Cathleen Young, The Pumpkin War, Wendy Lamb Books. (Author grew up in Wisconsin.)
Andrea Beaty, Sofia Valdez, Future Prez, Abrams Books. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Charlotte Nicole Davis, The Good Luck Girls, Tor Teen. (Author has lived in Overland Park, Kansas.)
The judges for Children’s Fiction were Joyce Burns Zeiss and Melinda Braun.
POETRY
Winner: Chelsea Wagenaar, The Spinning Place, Southern Indiana Review Press. (Author lives in Indiana.)
Honorees: Rebecca Hazelton, Gloss, University of Wisconsin Press. (Studied at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.)
Lee Ann Roripaugh, Tsunami v the Fukushima 50, Milkweed Editions. (Author lives in South Dakota.)
The judges for Poetry were Lisa Fay Coutley, George Bilgere and Marcia Pradzinski.
BERNARD J. BROMMEL AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner: Iliana Regan, Burn the Place: A Memoir, Agate Publishing. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees: Peter Copeland, Finding the News: Adventures of a Young Reporter, LSU Press. (Author lived and worked in Chicago.)
Margaret McMullan, Where the Angels Lived, Calypso Editions. (Author lives in Evansville, Indiana).
Ann Durkin Keating, The World of Juliette Kinzie: Chicago Before the Fire, University of Chicago Press. (Author teaches in Naperville, Illinois.)
The judges for Biography & Memoir were Bob Remer, Jim Merriner and Mickey Maurer.
Read more about the 2020 contest winners and honorees for books published in 2019.
ADULT FICTION
Winner: Kelly O’Connor McNees, Undiscovered Country, Pegasus Books. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees: David W. Berner, A Well-Respected Man, Strategic Publishing. (Author lives in Clarendon Hills, Illinois.)
Sarah Stonich, Laurentian Divide, University of Minnesota Press. (Author is from Minneapolis.)
Linda Spalding, A Reckoning, Knopf Pantheon. (Author was born in Kansas.)
The judges for Adult Fiction were Melinda Braun, Sue Harrison, and Richard Reeder.
RICHARD FRISBIE AWARD FOR ADULT NONFICTION
Winner: Shane Bauer, American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment, Penguin. (Author grew up in Onamia, Minnesota.)
Honorees: David Quammen, The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life, Simon & Schuster. (Author is a Cincinnati native.)
Susan Orlean, The Library Book, Simon & Schuster. (Author grew up in Cleveland.)
Eve L. Ewing, Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side, University of Chicago Press. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Adult Nonfiction were Jillian McKeown, Don Rose and Jim Schwab.
BERNARD J. BROMMEL AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner: Will McGrath, Everything Lost Is Found Again: Four Seasons in Lesotho, Dzanc Books. (Author lives in Collegeville, Minnesota.)
Honorees: David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, Simon & Schuster. (Author lives in Flint, Michigan.)
Ken Krimstein, The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth, Bloomsbury Publishing. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Art Cullen, Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper, Viking. (Author lives in Storm Lake, Iowa.)
The judges for Biography & Memoir were Jonathan Eig, Sue William Silverman and Mary Kay Shanley.
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner: Samira Ahmed, Love, Hate & Other Filters, Soho Teen. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees: Gloria Chao, American Panda, Simon Pulse. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Chad Sell, The Cardboard Kingdom, Knopf Books for Young Readers. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Jeff Newman, Found, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. (Author lives in Milwaukee.)
The judges for Children’s Fiction were Debbi Chocolate, Shari Frost and Brian E. Wilson.
CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner: Patricia Hruby Powell, Struttin’ With Some Barbecue: Lil Hardin Armstrong Becomes the First Lady of Jazz, Charlesbridge Publishing. (Author lives in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.)
Honorees: Patricia Sutton, Capsized! The Forgotten Story of the SS Eastland Disaster, Chicago Review Press. (Author lives in Madison, Wisconsin.)
Kate Hannigan, A Lady Has the Floor: Belva Lockwood Speaks Out for Women’s Rights, Calkins Creek. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Children’s Nonfiction were Patricia Kummer, Janet Riehecky and Carol Saller.
POETRY
Winner: Claire Wahmanholm, Wilder, Milkweed Editions. (Author lives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.)
Honorees: Aaron Coleman, Threat Come Close, Four Way Books. (Author has lived in Kalamazoo and West Bloomfield, Michigan.)
The judges for Poetry were Lisa Fay Coutley, Joseph G. Peterson and Leland James Whipple.
ADULT FICTION
Winner: Tim Johnston, The Current: A Novel, Algonquin Books. (Author lives in Iowa City, Iowa.)
Honorees: Chris Fink, Add This to the List of Things That You Are, University of Wisconsin Press. (Author lives near Beloit, Wisconsin.)
Julie Justicz, Degrees of Difficulty, Fomite Press. (Author lives in Oak Park, Illinois.)
Devin Murphy, Tiny Americans: A Novel, Harper Perennial. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Adult Fiction were Lynn Sloan, Jonis Agee and Robert Hellenga.
RICHARD FRISBIE AWARD FOR ADULT NONFICTION
Winner: David Treuer, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, Riverhead Books. (Author lives in both on the Leech Lake Reservation, Minnesota and Los Angeles.)
Honorees: Erika Lee, America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States, Basic Books. (Author lives in Minnesota).
Christopher Leonard, Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America, Simon & Schuster. (Author is a University of Missouri graduate and currently lives in Washington, D.C.)
The judges for Adult Nonfiction were Jillian McKeown, Ted Anton and Pamela Olander.
CHILDREN’S READING ROUND TABLE AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner: Andrea Warren, Enemy Child: The Story of Norman Mineta, a Boy Imprisoned in a Japanese American Internment Camp During World War II, Margaret Ferguson Books. (Author lives in Lawrence, Kansas.)
Honorees: Sarah Miller, The Miracle & Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets, Schwartz & Wade Books. (Author lives in Michigan.).
Elizabeth Brown, Dancing Through Fields of Color: The Story of Helen Frankenthaler, Abrams Books for Young Readers. (Author teaches at St. Augustine College, Chicago.)
The judges for Children’s Nonfiction were Anne O’Malley, Alice Joseph and Mary Wisniewski.
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner: Heather Shumaker, The Griffins of Castle Cary, Simon & Schuster. (Author lives in northern Michigan.)
Honorees: Cathleen Young, The Pumpkin War, Wendy Lamb Books. (Author grew up in Wisconsin.)
Andrea Beaty, Sofia Valdez, Future Prez, Abrams Books. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Charlotte Nicole Davis, The Good Luck Girls, Tor Teen. (Author has lived in Overland Park, Kansas.)
The judges for Children’s Fiction were Joyce Burns Zeiss and Melinda Braun.
POETRY
Winner: Chelsea Wagenaar, The Spinning Place, Southern Indiana Review Press. (Author lives in Indiana.)
Honorees: Rebecca Hazelton, Gloss, University of Wisconsin Press. (Studied at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.)
Lee Ann Roripaugh, Tsunami v the Fukushima 50, Milkweed Editions. (Author lives in South Dakota.)
The judges for Poetry were Lisa Fay Coutley, George Bilgere and Marcia Pradzinski.
BERNARD J. BROMMEL AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner: Iliana Regan, Burn the Place: A Memoir, Agate Publishing. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees: Peter Copeland, Finding the News: Adventures of a Young Reporter, LSU Press. (Author lived and worked in Chicago.)
Margaret McMullan, Where the Angels Lived, Calypso Editions. (Author lives in Evansville, Indiana).
Ann Durkin Keating, The World of Juliette Kinzie: Chicago Before the Fire, University of Chicago Press. (Author teaches in Naperville, Illinois.)
The judges for Biography & Memoir were Bob Remer, Jim Merriner and Mickey Maurer.
Read more about the 2020 contest winners and honorees for books published in 2019.
ADULT FICTION
Winner: Kelly O’Connor McNees, Undiscovered Country, Pegasus Books. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees: David W. Berner, A Well-Respected Man, Strategic Publishing. (Author lives in Clarendon Hills, Illinois.)
Sarah Stonich, Laurentian Divide, University of Minnesota Press. (Author is from Minneapolis.)
Linda Spalding, A Reckoning, Knopf Pantheon. (Author was born in Kansas.)
The judges for Adult Fiction were Melinda Braun, Sue Harrison, and Richard Reeder.
RICHARD FRISBIE AWARD FOR ADULT NONFICTION
Winner: Shane Bauer, American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment, Penguin. (Author grew up in Onamia, Minnesota.)
Honorees: David Quammen, The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life, Simon & Schuster. (Author is a Cincinnati native.)
Susan Orlean, The Library Book, Simon & Schuster. (Author grew up in Cleveland.)
Eve L. Ewing, Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side, University of Chicago Press. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Adult Nonfiction were Jillian McKeown, Don Rose and Jim Schwab.
BERNARD J. BROMMEL AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner: Will McGrath, Everything Lost Is Found Again: Four Seasons in Lesotho, Dzanc Books. (Author lives in Collegeville, Minnesota.)
Honorees: David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, Simon & Schuster. (Author lives in Flint, Michigan.)
Ken Krimstein, The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth, Bloomsbury Publishing. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Art Cullen, Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper, Viking. (Author lives in Storm Lake, Iowa.)
The judges for Biography & Memoir were Jonathan Eig, Sue William Silverman and Mary Kay Shanley.
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner: Samira Ahmed, Love, Hate & Other Filters, Soho Teen. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees: Gloria Chao, American Panda, Simon Pulse. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Chad Sell, The Cardboard Kingdom, Knopf Books for Young Readers. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Jeff Newman, Found, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. (Author lives in Milwaukee.)
The judges for Children’s Fiction were Debbi Chocolate, Shari Frost and Brian E. Wilson.
CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner: Patricia Hruby Powell, Struttin’ With Some Barbecue: Lil Hardin Armstrong Becomes the First Lady of Jazz, Charlesbridge Publishing. (Author lives in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.)
Honorees: Patricia Sutton, Capsized! The Forgotten Story of the SS Eastland Disaster, Chicago Review Press. (Author lives in Madison, Wisconsin.)
Kate Hannigan, A Lady Has the Floor: Belva Lockwood Speaks Out for Women’s Rights, Calkins Creek. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Children’s Nonfiction were Patricia Kummer, Janet Riehecky and Carol Saller.
POETRY
Winner: Claire Wahmanholm, Wilder, Milkweed Editions. (Author lives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.)
Honorees: Aaron Coleman, Threat Come Close, Four Way Books. (Author has lived in Kalamazoo and West Bloomfield, Michigan.)
The judges for Poetry were Lisa Fay Coutley, Joseph G. Peterson and Leland James Whipple.
ADULT FICTION
Winner: Tim Johnston, The Current: A Novel, Algonquin Books. (Author lives in Iowa City, Iowa.)
Honorees: Chris Fink, Add This to the List of Things That You Are, University of Wisconsin Press. (Author lives near Beloit, Wisconsin.)
Julie Justicz, Degrees of Difficulty, Fomite Press. (Author lives in Oak Park, Illinois.)
Devin Murphy, Tiny Americans: A Novel, Harper Perennial. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Adult Fiction were Lynn Sloan, Jonis Agee and Robert Hellenga.
RICHARD FRISBIE AWARD FOR ADULT NONFICTION
Winner: David Treuer, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, Riverhead Books. (Author lives in both on the Leech Lake Reservation, Minnesota and Los Angeles.)
Honorees: Erika Lee, America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States, Basic Books. (Author lives in Minnesota).
Christopher Leonard, Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America, Simon & Schuster. (Author is a University of Missouri graduate and currently lives in Washington, D.C.)
The judges for Adult Nonfiction were Jillian McKeown, Ted Anton and Pamela Olander.
CHILDREN’S READING ROUND TABLE AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner: Andrea Warren, Enemy Child: The Story of Norman Mineta, a Boy Imprisoned in a Japanese American Internment Camp During World War II, Margaret Ferguson Books. (Author lives in Lawrence, Kansas.)
Honorees: Sarah Miller, The Miracle & Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets, Schwartz & Wade Books. (Author lives in Michigan.).
Elizabeth Brown, Dancing Through Fields of Color: The Story of Helen Frankenthaler, Abrams Books for Young Readers. (Author teaches at St. Augustine College, Chicago.)
The judges for Children’s Nonfiction were Anne O’Malley, Alice Joseph and Mary Wisniewski.
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner: Heather Shumaker, The Griffins of Castle Cary, Simon & Schuster. (Author lives in northern Michigan.)
Honorees: Cathleen Young, The Pumpkin War, Wendy Lamb Books. (Author grew up in Wisconsin.)
Andrea Beaty, Sofia Valdez, Future Prez, Abrams Books. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Charlotte Nicole Davis, The Good Luck Girls, Tor Teen. (Author has lived in Overland Park, Kansas.)
The judges for Children’s Fiction were Joyce Burns Zeiss and Melinda Braun.
POETRY
Winner: Chelsea Wagenaar, The Spinning Place, Southern Indiana Review Press. (Author lives in Indiana.)
Honorees: Rebecca Hazelton, Gloss, University of Wisconsin Press. (Studied at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.)
Lee Ann Roripaugh, Tsunami v the Fukushima 50, Milkweed Editions. (Author lives in South Dakota.)
The judges for Poetry were Lisa Fay Coutley, George Bilgere and Marcia Pradzinski.
BERNARD J. BROMMEL AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner: Iliana Regan, Burn the Place: A Memoir, Agate Publishing. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees: Peter Copeland, Finding the News: Adventures of a Young Reporter, LSU Press. (Author lived and worked in Chicago.)
Margaret McMullan, Where the Angels Lived, Calypso Editions. (Author lives in Evansville, Indiana).
Ann Durkin Keating, The World of Juliette Kinzie: Chicago Before the Fire, University of Chicago Press. (Author teaches in Naperville, Illinois.)
The judges for Biography & Memoir were Bob Remer, Jim Merriner and Mickey Maurer.
Read more about the 2020 contest winners and honorees for books published in 2019.
ADULT FICTION
Winner: Kelly O’Connor McNees, Undiscovered Country, Pegasus Books. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees: David W. Berner, A Well-Respected Man, Strategic Publishing. (Author lives in Clarendon Hills, Illinois.)
Sarah Stonich, Laurentian Divide, University of Minnesota Press. (Author is from Minneapolis.)
Linda Spalding, A Reckoning, Knopf Pantheon. (Author was born in Kansas.)
The judges for Adult Fiction were Melinda Braun, Sue Harrison, and Richard Reeder.
RICHARD FRISBIE AWARD FOR ADULT NONFICTION
Winner: Shane Bauer, American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment, Penguin. (Author grew up in Onamia, Minnesota.)
Honorees: David Quammen, The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life, Simon & Schuster. (Author is a Cincinnati native.)
Susan Orlean, The Library Book, Simon & Schuster. (Author grew up in Cleveland.)
Eve L. Ewing, Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side, University of Chicago Press. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Adult Nonfiction were Jillian McKeown, Don Rose and Jim Schwab.
BERNARD J. BROMMEL AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner: Will McGrath, Everything Lost Is Found Again: Four Seasons in Lesotho, Dzanc Books. (Author lives in Collegeville, Minnesota.)
Honorees: David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, Simon & Schuster. (Author lives in Flint, Michigan.)
Ken Krimstein, The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth, Bloomsbury Publishing. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Art Cullen, Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper, Viking. (Author lives in Storm Lake, Iowa.)
The judges for Biography & Memoir were Jonathan Eig, Sue William Silverman and Mary Kay Shanley.
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner: Samira Ahmed, Love, Hate & Other Filters, Soho Teen. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees: Gloria Chao, American Panda, Simon Pulse. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Chad Sell, The Cardboard Kingdom, Knopf Books for Young Readers. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Jeff Newman, Found, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. (Author lives in Milwaukee.)
The judges for Children’s Fiction were Debbi Chocolate, Shari Frost and Brian E. Wilson.
CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner: Patricia Hruby Powell, Struttin’ With Some Barbecue: Lil Hardin Armstrong Becomes the First Lady of Jazz, Charlesbridge Publishing. (Author lives in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.)
Honorees: Patricia Sutton, Capsized! The Forgotten Story of the SS Eastland Disaster, Chicago Review Press. (Author lives in Madison, Wisconsin.)
Kate Hannigan, A Lady Has the Floor: Belva Lockwood Speaks Out for Women’s Rights, Calkins Creek. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Children’s Nonfiction were Patricia Kummer, Janet Riehecky and Carol Saller.
POETRY
Winner: Claire Wahmanholm, Wilder, Milkweed Editions. (Author lives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.)
Honorees: Aaron Coleman, Threat Come Close, Four Way Books. (Author has lived in Kalamazoo and West Bloomfield, Michigan.)
The judges for Poetry were Lisa Fay Coutley, Joseph G. Peterson and Leland James Whipple.
ADULT FICTION
Winner:
Sharon Solwitz, Once, in Lourdes, Spiegel & Grau. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees:
Curtis Dawkins, The Graybar Hotel, Scribner. (Author lives at the Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, Michigan.)
Lesley Nneka Arimah, What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky, Riverhead Books. (Author lives in Minneapolis.)
Ben Greenman, Don Quixotic, Antibookclub. (Author was born in Chicago and attended graduate school at Northwestern University; now lives in Ridgewood, New York.)
ADULT NONFICTION
Winner:
Doug Stanton, The Odyssey of Echo Company: The 1968 Tet Offensive and the Epic Battle to Survive the Vietnam War, Scribner. (Author lives in Traverse City, Michigan.)
Honorees:
Bonnie Rochman, The Gene Machine: How Genetic Technologies Are Changing the Way We Have Kids—and the Kids We Have, Scientific American/Farrar, Straus & Giroux. (Author grew up in Missouri; lives now in Seattle.)
Lindsey Fitzharris, The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine, Scientific American/Farrar, Straus & Giroux. (Author grew up in Mount Prospect, Illinois; lives in Great Doddington, United Kingdom.)
Rich Cohen, The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse, Farrar, Straus & Giroux. (Author is a former Glencoe native; now lives in New York.)
The judges for Adult Nonfiction were Mervin Block, Jim Schwab and Joyce Burns Zeiss
BERNARD J. BROMMEL AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner:
Jonathan Eig, Ali: A Life, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees:
Jonathan Eig, Ali: A Life, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Biography & Memoir were Bob Remer, Taylor Pensoneau and James Plath.
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner:
Erika L. Sanchez, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, Knopf Books for Young Readers. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Honorees:
Aaron Reynolds, Creepy Pair of Underwear, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. (Author lives in Fox River Grove, Illinois.)
Natasha Tarpley, The Harlem Charade, Scholastic. (Author lives in Chicago.)
Helen Frost, When My Sister Started Kissing, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. (Author lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana.)
The judges for Children’s Fiction were Debbie Chocolate, Shari Frost and Brian E. Wilson.
CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner:
Mary Losure, Isaac the Alchemist: Secrets of Isaac Newton, Reveal’d, Candlewick Press. (Author lives in St. Paul, Minnesota)
Honorees:
Michael Bornstein and Debbie Bornstein Holinstat, Survivor’s Club: The True Story of a Very Young Prisoner of Auschwitz, Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers. (Authors are former Illinois resident, living now in New Jersey.)
Jan Greenburg and Sandra Jordan, Meet Cindy Sherman: Artist, Photographer, Chameleon, Roaring Brook Press. (Greenburg lives in St. Louis; Jordan was raised in Cleveland and lives in New York City.)
The judges for Children’s Nonfiction were Marlene Targ Brill, Lisa Holton and Patrick McBriarty
POETRY
Winner:
Marcus Wicker, Silencer, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (Author was raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan; lives in Memphis, Tennessee.)
Honorees:
Jim Daniels, Rowing Inland, Wayne State University Press. (Author was born in Detroit; lives in Pittsburgh.)
Erin Adair-Hodges, Let’s All Die Happy, University of Pittsburgh Press. (Author lives in Toledo, Ohio.)
The judges for Poetry were Linda Nemec Foster, Robert Sutherland and Bill Yarrow.
JAMES FRIEND MEMORIAL AWARD FOR LITERARY AND DRAMATIC CRITICISM
Winner:
Adam Morgan, editor-in-chief of the Chicago Review of Books, a contributing writer at Chicago magazine, and a book critic for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
ADULT FICTION
WINNER:
Desiree Cooper, Know the Mother, Wayne State University Press. (Author lives in Southfield, Mich.)
HONOREES:
Louise Erdrich, LaRose, Harper. (Author lives in Loring Station, Minn.)
Margaret Luongo, History of Art: Stories, Louisiana State University Press. (Author lives in Oxford, Ohio.)
Darryl Pinckney, Black Deutschland, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (Author is an Indianapolis native and now lives in New York.)
The judges for Adult Fiction were Stephen Sposato, David MacLean and Eckhard Gerdes.
ADULT NONFICTION
WINNER:
Ethan Michaeli, The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (Author lives in Chicago.)
HONOREES:
Katherine Zoepf, Excellent Daughters: The Secret Lives of Young Women Who Are Transforming the Arab World, Penguin Press. (Author is a former Cincinnati resident who now lives in New York.)
Mark Johnson and Kathleen Gallagher, One in a Billion: The Story of Nic Volker and the Dawn of Genomic Medicine, Simon & Schuster. (Authors live in Milwaukee.)
Natalie Y. Moore, The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation, St. Martin’s Press. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Adult Nonfiction were Susan Croce Kelly, Kim Hiltwein and Libby Hellmann.
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
WINNER:
Mary Wisniewski, Algren: A Life, Chicago Review Press. (Author lives in Chicago.)
HONOREES:
Ken Ilgunas, Trespassing Across America: One Man’s Epic, Never-Done-Before (and Sort of Illegal) Hike Across the Heartland, Blue Rider Press. (The author is a former Benedict, Neb., resident who lives near Greensboro, N.C.)
Todd Mayfield (with Travis Atria), Traveling Soul: The Life of Curtis Mayfield, Chicago Review Press. (Mayfield lives in Chicago.)
Donna Solecka Urbikas, My Sister’s Mother: A Memoir of War, Exile and Stalin’s Siberia, University of Wisconsin Press. (Author lives in Chicago.)
The judges for Biography & Memoir were Bob Remer, Jerry Apps and Ronne Hartfield.
CHILDREN’S FICTION
WINNER:
Pete Hautman, The Forgetting Machine, Simon & Schuster. (Author lives in Golden Valley, Minn.)
HONOREE:
Meg Fleming, I Heart You, Simon & Schuster. (Author is a former Fox River Grove, Ill., resident who lives in San Francisco.)
The judges for Children’s Fiction were Marlene Targ Brill, Patricia McKissack and Mary Losure.
CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
WINNER:
David L. Harrison, Now You See Them, Now You Don’t, Charlesbridge Publishing. (Author lives in Springfield, Mo.)
HONOREES:
Jeff Gall and Micah Gall, Buck O’Neil: Baseball’s Ambassador, Truman State University Press. (Authors live in Missouri.)
April Pulley Sayre, The Slowest Book Ever, Boyds Mill Press. (Author lives in South Bend, Ind.)
The judges for Children’s Nonfiction were Pat Kummer, Andrea Warren and Suzanne Slade.
POETRY
WINNER:
Tyehimba Jess, Olio, Wave Books. (Author lives in Chicago.)
HONOREES:
John Koethe, The Swimmer, Farrar Straus Giroux. (Author lives in Milwaukee.)
Vi Khi Nao, The Old Philosopher, NIghtboat Books. (Author lives in South Bend, Ind.)
The judges for Poetry were Rosina Neginsky, Jill Baumgaertner and Joshua Corey.
JAMES FRIEND MEMORIAL AWARD FOR LITERARY AND DRAMATIC CRITICISM
WINNER:
Rick Kogan, columnist and reporter for the Chicago Tribune, author, and host of “After Hours” on WGN-AM radio.
ADULT FICTION
Winner:
Joe Meno — Marvel and a Wonder — Akashic Books
FINALISTS:
Bonnie Jo Campbell — Mothers, Tell Your Daughters — W.W. Norton
Rebecca Makkai — Music for Wartime — Viking
ADULT NONFICTION
Winner:
Alice Dreger — Galileo’s Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and One Scholar’s Search for Justice — Penguin Press
FINALISTS:
Clark Elliott — The Ghost in My Brain: How a Concussion Stole My Life and How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Helped Me Get it Back — Viking
Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer — $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America — Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Jeremy Smith — Epic Measures: One Doctor. Seven Billion Patients — Harper Wave
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner:
Ray E. Boomhower — John Bartlow Martin: A Voice for the Underdog — Indiana University Press
FINALISTS:
Michele Weldon — Escape Points: A Memoir — Chicago Review Press
Joseph Tabbi — Nobody Grew but the Business: On the Life and Work of William Gaddis — Northwestern University Press
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner:
van Kuhlman — Great Ball of Light — Atheneum Books for Young Readers
FINALISTS:
Stephen T. Johnson — Alphabet School — Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Kate DiCamillo — Francine Poulet Meets the Ghost Raccoon: Tales from Deckawoo Drive, Volume Two — Candlewick
Melinda Braun — Stranded — Simon Pulse
CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner:
Ann Bausum — Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights — Viking Books for Young Readers
FINALISTS:
Suzanne Slade — The Inventor’s Secret: What Thomas Edison Told Henry Ford — Charlesbridge
Fern Schumer Chapman — Like Finding My Twin — Gussie Rose Press
POETRY
Winner:
Iliana Rocha — Karankawa — University of Pittsburgh Press
FINALISTS:
Dennis Hinrichsen — Skin Music — Southern Indiana Review Press
Lisa Fay Coutley — Errata — Southern Illinois University Press
JAMES FRIEND MEMORIAL AWARD FOR LITERARY AND DRAMATIC CRITICISM
Winner:
Kelli Christiansen, founder and editor of Chicago Book Review
ADULT FICTION
Winner:
Robert Hellenga — The Confessions of Frances Godwin — Bloomsbury
Finalists:
Kathleen Rooney — O, Democracy! — Fifth Star Press
Lin Enger — The High Divide — Algonquin
ADULT NONFICTION
Winner:
Jonathan Eig — The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution — W.W. Norton
Finalist:
Michael McCarthy — Ashes Under Water: The SS Eastland and the Shipwreck That Shook America — Lyons Press
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner:
David Stuart MacLean — The Answer to the Riddle Is Me: A Memoir of Amnesia — Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Finalist:
Ken S. Mueller — Senator Benton and the People: Master Race Democracy on the Early American Frontiers — Northern Illinois University Press
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner:
Margi Preus — West of the Moon — Amulet Books
Finalists:
Margaret Willey — Beetle Boy — Lerner Books
Crystal Chan — Bird — Atheneum Books for Young Readers
John David Anderson — Minion — Walden Pond Press
CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner:
Ann Bausum — Stubby the War Dog: The True Story of World War I’s Bravest Dog — National Geographic Children’s Books
Finalists:
Don Mitchell — The Freedom Summer Murders — Scholastic Press
Ilene Cooper — A Woman in the House (and Senate): How Women Came to the United States Congress, Broke Down Barriers, and Changed the Country — Abrams Books for Young Readers
POETRY
Winner:
Grace Bauer — Nowhere All At Once — Stephen F. Austin State University Press
JAMES FRIEND MEMORIAL AWARD FOR LITERARY AND DRAMATIC CRITICISM
Winner:
The Goodman Theatre’s Cindy Bandle Young Critics program
2014 Awards for Books Published in 2013
ADULT FICTION
Winner:
Christine Sneed — Little Known Facts — Bloomsbury
Finalists:
Chinelo Okparanta — Happiness, Like Water — Mariner
Bryan Furuness — The Lost Episodes of Revie Bryson — Black Lawrence
ADULT NONFICTION
Winner:
Rick Atkinson — The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 — Henry Holt and Co.
Finalists:
Ted Anton — The Longevity Seekers: Science, Business, and the Fountain of Youth — University of Chicago Press
Larry Haeg — Harriman vs. Hill: Wall Street’s Great Railroad War — University of Minnesota Press
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Winner:
James Tobin — The Man He Became: How FDR Defied Polio to Win the Presidency —Simon & Schuster
Finalist:
Michael Shelden — Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill — Simon & Schuster
CHILDREN’S FICTION
Winner:
Amy Timberlake — One Came Home — Knopf Books for Young Readers
Finalists:
Clare Vanderpool — Navigating Early — Delacorte Press
Patricia Polacco — The Blessing Cup — Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
Winner:
Neal Bascomb — The Nazi Hunter: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World’s Most Notorious Nazi — Arthur A. Levine Books
POETRY
Winner:
Roger Bonair-Agard — Bury My Clothes — Haymarket Books
Finalists:
Carl Phillips — Silverchest — Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Averill Curdy — Song and Error — Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
JAMES FRIEND MEMORIAL AWARD FOR LITERARY AND DRAMATIC CRITICISM
Winner:
Chris Jones
2013 Awards for Books Published in 2012
Adult Fiction
Winners:
Nick Dybek — When Captain Flint Was Still A Good Man — Riverhead
Jack Driscoll — The World of a Few Minutes Ago — Wayne State University Press
Finalists:
Peter Geye — The Lighthouse Road — Unbridled Books
Richard Babcock — Are You Happy Now — Amazon Publishing
Adult Nonfiction
Winner:
Neil Steinberg — You Were Never in Chicago — University of Chicago Press
Finalists:
Mark Binelli — Detroit City Is the Place to Be: The Afterlife of an American Metropolis — Metropolitan Books
Benjamin Busch — Dust to Dust: A Memoir — Ecco
Gregory Harms — It’s Not About Religion — Perceval Press
Biography
Winner:
David Von Drehle — Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year — Henry Holt and Co.
Finalists:
Steven Lubet — John Brown’s Spy: The Adventurous Life and Tragic Confession of John E. Cook — Yale University Press
Rich Cohen — The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King — Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Children’s fiction
Winner:
Shelley Pearsall — Jump Into the Sky — Knopf Books for Young Readers
Finalists:
Polly Carlson-Voiles — Summer of the Wolves — Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Tim Shoemaker — Code of Silence: Living a Lie Comes With a Price — Zonderkidz
Children’s Nonfiction
Winner:
Mary Losure — The Fairy Ring: Or Elsie and Frances Fool the World — Candlewick
Finalists:
Rebecca L. Johnson — Zombie Makers: True Stories of Nature’s Undead —Millbrook Press
Ann Bausum — Marching to the Mountaintop: How Poverty, Labor Fights and Civil Rights Set the Stage for Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Hours — National Geographic Children’s Books
Poetry
Winner:
Dan Gerber — Sailing Through Cassiopeia — Copper Canyon Press
Finalists:
Joe Wilkins — Notes From the Journey Westward — White Pine Press.
John Koethe — ROTC Kills — Harper Perennial
James Friend Memorial Award for Literary and Dramatic Criticism
Winner:
Jonathan Messinger — former Time Out Chicago books editor
2012 Awards for Books Published in 2011 Adult Fiction
Adult Fiction
Winner:
Paula McLain — The Paris Wife — Random House
Finalists:
Donald Ray Pollock — The Devil All the Time — Doubleday
Patricia Ann McNair — The Temple of Air — Elephant Rock Books
Adult Nonfiction
Winner:
B.J. Hollars — Thirteen Loops: Race, Violence, and the Last Lynching in America — University of Alabama Press
Finalists:
Barbara Oakley — Cold-Blooded Kindness: Neuroquirks of a Codependent Killer, or Just Give Me a Shot at Loving You, Dear, and Other Reflections on Helping That Hurts — Prometheus Books
Steven A. Riess — The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime: Horse Racing, Politics, and Organized Crime in New York, 1865-1913 — Syracuse University Press
Biography
Winner:
Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith — Van Gogh: The Life — Random House
Finalists:
Philip Freeman — Alexander the Great — Simon & Schuster
Richard C. Lindberg — Whiskey Breakfast: My Swedish Family My American Life — University of Minnesota Press
Children’s fiction
Winner:
Trent Reedy — Words in the Dust — Arthur A. Levine Books
Children’s Nonfiction
Winner:
Donna Latham — Garbage: Investigate What Happens When You Throw It Out — Nomad Press
Finalist:
Andrea Warren — Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London — Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Poetry
Winner:
Susanna Childress — Entering the House of Awe — New Issues Press
Finalist:
Rob Griffith — The Moon from Every Window — David Roberts Books
James Friend Memorial Award for Literary and Dramatic Criticism
Winner:
Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune literary editor, for her leadership with the Printers Row Lit Fest and initiation of the Tribune’s Printers Row Journal
2011 Awards for Books Published in 2010
Adult Fiction
Winner:
Benjamin Percy – The Wilding: A Novel – Graywolf Press
Finalists:
Keir Graff – The Price of Liberty – Severn House Publishers
Billy Lombardo – The Man with Two Arms: A Novel – The Overlook Press
Adult Nonfiction
Winner:
Deborah Blum – The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York – Penguin Press
Finalists:
Harry Castleman and Walter J. Podrazik – Watching TV: Six Decades of American Television, 2nd expanded ed. – Syracuse University Press
Kevin Stein – Poetry’s Afterlife: Verse in the Digital Age – The University of Michigan Press and The University of Michigan Library
Biography
Winner:
Bill Barnhart and Gene Schlickman – John Paul Stevens: An Independent Life – Northern Illinois University Press
Finalist:
Bruce L. Mouser – For Labor, Race, and Liberty: George Edwin Taylor, His Historic Run for the White House, and the Making of Independent Black Politics – The University of Wisconsin Press
Children’s Fiction
Winner:
Rebecca Barnhouse – The Coming of the Dragon – Random House Books for Young Readers
Finalists:
Stephanie Hemphill – Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials – Balzer and Bray
Clare Vanderpool – Moon Over Manifest – Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Children’s Nonfiction
Winner:
Mitchell, Don – Driven: A Photobiography of Henry Ford – National Geographic Children’s Books
Poetry
Winner:
Jehanne Dubrow – Stateside – TriQuarterly
James Friend Memorial Award for Literary and Dramatic Criticism
Winner:
John Barron, publisher, Chicago Sun-Times, for his love of books and his many fine book reviews
2010 Awards for Books Published in 2009
Adult Fiction
Winner:
Kent Meyers – Twisted Tree – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Finalists:
Richard Powers – Generosity: An Enhancement – Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Achy Obejas – Ruins – Akashic Books
Adult Nonfiction
Winner:
James McManus – Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker – Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Finalists:
Sean B. Carroll – Remarkable Creations: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species – Mariner
Lawrence Rothfield – The Rape of Mesopotamia: Behind the Looting of the Iraq Museum – University of Chicago Press Leonard Zeskind – Blood & Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream – Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Biography
Winner:
Richard C. Lindberg – The Gambler King of Clark Street: Michael C. McDonald and the Rise of Chicago’s Democratic Machine – Southern Illinois University Press
Finalists:
James Ballowe – A Man of Salt and Trees: The Life of Joy Morton – Northern Illinois University Press
Paul Taylor – Orlando M. Poe: Civil War General and Great Lakes Engineer – Kent State University Press
Jane S. Smith – The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants – Penguin Press
Children’s Fiction
Winner:
Saundra Mitchell – Shadowed Summer – Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Finalist:
Gloria Whelan – Waiting for the Owl’s Call – Sleeping Bear Press.
Children’s Nonfiction
Winner:
Christine Taylor-Butler – Sacred Mountain: Everest – Lee & Low
Finalist:
Candace Fleming – The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P. T. Barnum – Schwartz & Wade
Poetry
Winner:
Jim Harrison – In Search of Small Gods – Copper Canyon Press
Finalist:
Marc J. Sheehan – Vengeful Hymns – Ashland Poetry Press
James Friend Memorial Award for Literary and Dramatic Criticism
Winner:
Tom Williams (originator of chicagocritic.com)
Distinguished Service Award
Carol Jean Carlson
2009 Awards for Books Published in 2008
Adult Fiction
Winner:
Aleksandar Hemon – The Lazarus Project – Riverhead
Finalists:
Jeffery Renard Allen – Holding Pattern: Stories – Graywolf Press
Tony Romano – If You Eat, You Never Die: Chicago Tales – Harper Perennial
Adult Nonfiction
Winner:
Neil Shubin – Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body – Pantheon
Finalists:
Eric Dregni – In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream – University of Minnesota Press
Daniel L. Everett – Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle – Pantheon
Biography
Winner:
John E. Hallwas – Dime Novel Desperadoes: The Notorious Maxwell Brothers – University of Illinois Press
Finalists:
Curtiss Anderson – Blueberry Summers: Growing Up at the Lake – Borealis Books
Thrity Umrigar – First Darling of the Morning: Selected Memories of an Indian Childhood – Harper Perennial
Children’s Fiction
Winner:
Louise Erdrich – The Porcupine Year – HarperCollins
Finalist:
Gary D. Schmidt – Trouble – Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Children’s Nonfiction
Winner:
Candace Fleming – The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary – Schwartz and Wade/RandomHouse
Poetry
Winner:
Ron Wallace – For a Limited Time Only – University of Pittsburgh Press
James Friend Memorial Award for Criticism
Winner:
Teresa Budasi
Distinguished Service Award
Winner:
Stella Pevsner
2008 Awards for Books Published in 2007
Adult Fiction
Winner:
Matthew Eck – The Farther Shore – Milkweed Editions
Finalists:
Tony Romano – When the World Was Young – HarperCollins
Benjamin Percy – Refresh – Refresh: Stories – Graywolf Press
Brock Clarke – An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England – Algonquin Books
Adult Nonfiction
Winner:
Patricia Hampl – The Florist’s Daughter – Harcourt
Finalists:
Barbara Oakley – Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother’s Boyfriend – Prometheus Books
Ann Hagedorn – Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919 – Simon & Schuster
Biography
Winner:
Judith Testa – Sal Maglie: Baseball’s Demon Barber – Northern Illinois University Press
Finalists:
Robert E. Bonner – William F. Cody’s Wyoming Empire: The Buffalo Bill Nobody Knows – University of Oklahoma Press
Robert Collins – Jim Lane: Scoundrel, Statesman, Kansan – Pelican Publishing
Children’s Fiction
Winner:
Gary D. Schmidt – The Wednesday Wars – Clarion Books
Finalists:
Nancy Crocker – Billie Standish Was Here – Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
Roderick Townley – The Red Thread: A Novel in Three Incarnations – Simon & Schuster
Joan M. Wolf – Someone Named Eva – Clarion Books
Children’s Nonfiction
Winner:
Cris Peterson – Clarabelle: Making Milk and So Much More – Boyds Mills Press
Finalists:
Dawn FitzGerald – Vinnie and Abraham – Charlesbridge Publishing
Marlene Targ Brill – Marshall “Major” Taylor: World Champion Bicyclist – 1899-1901 – Twenty-First Century Books
Poetry
Winner:
Jeff Gundy – Spoken among the Trees – University of Akron Press
Finalist:
Donald Platt – My Father Says Grace – University of Arkansas Press
James Friend Memorial Award for Criticism
Winner:
Myrna Petlicki
Distinguished Service Award
Phyllis Ford Choyke
2007 Awards for Books Published in 2006
Adult Fiction
Winner:
Samrat Upadhyay – Royal Ghosts: Stories – Mariner Books
Finalists:
Jane Hamilton – When Madeline was Young: A Novel – Doubleday
David Treuer – The Translation of Dr Apelles: A Love Story – Graywolf Press
Sam Savage – Firmin, Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife – Coffee House Press
Adult Nonfiction
Winner:
Roger Ebert – Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert – University of Chicago Press
Finalists:
Timothy J. Gilfoyle – Millennium Park: Creating a Chicago Landmark – University of Chicago Press
Joseph Margulies – Guantanamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power – Simon and Schuster
Debra Marquart – The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere – Counterpoint
Scott Russell Sanders – A Private History of Awe – North Point Press
Biography
Winner:
Walter B. Rideout – Sherwood Anderson: A Writer in America – University of Wisconsin Press
Finalists:
Joan E. Cashin – First Lady of the Confederacy: Varina Davis’s Civil War – Belknap Press
Timothy P. Gilfoyle – A Pickpocket’s Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth-Century New York – W. W. Norton
John F. Wasik – The Merchant of Power: Sam Insull, Thomas Edison, and the Creation of the Modern Metropolis – Palgrave Macmillan
Children’s Fiction
Winner:
Kathleen Ernst – Hearts of Stone – Dutton Juvenile
Finalists:
Roderick Townley – The Constellation of Sylvie – Atheneum
Pete Hautman – Rash – Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing
Sharon M. Draper – Copper Sun – Atheneum
Children’s Nonfiction
Winner:
Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin – Jane Addams: Champion of Democracy – Clarion Books
Poetry
Winners:
Jack Ridl – Broken Symmetry – Wayne State University Press
Jeff Worley – Happy Hour at the Two Keys Tavern: Poems – Mid-List Press
James Friend Memorial Award for Literary Criticism
Winner:
(no award)
Distinguished Service Award
Winner: Mary Claire Hersh
2006 Awards for Books Published in 2005
Adult Fiction
Winner:
Joe Meno – Bluebirds Used to Croon in the Choir: Stories – Triquarterly
Finalists:
Edward Jae-Suk Lee – The Good Man: A Novel – Bridge Works
Billy Lombardo – The Logic of the Rose: Chicago Stories – BkMk Press
Richard Stern – Almonds to Zhoof: Collected Stories – Triquarterly
Adult Nonfiction
Winner:
Steve Bogira – Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse – Knopf
Finalists:
Sean B. Carroll – Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom – W. W. Norton
Wilbert R. Hasbrouck – The Chicago Architectural Club – Monacelli
Garry Wills – Henry Adams and the Making of America – Houghton Mifflin
Biography
Winner:
Sam Weller – The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury – William Morrow
Finalists:
Jonathan Eig – Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig – Simon & Schuster
Richard M. Fried – The Man Everybody Knew: Bruce Barton and the Making of Modern America – Ivan R. Dee
Haki Madhubuti – YellowBlack: The First Twenty-One Years of a Poet’s Life – Third World Press
Children’s Fiction
Winner:
Gerald Morris – The Lioness and Her Knight (The Squire’s Tales) – Houghton Mifflin
Finalist:
J. Patrick Lewis – Galileo’s Universe – Creative Editions
Children’s Nonfiction
Winner:
Sally M. Walker – Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H. L. Hunley – Carolrhoda Books
Finalist:
Candace Fleming – Our Eleanor: A Scrapbook Look at Eleanor Roosevelt’s Remarkable Life – Atheneum/Anne Schwartz Books
Poetry
Winner:
Kevin Stein – American Ghost Roses – University of Illinois Press
Finalists:
Sherod Santos – Greek Lyric Poetry – W. W. Norton
Christian Wiman – Hard Night – Copper Canyon Press
James Friend Memorial Award for Literary Criticism
Winner:
Bill Savage for his fine reviews in the Chicago Tribune
Lifetime of Literary Achievement
Winner: Bernard J. Brommel
2005 Awards for Books Published in 2004
Adult Fiction
Winner:
Marilynne Robinson – Gilead: A Novel – Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Finalists:
Darrell Spencer – Bring Your Legs with You – University of Pittsburgh Press
Mary Sharratt – The Real Minerva – Houghton Mifflin
Adult Nonfiction
Winner:
Kevin Boyle – Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age – Henry Holt
Finalists:
Laurent Dubois – Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution – Belknap Press/Harvard University Press
Carl Phillips – Coin of the Realm: Essays on the Life and Art of Poetry – Graywolf Press
Lisa M. Fine – The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. – Temple University Press
Biography
Winner:
William Souder – Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of “The Birds of America” – North Point Press
Finalists:
Joan Reardon – Poet of the Appetites: The Lives and Loves M. F. K. Fisher – North Point Press
Larry Haeg – In Gatsby’s Shadow: The Story of Charles Macomb Flandrau – University of Iowa Press
Children’s fiction
Winner:
Katherine Hannigan – Ida B:…and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World – Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins Children’s Books
Children’s Nonfiction
Winner:
Andrea Warren – Escape from Saigon: How a Vietnam War Orphan Became an American Boy – Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Poetry
Winner:
Ted Kooser – Delights and Shadows – Copper Canyon Press
James Friend Memorial Award for Literary Criticism
Winner:
Eric Arnesen, Professor and Chair, Department of History, University of Illinois at Chicago, for distinguished literary criticism in the Chicago Tribune
2004 Awards for Books Published in 2003
Adult Fiction:
Winner:
Stuart Dybek – I Sailed with Magellan – Farrar Straus & Giroux
Finalists:
Joseph Epstein – Fabulous Small Jews – Houghton Mifflin Co.
Margaret McMullan – In My Mother’s House – Thomas Dunne Books
Katherine Shonk – The Red Passport – Farrar Straus & Giroux
Adult NonFiction:
Winner:
James McManus – Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion’s World Series of Poker – Farrar Straus & Giroux
Finalists:
Antonio Damasio – Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain – Simon & Schuster
John A. Lynn – Battle: A History of Combat and Culture – Westview Press
David Maraniss – They Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967 – Harcourt
Larry Stillman – A Match Made in Hell: The Jewish Boy and the Polish Outlaw Who Defied the Nazis – University of Wisconsin Press
Biography:
Winner:
Robert D. Sampson – John L. O’Sullivan and His Times – Kent State University Press
Finalists:
Andrea King Collier – Still with Me: A Daughter’s Journey of Love and Loss – Simon & Schuster
Jeffrey Lash – A Politician Turned General: The Civil War Career of Stephen Augustus Hurlbut – Kent State University Press
James Reidel – Vanished Act: The Life and Art of Weldon Kees – University of Nebraska Press
Children’s Fiction:
Winner:
Kathe Koja – Buddha Boy – Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Finalists:
Will Weaver – Claws – Harper Tempest
Erik Brooks – Octavius Bloom and the House of Doom – Albert Whitman
Children’s NonFiction:
Winner:
Ilene Cooper – Jack: The Early Years of John F. Kennedy – Dutton Children’s Books
Finalist:
Jan Greenberg – Romare Reardon: Collage of Memories – Harry N. Abrams
Poetry:
Winner:
Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser – Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry – Copper Canyon Press
James Friend Memorial Award for Literary Criticism:
Winner:
Bill Ott – editor and publisher of Booklist
2003 Awards for Books Published in 2002
Adult Fiction:
Winner:
Aleksandar Hemon – Nowhere Man – Doubleday
Finalists:
Robert Hellenga – Blues Lessons – Scribner
John Fulton – More Than Enough – Picador
Carol Anshaw – Lucky in the Corner – Houghton Mifflin Co.
Adult NonFiction:
Winner:
Joseph Epstein – Snobbery: The American Version – Houghton Mifflin
Finalists:
Joel Greenberg – A Natural History of the Chicago Region – University of Chicago Press
Eric Klinenberg – Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago – University of Chicago Press
Ted Kooser – Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps – University of Nebraska Press
Biography:
Winner:
Garry Wills – James Madison – Times Books
Finalist:
Jean Bethke Elshtain – Jane Addams and the Dream of American Democracy – Basic Books
Children’s Fiction:
Winner (tied):
Debra Seely – Grasslands – Holiday House
Jamie Gilson – Stink Alley – HarperCollins Children’s Books
Finalist:
Elizabeth Fama – Overboard – Cricket Books
Children’s NonFiction:
Winner:
John Fleischman – Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science – Houghton Mifflin Co. (Juvenile)
Finalist:
Ellen Jackson – Looking for Life in the Universe: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence – Houghton Mifflin Co. (Juvenile)
Poetry:
Winner:
Neal Bowers – Out of the South: Poems – Louisiana State University Press
Finalist:
Gabriel Gudding – A Defense of Poetry – University of Pittsburgh Press
James Friend Memorial Award for Literary Criticism:
Winner:
Roger Miller – Chicago Sun-Times
2002 Awards for Books Published in 2001
Adult Fiction:
Winner:
Reginald McKnight – He Sleeps – Henry Holt
Finalists:
Dan Chaon – Among the Missing – Ballentine
Achy Obejas – Days of Awe – Ballentine
Janet Kauffman – Rot – Western Michigan University
Adult NonFiction:
Winner:
Robert Vivian – Cold Snap as Yearning – University of Nebraska Press
Finalists:
Jon Anderson – City Watch: Discovering the Uncommon Chicago – University of Iowa Press
Stephen Kinzer – Crescent & Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds – Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Dick Simpson – Rogues, Rebels, and Rubber Stamps: The Politics of the Chicago City Council from 1863 to the Present – Westview Press
Richard Lieberman – Personal Foul: Coach Joe Moore vs. The University of Notre Dame – Academy Chicago Publishers
Biography:
Winner:
Andrea Lynn – Shadow Lovers: The Last Affairs of H. G. Wells – Westview Press
Finalists:
Herbert K. Russell – Edgar Lee Masters: A Biography – University of Illinois Press
Elliott J. Gorn – Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America – Hill & Wang
Children’s Fiction:
Winner:
Elaine Marie Alphin – Ghost Soldier – Henry Holt
Children’s NonFiction:
Winner:
Andrea Warren – Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps – Harpercollins Juvenile Books
Poetry:
Winner:
Carl Phillips – The Tether – Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Finalist:
Quan Barry – Asylum – University of Pittsburgh Press
James Friend Memorial Award for Literary Criticism:
Winner:
Deborah Abbott, book reviewer for the Sun-Times
2001 Awards for Books Published in 2000
Adult Fiction:
Winner:
Jane S. Smith – Fool’s Gold – Zoland Books
Finalists:
Porter Shreve – The Obituary Writer – Houghton Mifflin Co.
Ronald Wallace – Quick Bright Things: Stories – Mid-List Press
Dwight Allen – The Green Suit – Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
David J. Walker – The End of Emerald Woods – St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
Adult NonFiction:
Winner:
Murray Sperber – Beer and Circus: How Big-time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education – Henry Holt & Co.
Finalists:
Steven R. Hoffbeck – The Haymakers: A Chronicle of Five Farm Families – Minnesota Historical Society
John Conroy – Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People: The Dynamics of Torture – Alfred Knopf
Tom Martinson – American Dreamscape: The Pursuit of Happiness in Postwar Suburbia – Carroll & Graf
Jean Bethke Elshtain – Who Are We? Critical Reflections and Hopeful Possibilities – Wm. B. Eerdsmans Publishing, Co.
Biography:
Winner:
Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor – American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley – His Battle for Chicago and the Nation – Little Brown & Co.
Finalists:
Herbert Marder – The Measure of Life: Virginia Woolf’s Last Years – Cornell University Press
Cheri Register – Packinghouse Daughter: A Memoir – Minnesota Historical Society
Children’s Fiction:
Winner:
Vicki Grove – Destiny – Penguin Putnam
Finalist:
Laurel Winter – Growing Wings – Houghton Mifflin, Co.
Children’s NonFiction:
Winner:
Dennis Brindell Fradin – Bound for the North Star: True Stories of Fugitive Slaves – Houghton Mifflin Co., Clarion Books
Finalists:
Dennis Brindell Fradin and Judith Bloom Fradin – Ida B. Wells: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement – Houghton Mifflin Co., Clarion Books
Catherine Thimmesh – Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women – Houghton Mifflin
Elsie Lee Splear – Growing Seasons – Putnam Publishing Group
Poetry:
Winners:
Erin Belieu – One Above & One Below: Peoms – Copper Canyon Press
Richard Jones – The Blessing: New and Selected Poems – Copper Canyon Press
Finalists:
Josie Kearns – New Numbers – New Issues Press
Stephen Kuuisto – Only Bread, Only Light – Copper Canyon Press
2000 Awards for Books Published in 1999
Children’s Fiction:
Winner:
Arvella Whitmore – Trapped Between the Lash and the Gun – Penguin Putnam, Inc.
Finalists:
Gary L. Blackwood – Moonshine – Marshall Cavendish
Dave Jarzyna – Slump – Delacorte Press
Ingrid Tomey – Nobody Else Has to Know – Delacorte Press
Carolyn Crimi – Don’t Need Friends – Random House
Children’s NonFiction:
Winner:
Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack – Black Hands, White Sails: The Story of African-American Whalers – Scholastic Press
Finalists:
Brandon Marie Miller – Dressed for the Occasion: What Americans Wore 1620-1970 – Lerner Publications
Gwenyth Swain – Civil Rights Pioneer: A Story About Mary Church Terrell – Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
Fay Robinson – A Dinosaur Named Sue – Scholastic Inc.
Poetry:
Winner:
Willis Barnstone – Algebra of Night – The Sheep Meadow Press
Finalist:
Joel Brouwer – Exactly What Happened – Purdue University Press
Biography:
Winner:
Leslie Stainton – Lorca: A Dream of Life – Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Finalists:
Bill Barnhart and Gene Schlickman – Kerner: The Conflict of Intangible Rights – University of Illinois Press
Lawrence J. Friedman – Identity’s Architect: A Biography of Erik H. Erikson – Charles Scribner & Sons
Mary Allen – The Rooms of Heaven: A Story of Love, Death, Grief, and the Afterlife – Alfred A. Knopf
Adult NonFiction:
Winner:
William Least Heat-Moon – River Horse – Houghton Mifflin Co.
Finalists:
Kathleen Norris – Amazing Grace – Riverhead Books, Penguin Putnam, Inc.
Mitchell Duneier – Sidewalk – Ferrar, Straus, & Giroux
Walter Nugent – Into the West: The Story of Its People – Alfred A. Knopf
Jacquelyn Kilpatrick – Celluloid Indians: Native Americans and Film – University of Nebraska Press
Adult Fiction:
Winner:
Kent Haruf – Plainsong – Alfred A. Knopf
Finalists:
Scott Turow – Personal Injuries – Farrar, Straus, Giroux
Kelly Cherry – The Society of Friends – University of Missouri Press
Gerald Shapiro – Bad Jews and Other Stories – Zoland Books
Kent Meyers – Light in the Crossing – St. Martin’s Press
Lifetime Literary Achievement Award:
Richard Frisbie
1999 Awards for Books Published in 1998
Adult Fiction:
Barbara Croft – Necessary Fiction:s – University of Pittsburgh Press
Adult NonFiction:
Eric T. Freyfogle – Bounded People, Boundless Lands: Envisioning a New Land Ethic – Island Press
Biography:
Hull Cook – Fifty Years a Country Doctor – University of Nebraska Press
Poetry:
Mark Cox – Thirty-Seven Years from the Stone – University of Pittsburgh Press
Children’s Fiction:
Janet Hickman – Susannah – Greenwillow Press
Children’s NonFiction:
Andrea Warren – Pioneer Girl: Growing Up on the Prairie – Morrow Junior
1998 Awards for Books Published in 1997
Adult Fiction:
Sharon Solwitz – Blood and Milk – Sarabande Books
Adult NonFiction:
Thomas Lynch – The Undertaking – W.W. Norton
Biography:
Keith William Nolan and Dwight W. Birdwell – A Hundred Miles of Bad Road – Presidio Press
Children’s Fiction:
Winner:
Harriette Gillem Robinet – The Twins: The Pirates and the Battle of New Orleans – Atheneum Books
Finalist:
Marlene Targ Brill – Diary of a Drummer Boy – Millbrook Press
Children’s NonFiction:
Brandon Marie Miller – Just What the Doctor Ordered: The History of American Medicine – Lerner Publications
Poetry:
Jason Sommer – Other People’s Troubles – University of Chicago Press
1997 Awards for Books Published in 1996
Adult Fiction:
James McManus – Going to the Sun – Harper Collins.
Adult NonFiction:
Bill Holm – The Heart Can be Filled Anywhere on Earth – Milkweed Editions
Biography:
James Park Sloan – Jerzy Kosinski – Dutton
Children’s Fiction:
Stella Pevsner – Would My Fortune Cookie Lie? – Clarion Books
Children’s NonFiction:
Winner:
Andrea Warren – Orphan Train Rider: One Boy’s True Story – Houghton Mifflin
Finalist:
Marlene Targ Brill – Women for Peace – Franklin Watts
Poetry:
Jane O. Wayne – A Strange Heart – Helicon Nine Editions
1996 Awards for Books Published in 1995
Adult Fiction:
Clint McCown – The Member Guest – Doubleday
Adult NonFiction:
Diane Dufva Quantic – The Nature of Place -University of Nebraska Press
Poetry:
Allison Funk – Living at the Epicenter – Northeastern University Press
Biography:
Jack and Rochelle Sutin – Jack and Rochelle: A Holocaust Story of Love and Resistance – (ed. by Lawrence Sutin) – Graywolf Press
Children’s Fiction:
Patricia Willis – Out of the Storm – Clarion Books
Children’s NonFiction:
Mary Hoff and Mary M. Rodgers – Our Endangered Planet: Atmosphere – Lerner Publications
Drama:
Stephen P. Daly – lifeidreamedof – Center Theater Ensemble
Lifetime Achievement Award:
Martin E. Marty
1995 Awards for Books Published in 1994
Adult Fiction:
Robert Hellenga – The Sixteen Pleasures – Soho Press
Adult NonFiction:
Carl Smith – Urban Disorder and the Shape of Belief: the Great Chicago Fire, the Haymarket Bomb, and the Model Town of Pullman – University of Chicago Press
Biography:
Nelson Peery – Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary – The New Press
Children’s Fiction:
Janet Hickman – Jericho – Greenwillow Books/William Morrow & Company
Children’s NonFiction:
Roger Sutton – Hearing Us Out: Voices From the Gay and Lesbian Community – Little Brown & Company
Poetry:
George Bilgere – The Going: Poems – University of Missouri Press
Drama:
Scott Sandoe – Points of Deviation – Alleyway Theatre; Buffalo, New York
Lifetime Achievement Award:
Phyllis A. Whitney
1994 Awards for Books Published in 1993
Adult Fiction:
Stewart Massad – Doctors and Other Casualties – Warner Books
Adult NonFiction:
Kathleen Norris – Dakota: A Spiritual Geography – Tickno & Fields
Biography:
William Holtz – The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane – University of Missouri Press
Children’s Fiction:
Gloria Whelan – Night of the Full Moon – Alfred A. Knopf
Children’s NonFiction:
Virginia Hamilton – Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom – Random House
Poetry:
Susan Hahn – Incontinence – University of Chicago Press
Drama:
None
Lifetime Literary Achievement Award:
Dorothy F. Haas
1993 Awards for Books Published in 1992
Fiction:
Carol Anshaw – Aquamarine – Houghton Mifflin
Biography:
Bentley Gilbert – David Lloyd George: A Political Life, vol II – Ohio State University Press
Children’s Fiction:
Hadley Irwin – The Original Freddie Ackerman – McElderry Books-Macmillan
Children’s NonFiction:
Rosa Parks with Jim Haskins – Rosa Parks: My Story – Penguin U.S.A.
Poetry:
Maureen Seaton – The Sea Among the Cupboards – New Rivers Press
Drama:
Christopher Cartmill – Light in Love – Bailiwick Repertory production
1992 Awards for Books Published in 1991
Biography:
Robert V. Remini – Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union – Norton
Fiction:
Jane Smiley – A Thousand Acres – Knopf
NonFiction:
Alex Kotlowitz – There Are No Children Here – Doubleday
Children’s Fiction:
Patricia Willis – A Place to Claim as Home – Clarion
Children’s NonFiction:
Joan Blos – The Heroine of the Titanic – Morrow
Poetry:
David Baker – Sweet Home Saturday Night – University of Arkansas Press
Drama:
John Logan – Hauptmann – Victory Gardens production
1991 Awards for Books Published in 1990
Adult Fiction:
Scott Turow – Burden of Proof – Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc.
Adult NonFiction:
Garry Wills – Under God – Simon & Schuster
Biography:
Thomas B. Littlewood – The Story of Arch Ward – Iowa State University Press
Children’s Fiction:
Alden R. Carter – Robodad – Putnam Publishers
Children’s NonFiction:
Gary Paulsen – Woodsong – Bradbury Press
Drama:
Marisha Chamberlin – The Angels of Warsaw – Victory Gardens production
Poetry:
Robley Wilson – A Pleasure Tree – University of Pittsburgh Press
1990 Awards for Books Published in 1989
(no awards given)
1989 Awards for Books Published in 1988
Adult Fiction:
Richard Russo – The Risk Pool
Adult NonFiction:
Donald W. Goodwin, M.D. – Alcohol and Water
Biography:
Robert Remini – The Life of Andrew Jackson
Children’s Fiction:
Karen Ackerman – Song and Danceman
Children’s NonFiction:
Janet Riehecky – Dinosaur Series
Drama:
Steven Dietz – God’s Country
Poetry:
Nancy Van Winkel – Bad Girl With Hawk
1988 Awards for Books Published in 1987
Adult Fiction:
Jon Hassler – Grand Opening – William Morrow
Adult NonFiction:
John Conroy – Belfast Diary – Beacon Press
Biography:
Frederick J. Blue – Salmon P. Chase: A Life in Politics – Kent State University Press
Children’s Fiction:
Violet Olson – A View From the Pighouse Roof – Atheneum Publishers. Macmillan Children’s Book Group
Children’s NonFiction:
Beverly Butler – Maggie By My Side – Dodd Mead & Co.
Drama:
Jon Klein – T Bone N TWeasel – produced by Actors’ Theater; Louisville, KY
Poetry:
David Wojahn – Glassworks – University of Pittsburgh Press
1987 Awards for Books Published in 1986
Adult Fiction:
Larry Heinemann – Paco’s Story – Farrar Straus Giroux
Adult NonFiction:
Grace Bacon Ferrier – Teacher, Teacher, I Done It! I Done It! I Done It! – Westphalia Press
Biography:
James Brewer Stewart – Wendell Phillips: Liberty’s Hero – Louisiana State University Press
Children’s Fiction:
Lynn Hall – Mrs. Porter’s Pony – Charles Scribners
Friends of Midland Authors Award:
Arthur & Lila Weinberg
Drama:
(no award)
Poetry:
Alice Fulton – Palladium – University of Illinois Press
1986 Awards for Books Published in 1985
Adult Fiction:
Donald Bodey – F.N.G. – Viking Press
Adult NonFiction:
Dr. Frank Gonzalez-Crussi – Notes of an Anatomist – Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Biography:
Frank Schulze – Mies van der Rohe – University of Chicago Press
Children’s Fiction:
Pam Conrad – Prairie Songs – Harper & Row
Drama Award:
John Logan – Never the Sinner – produced by Stormfield Theater
Blanche Rene Poetry Award:
Andrew Hudgins – Saints & Strangers – Houghton-Mifflin
Friends of the Midland Authors Award:
Jack Conroy (For a lifetime body of work by a long-time SMA member)
1985 Awards for Books Published in 1984
Adult Fiction:
Douglas Unger – Leaving the Land & Leon Forrest – Two Wings to Veil My Face
Adult NonFiction:
William Shirer – The Nightmare Years: 1930-1940
Biography:
Carl Solberg – Hubert Humphrey: A Biography
Children’s Fiction:
Gary Paulsen – Tracker & Cynthia Rylant – Waiting to Waltz
Drama:
Nancy Pahl Gilsenan – Beloved Friend
Poetry:
John Matthias – Northern Summer: New and Selected Poems, 1963-1985
Friends of Midland Authors Award:
Harry Mark Petrakis
1984 Awards for Books Published in 1983
Adult Fiction:
Morris Philipson – Secret Understandings & Joan Chase – During the Reign of the Queen of Persia
Adult NonFiction:
Allison Davis (posthumous) – Leadership, Love and Aggression & Louise B. Young – The Blue Planet
Biography:
Bill Gilbert – Westering Man
Children’s Fiction:
Marjorie Franco – Love in a Different Key
Friends of Midland Authors Award:
Elmer Gertz
Drama:
(no award)
Poetry: (The Blanche Rene Award)
Josephine Miles – Collected Poems, 1930-1983
1983 Awards for Books Published in 1982
Fiction:
Susan Engberg – Pastorale
Children’s:
Patricia and Jack Demuth – Joel: Growing Up a Farm Man
1982 Awards for Books Published in 1981
Fiction:
Eugene C. Kennedy – Father’s Day – Doubleday
NonFiction: (sociology and psychology)
Jonathan Raban – Old Glory An American Voyage – Viking
Biography:
Dempsey Travis – An Autobiography of Black Chicago – Partners Publishers Group
Drama:
John Olive – Standing on My Knees – Duke University Press
History: (co-winners)
Melvin Holli and Peter d’A Jones – Ethnic Chicago – Edmans Publishing Co.
James P. Berry – Wrecks and Rescues of the Great Lakes
NonFiction: (politics and economics)
James R. Millar – ABCs of Soviet Socialism – University of Illinois Press
Poetry:
Sonia Gernes – Brief Lives – University of Notre Dame Press
Clara Ingram Judson Award:* (for children’s literature)
Annabella Irwin and Lee Hadley (writing together as “Hadley Irwin”) – Moon and Me – Margaret K. McElderry
Special Award:
Claudia Cassidy for her long career as a drama critic for the Chicago Tribune and WFMT-FM.
1981 Awards for Books Published in 1980
Poetry:
Ted Kooser – Sure Signs
Fiction:
Stuart Dybek – Childhood and Other Neighborhoods
Children’s:
(no award)
1980 Awards for Books Published in 1979
Fiction:
William Maxwell – So Long, See You Tomorrow
Poetry:
Gwendolyn Brooks – For continuing poetic achievements
Poetry:
Ralph Mills Jr. – Living With Distance
Drama:
Alan Gross – The Man in 605
Drama:
Amlin Gray – How I Got That Story
Biography:
Nellie Snyder Yost – Buffalo Bill
Children’s:
Linda Mays – The Other Side
Psychology-Sociology:
Fred MacDonald – Don’t Touch That Dial
Economics:
Edwin Coen – PBB: An American Tragedy
History:
John D. Unruh Jr. – The Plains Across
1979 Awards for Books Published in 1978
Adult Fiction:
John Christgau – Spoon – Viking Press
History:
Walter Blair and Hamlin Hill – America’s Humor: From Poor Richard to Doonesbury – Oxford University Press
Biography:
Bernard J. Brommel – Eugene V. Debs: Spokesman for Labor and Socialism – Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company
Adult NonFiction:
Dr. Stephen Z. Cohen and Bruce Michael Gans – The Other Generation Gap: The Middle-Aged and their Aging Parents – Follett Publishing Company
Poetry:
Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto (editors and translators) – Penguin Book of Zen Poetry – Swallow Press
and
John Frederic Bennett – Echoes From the Peaceable Kingdom
Drama:
Jeffrey Sweet – Porch
Children’s Fiction:
Gloria Whelan – A Clearing in the Forest – Putnam
1978 Awards for Books Published in 1977
General NonFiction:
Eileen Williams – Harriet Monroe and the Poetry Renaissance: The First Ten Years of Poetry Magazine, 1912-1922 – University of Illinois Press
Biography:
John Bartlow Martin – Adlai Sevenson and the World – Doubleday
and
Robert E. Hemenway – Zora Neale Hurston, A Literary Biography – University of Illinois Press
History:
Paul C. Nagel – Missouri, a History – Norton
Children’s Fiction:
Stella Pevsner – And You Gave Me a Pain, Elaine – Seabury Press, Inc.
Children’s NonFiction:
Bernice Rabe – The Orphans – E.P. Dutton
1977 Awards for Books Published in 1976
Fiction:
Larry Heinemann – Close Quarters – Farrar, Strauss & Giroux
Clara Ingram Judson Award:* (for children’s literature)
Charlotte Herman – Our Snowman Had Olive Eyes – Dutton
1976 Awards for Books Published in 1975
Adult Fiction:
Saul Bellow – Humboldt’s Gift
Clara Ingram Judson Award:* (for children’s literature)
S. Carl Hirsch – He and She
1975 Awards for Books Published in 1974
1974 Awards for Books Published in 1973
Non-Fiction
Emmett Dedmon – China Journal
Herman Kogan – The First Century: The Chicago Bar Association 1874-1974
History:
Gloria Jahoda – River of the Golden Ibis – Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Poetry:
Robert H. Siegel – The Beast and the Elders – University Press of New England
(and six other awards)
1973 Awards for Books Published in 1972
Fiction:
Marilyn Durham – The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
Poetry:
Leland Roloff – The Perception and Evocation of Literature and Where’s the Wonderful Child (work in progress)
Patron Saints Award:
Fanny Butcher
1972 Awards for Books Published in 1971
Chicago Publishers’ Award:
Mike Royko – Boss
Midland Authors History Award:
Rev. William Love Banks – The Black Church in the United States
Patron Saints Award:*
Jeanne Morris – Brian Piccolo: A Short Season
Peggy McPhaul Award: (for best first book)
James Park Sloan – War Games
William Burden Graham Poetry Award:
John Frederick Nims – Sappho and Valery
Midland Authors Poetry Award:
Robert Mitchell – Letters From Siberia
Distinguished Service Awards:
Robert J. Adelsperger
Charles Newman
Edward Barthell Jr. – Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece
Hardin W. Masters – Edgar Lee Masters: A Centenary Memorial Anthology
Florence Rome – The Scarlet Letters
Jon Waltz – Medical Jurisprudence
1971 Awards for Books Published in 1970
Chicago Publishers’ Award:
William Braden – The Age of Aquarius
Patron Saints Award:*
Cyrus J. Colter – The Beach Umbrella
Midland Authors Writers’ Award:
Jack McPhaul – Johnny Torrio: First of the Gang Lords
Poetry:
John Frederic Bennett – Griefs and Exultations
Poetry:
John Frederic Bennett – The Struck Leviathan
American Government Award:
George E. Reedy – The Twilight of the Presidency
Midland Authors Juvenile Books Award:
Elisa Bialk – 28 books for young readers
American History Award:
Walter Havighurst – River to the West: Three Centuries of the Ohio
Distinguished Service Award:
Mary Jane Ward – The Snake Pit and other books
Barnabas F. Sears
Jane Barr – author of 30 books for youngsters and for service to the society as its librarian for nearly a decade.
1970 Awards for Books Published in 1969
Poet Laureate Award:
Carolyn M Rodgers – Songs of Black Bird
Chicago Writers Award:
Hoke Norris – It’s Not Far, But I Don’t Know the Way
Clara Ingram Judson Award:* (for children’s literature)
Sidney Rosen – Wizard of the Dome
Chicago Publishers’ Award for Fiction:
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. – Slaughterhouse Five
NonFiction:
Martin E. Marty – The Search for a Usable Future
Sidney Lens – Poverty: America’s Enduring Paradox
Poetry:
Chad Walsh – The End of Nature
Sallie Chesham – Walking With the Wind
Ruth Herschberger – Nature and Love Poems
Distinguished Service Award:
Morris Fishbein
Rand McNally and Co.
1969 Awards for Books Published in 1968
Patron Saints Award:*
Gwendolyn Brooks – In the Mecca
Chicago Publishers’ Award:
Paul Tyner – Shoot It
Clara Ingram Judson Award:* (for children’s literature)
James Ayars – The Illinois River
Distinguished Service Award:
Dorothy Bell Briggs
Robert Cromie for Where Steel Winds Blow and his Book Beat television show
Daniel Walker and his associates for the Walker Report
Franklin J. Meine Award: (for research assistance to authors)
Gertrude L. Woodward
1968 Awards for Books Published in 1967
Chicago Publishers’ Award:
Studs Terkel – Division Street: America
Patron Saints Award:*
Era Bell Thomson – American Daughter
Kenneth F. Montgomery Poetry Award:
Rev. Raymond Roseleip – An Original and Perfect Art
Clara Ingram Judson Award for Children’s Literature:*
Morris Philipson – The Count Who Wished He Were a Peasant: A Life of Leo Tolstoy
Midland Authors Distinguished Service Citation:
Herman Kogan, editor of the “Book Week” section of the Chicago Sun-Times
Hazel Ferguson, president of the Friends of Literature
John Find, editor of Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine, for Marcia Lee Masters’ weekly “Today’s Poets” feature
1967 Awards For Books Published in 1966
Kenneth F. Montgomery Poetry Award:
David Etter – Go Read the River
Clara Ingram Judson Award for Children’s Literature:*
S. Carl Hirsch – The Living Community: A Venture Into Ecology
Patron Saints Award:*
John Barlow Martin – Overtaken By Events
James L. Dow Award:*
Jack Conroy and Arna Bontemps – Anyplace But Here – Hill and Wang
Chicago Writer’s Award:*
John Drury – Rare and Well Done
Midland Authors Distinguished Service Citation:
Harry Mark Petrakis
Oscar Lewis
Ruth Hawshaw
1966 Awards For Books Published in 1965
Patron Saints Award:*
Daniel Boorstin – The Americans: The National Experience (second volume)
Kenneth F. Montgomery Poetry Award:
Marcia Masters Schmid – Intent on Earth
Clara Ingram Judson Award:* (for children’s literature)
Rebecca Caudill – A Certain Small Shepherd
Chicago Writer’s Award:*
Vincent Starret – Born in a Bookshop
Fiction:
Harry Mark Petrakis – Pericles on 31st St.
Translation:
John Frederick Nims – Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Poetry in Teaching:
Wallace Douglas
Distinguished Service Citation:
Robert Cromie
1965 Awards For Books Published in 1964
James L. Dow Award:*
Saul Bellow – Herzog
Patron Saints Award:*
Lerone Bennett Jr. – What Manner of Man: A Biography of Martin Luther King Jr. – Johnson Pub. Co.
Kenneth F. Montgomery Poetry Award:
August Derleth
Clara Ingram Judson Award:* (for children’s literature)
Irene Hunt – Across Five Aprils
1964 Awards For Books Published in 1963
Thermod Monsen Award:*
Winner:
Gwendolyn Brooks – Selected Poems
Finalists:
Ruth Painter Randall – I Jessie
Rita Richie – Ice Falcon
Patron Saints Award:*
Harry Mark Petrakis – The Odyssey of Kostas Valakis
Clara Ingram Judson Award:* (for children’s literature)
Virginia S. Eifert – George Shannon: Young Explorer with Lewis and Clark
1963 Awards For Books Published in 1962
Thermod Monsen Award:*
Winner:
J. F. Powers – Morte D’Urban
Finalists:
Daniel J. Boorstin – The Image: Or What Happened to the American Dream
Frederick Feikema Manfred – Wanderlust
Hubert C. Woods – Child of the Arctic
Alberta Wilson Constant – Willie and the Wildcat
Clara Ingram Judson Award:* (for children’s literature)
Beverly Butler – To Light a Single Candle
Meritorious Achievement:
Richard Kinney
1962 Awards For Books Published in 1961
Thermod Monsen Award:*
Bruce Catton – The Coming Fury
Clara Ingram Judson Award:* (for children’s literature)
Val Gendron – The Dragon Tree
1961 Awards For Book Published in 1960
Thermod Monsen Award:*
Walter Blair – Mark Twain & Huck Finn
Clara Ingram Judson Award:* (for children’s literature)
Marguerite Henry – Gaudenzia: Pride of the Palio
1960 Awards For Book Published in 1959
Thermod Monsen Award:*
Winner:
Richard Ellmann – James Joyce (biography)
Finalists:
Kenneth S. Davis – The Hero: Charles A. Lindbergh and the American Dream
Ralph Korngold – The Last Years of Napoleon
1959 Awards For Book Published in 1958
Thermod Monsen Award:*
Winner:
Mark Van Doren – The Autobiography of Mark Van Doren
Finalist:
Daniel J. Boorstin – The Colonial Experience
1958 Awards For Book Published in 1957
Adult Fiction
Finalist:
Ray Bradbury – Dandelion Wine
Thermod Monsen Award:*
Jessamyn West – To See the Dream
1957 Awards For Book Published in 1956
Thermod Monsen Award:*
Winner:
Bruce Catton – This Hallowed Ground
Finalists:
John Berryman – Homage to Mistress Bradstreet
Clara Ingram Judson – Mr. Justice Holmes
Hoke Norris – All the Kingdoms of the Earth
Ruth Stephan – The Flight
Edwin Way Teale – Autumn Across America