The Kirkus Prize is an American literary award conferred by the book review magazine Kirkus Reviews. Established in 2014, the Kirkus Prize bestows annually. Three authors are awarded each, divided into three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Young Readers' Literature. It has been described as one of the most lucrative prizes in literature.
Eligibility and selection Books reviewed by Kirkus Reviews that have received the Kirkus Star are automatically eligible for the Kirkus Prize and are selected for nomination. The eligibility dates of publication for books is typically between November 1 of the previous year and October 31 of the current year, with few exceptions. Self-published books that have earned the Kirkus Star are eligible for the Kirkus Prize. However, self-published books are not eligible based on their date of publication but rather the date of publication of their online review by Kirkus Reviews. All books must first be reviewed by Kirkus Reviews to be considered.
The Prize is divided into three categories: the Kirkus Prize for Fiction, the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers' Literature. Each category is judged by a panel of three judges: a writer, a bookseller or librarian, and a Kirkus Reviews critic. The editors and staff of Kirkus Reviews evaluate each of the nominated books, conducting a first round of eliminations. The panels of judges then decide upon six finalists in each of the three categories. In the Young Readers' Literature category, the six finalists include two picture books, two middle-grade books and two teen books. The three winners are announced at a ceremony. The prize money for books with multiple authors and illustrators is divided fairly as decided by the Prize's judges and administrators.
Winners and finalists
Fiction +Kirkus Prize for Fiction winners and finalists Year Author Book Result 2014 Euphoria Winner Finalist All Our Names Florence Gordon 2015 Winner Finalist Stephen Emerson () Fates and Furies Christina MacSweeney () 2016 Winner Imagine Me GoneFinalist Carousel Court Barkskins 2017 What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky Winner Exit WestFinalist White Tears Her Body and Other Parties Sing, Unburied, Sing 2018 Severance Winner Halsey StreetFinalist Florida Lisa Dillman ()Daniel Hahn () Mourning Heads of the Colored People Tell the Machine Goodnight 2019 Winner CantorasFinalist Lost Children Archive Geraldine Harcourt () Territory of Light On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous 2020 Luster Winner Black SundayFinalist Fiebre Tropical Ann Goldstein () Deacon King Kong Shuggie Bain 2021 Harrow Winner Megan McDowell () Finalist My Monticello David Hackston () Bolla Harlem Shuffle 2022 Trust Winner Scary MonstersFinalist God's Children Are Little Broken Things Mecca Margaret Mitsutani () Scattered All Over the Earth Jennifer Croft () 2023 Winner WitnessFinalist Birnam Wood White Cat, Black Dog Let Us Descend 2024 James Winner Say Hello to My Little FriendFinalist The Mighty Red Prophet Song Playground Margo's Got Money Troubles2025 The Slip Winner The Loneliness of Sonia and SunnyFinalistThe WildernessIsola A Guardian and a Thief Flesh2026KinFinalistThis Is Where the Serpent Lives ()Eating AshesLuna, Phoenix, QueenJohn of JohnCool Machine
Nonfiction +Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction winners and finalists Year Author Book Result 2014 Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Winner Jonathan Swift: His Life and His WorldFinalist Arthur Goldhammer () Capital in the Twenty-First Century Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption 2015 Between the World and Me Winner Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War That Won ItFinalist H is for Hawk Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers 2016 In the Darkroom Winner At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot CocktailsFinalist Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother's Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis 2017 Winner Finalist Priestdaddy: A Memoir Lizzie Davis () Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions Henry David Thoreau: A Life 2018 Call Them by Their True Names: American Crises (and Essays) Winner American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of PunishmentFinalist Heavy: An American Memoir Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth 2019 How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir Winner Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called QuestFinalist Denise Newman () When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back: Carl's Book Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland : What Immigrants Never Tell You No Visible Bruises: What We Don't Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us 2020 Stakes Is High: Life After the American Dream Winner : The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's HurricanesFinalist Fathoms: The World in the Whale : What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power Fumi Nakamura () World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents 2021 Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir Winner People Love Dead Jews: Reports From a Haunted PresentFinalist All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness Lightning Flowers: My Journey to Uncover the Cost of Saving a Life Alfred MacAdam () Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico 2022 Tanaïs In Sensorium Winner By Hands Now KnownFinalist The Facemaker Caitlin Roper ()Ilena Silverman ()Jake Silverstein () The 1619 Project These Precious Days An Immense World 2023 Héctor Tobar Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on the Meanings and Myths of "Latino" Winner Red Memory: The Afterlives of China's Cultural RevolutionFinalist Mr. B: George Balanchine's 20th Century How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind How to Say Babylon: A Memoir Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey From Slavery to Freedom 2024 Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space Winner The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the CIA, and the Origins of America's Invasion of IraqFinalist Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise Undue Burden: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America Another Word for Love: A Memoir2025 King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation Winner Baldwin: A Love StoryFinalistA Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck America, América: A New History of the New World Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People Mother Mary Comes to Me 2026Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf CoastFinalistKeeper of My Kin: Memoir of an Immigrant DaughterLondon Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for TruthDefiance: A Memoir of Awakening, Rebellion, and Survival in Syria, with Judith Perrignon () () A Hymn to Life: Shame Has To Change SidesA World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness
Young Readers' Literature +Kirkus Prize for Young Readers' Literature winners and finalists Year Author Book Result 2014 Aviary Wonders Inc.: Spring Catalog and Instruction Manual Winner El DeafoFinalist Melissa Sweet () Jack Gantos E. K. Johnston Don Mitchell 2015 Dinara Mirtalipova () Echo Winner Finalist Shadowshaper Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras Shane W. Evans () Lillian's Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 2016 As Brave as You Winner Yuyi Morales () Thunder Boy Jr.Finalist Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement That Defied Adolf Hitler Burn Baby Burn 2017 Winner Rafael Yockteng ()Elisa Amado () Walk with MeFinalist Helen Wang ()Meilo So () Bronze and Sunflower It All Comes Down to This Madeleine Stratford () Me Tall, You Small 2018 Gordon C. James () Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut Winner Finalist Children of Blood and Bone Merci Suárez Changes Gears Dreamers Harbor Me 2019 Jim Callahan () New Kid Winner Kadir Nelson () Finalist Lauren Castillo () Imagine On the Come Up Rosalind Harvey () : Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border Genesis Begins Again 2020 Gordon C. James () I Am Every Good Thing Winner Clap When You LandFinalist Fighting Words Michaela Goade () We Are Water Protectors and Jason Reynolds Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You 2021 All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team Winner Finalist Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance Jacqueline Alcántara () Your Mama Floyd Cooper () Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre 2022 Himawari House Winner Anna Margrethe Kjærgaard ()Sinéad Quirke Køngerskov () Coffee, Rabbit, Snowdrop, LostFinalist How You Grow Wings Rafael López () 2023 America Redux: Visual Stories from Our Dynamic History Winner Kaylani Juanita () Together We SwimFinalist The Eternal Return of Clara Hart Tom de Freston () Julia and the Shark The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale Daniel Hahn () João by a Thread2024 Gather Winner Bright Red FruitFinalist () We Who Produce Pearls Safiyyah's War () () There Was a Party for Langston Shark Teeth2025 Everybelly Winner The Incredibly Human Henson BlayzeFinalist () ()John the Skeleton ()Butterfly HeartDeath in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal and the Lost Dream of Jonestown ()Island Storm2026 ()Navigating NightFinalist ()Electric Birds of PothakudiThe Lovely DarkThis Is a DoorAnger Is Only a ShadowWhen It's Your Turn for Midnight
See also List of American literary awards
References