Established in 2002
2019 Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi for Call Me Zebra (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Judge: Dante Di Stefano
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Elizabeth Ames, The Other’s Gold (Viking)
Goldie Goldbloom, On Division (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Elizabeth McCracken, Bowlaway (Ecco/Harper Collins)
Kevin Wilson, Nothing to See Here (Ecco/Harper Collins)
2018 Angela Jackson for Roads Where There Are No Roads (Northwestern University Press)
Judge: Leslie Heywood
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Daniel Alarcon, The King is Always Above the People (Riverhead Books)
Jack Driscoll, The Goat Fish and the Lover's Knot (Wayne State University Press)
Ali Hosseini, The Place of Stones (Northwestern University Press)
James McBride, Five-Carat Soul (Riverhead Books)
Kayla Rae Whitaker, The Animators (Random House)
2017 Helen Phillips for Some Possible Solutions
(Henry Holt & Co.)
Judge: Libby Tucker
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Amina Gautier, The Loss of All Lost Things (Elixir)
R.M. Kinder, The Universe Playing Strings (University of New Mexico Press)
Chris McCormick, Desert Boys (Picador)
Darryl Pinckney, Black Deutschland (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Adam O'Fallon Price, The Grand Tour (Doubleday)
Melissa Yancy, Dog Years (University of Pittsburgh Press)
2016 Lindsey Drager for The Sorrow Proper (Dzanc Books)
Judge: Emily Vogel
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Chris Belden, Shriver (Rain Mountain Press)
Matt Burriesci, Nonprofit (New Issues)
Melissa DeCarlo, The Art of Crash Landing (Harper Paperbacks)
2015 Natalie S. Harnett for The Hollow Ground (St. Martins Press)
Judge: Leslie Heywood
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Ishmael Beah, Radiance of Tomorrow (Sarah Crichton Books)
Melanie Bishop, My So-Called Ruined Life (Torrey House Press)
Matthew Thomas, We Are Not Ourselves (Simon & Schuster)
Marilynne Robinson, Lila (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
2014 Manuel Gonzales for The Miniature Wife and Other Stories (Riverhead Books)
Judge: Christie Grimes
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Ramona Ausubel for A Guide to Being Born (Riverhead Books)
Ron Currie, Jr. for Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles (Viking)
Pamela Erens for The Virgins (Tin House Books)
Elizabeth Gentry for Housebound (Lake Forest College Press)
Jesse Lee Kercheval for My Life as a Silent Movie (Indiana University Press)
Mario Alberto Zambrano for Loteria (Harper)
2013 Karen Brown for Little Sinners and Other Stories (University of Nebraska Press)
Judge: Joe Weil
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Anna Funder for All That I Am (HarperCollins Publishers)
Barbara Kingsolver for Flight Behavior (HarperCollins Publishers)
Attica Locke for The Cutting Season (HarperCollins Publishers)
Eileen Pollack for Breaking and Entering (Four Way Books)
Matt Ruff for The Mirage (HarperCollins Publishers)
2012 Meg Wolitzer for The Uncoupling from Riverhead Books (Penguin)
Judge: Lois Roma-Deely
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Mary Bucci Bush for Sweet Hope (Guernica)
Lyn Di Iori for Outside the Bones (Arte Publico Press)
Leah Hager Cohen for The Grief of Others (Riverhead Books)
Valerien Nieman for Blood Clay (Press 53)
2011 Jonathan Franzen for Freedom (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)
Judge: Ashley Kesling
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Lan Samantha Chang for All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost (W.W. Norton)
Margaret Dilloway for How to Be an American Housewife (Putnam)
Minrose Gwin for The Queen of Palmyra (Harper Perennial)
Jean Kwok for Girl In Translation (Riverhead Books)
Josh Russell for My Bright Midnight (Louisiana State University Press)
Cathleen Schine for The Three Weissmanns of Westport (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)
2010 Jennine Capó Crucet for How to Leave Hialeah (University of Iowa Press)
Judge: Joe Weil
Finalists:
Percival Everrett for I Am Not Sidney Poitier (Southern Graywolf Press)
Stefanie Freele for Feeding Strays (Lost Horse Press)
Mitch Wieland for God's Dogs: A Novel in Stories (Southern Methodist Univ. Press)
Tracy Winn for Mrs. Somebody Somebody (Southern Methodist Univ. Press)
Josh Weil for The New Valley (Grove Press)
2009 Julia Glass for I See You Everywhere (Pantheon Books)
2008 Jonis Agee for The River Wife (Random House)
Judge: Vivian Shipley
Finalists:
Adria Bernardi for Openwork (Southern Methodist University Press)
Susan Muaddi Darraj for Inheritance of Exile: Stories from South Philly (University
of Notre Dame Press)
Kirk Nesset for Paradise Road (University of Pittsburgh Press)
Enid Shomer for Tourist Season (Random House)
Margot Singer for The Pale of Settlement (University of Georgia Press)
Lynn Stegner for Because a Fire Was in My Heart (University of Nebraska Press)
2007 Rachel Kadish for Tolstoy Lied (Houghton Mifflin)
Judge: Grace Cavalieri
Finalists:
Gonzolo Barr for The Last Flight of José Luis Balboa (Houghton Mifflin Co)
Cary Holladay for The Quick-Change Artist (Swallow Press)
Todd James Pierce for Newsworld (University of Pittsburg Press)
Terese Svoboda for Tin God (University of Nebraska Press)
Robert Vivian for The Mover of Bones (University of Nebraska Press)
Katharine Weber for Triangle (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)
Allen Wier for Tehano (Southern Methodist University Press)
2006 Toni Graham for Waiting for Elvis (Leapfrog Press)
Judge: Maria Mazziotti Gillan
Finalists:
Richard McCann for Mother of Sorrows (Pantheon Books)
Laila Lalami for Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)
Chantel Acevedo for Love and Ghost Letters (St. Martin's Press)
Paul Shepherd for More Like Not Running Away (Sarabande Books)
Joe Benevento for The Odd Squad (Behler Publications)
Paola Corso for Giovanna's 86 Circles & Other Stories (The Univ of Wisconsin Press)
2005 Mary Helen Stefaniak for The Turk and My Mother (W.W.Norton)
Judge: Judith Kitchen
Finalists:
Gary Gildner for Somewhere Geese Are Flying (Michigan State University Press)
Judson Mitcham for Sabbath Creek (University of Georgia Press)
Janet Desaulniers for What You've Been Missing (University of Iowa Press)
Catherine Brady for Curled in the Bed of Love (University of Georgia Press)
Gilbert Sorrentino for The Moon in Its Flight (Coffee House Press)
Lan Samantha Chang for Inheritance (W.W. Norton)
Darrell Spencer for Bring Your Legs with You (University of Pittsburgh Press)
2004 Tobias Wolff for Old School (Alfred A. Knopf)
Judge: Laura Boss
Finalists:
Jane Smiley for Good Faith (Alfred A. Knopf)
Susan Greenberg for Speed-walk and Other Stories (University of Pittsburgh Press)
Frederick Busch for A Memory of War (Norton)
Catherine Brady for Curled in the Bed of Love (University of Georgia Press)
Cristina Garcia for Monkey Hunting (Alfred A. Knopf)
Jonis Agee for Acts of Love on Indigo Road (Coffee House Press)
2003 Laura Valeri for The Kind of Things Saints Do (University of Iowa Press)
Judge: Enid Shomer
Finalists:
James McBride for Miracle at St. Anna (Riverhead Books)
John Salter for Alberta Clipper (Livingston Press)
Andrew Geyer for Whispers in Dust and Bone (Texas Tech Univ. Press)
Martin Pousson for No Place, Louisiana (Riverhead Books)
2002 David Schmahmann for Empire Settings (Ten Pell Press)
Judge: Rhoda Lerman
Finalists:
Daniel Coshnear for Jobs & Other Preoccupations (Helicon Nine Editions)
Ruth Hamel for My Favorite Lies, (University of Missouri Press)
Emily Hammond for Milk, (The Permanent Press)
Susan Hudson for Opposable Thumbs, (Livingston Press)
Nicholas Montemarano for A Fine Place, (Context Books)
Debra Spark for The Ghost of Bridgetown, (Graywolf Press)
Frederick Su for An American Sin, (Bytewrite LLC)
