List of AWP Award winners
The AWP Award is an annual competition for the publication of new book-length works.
The Association of Writers & Writing Programs is a nonprofit organization of writers, teachers, colleges, and universities.
The Donald Hall Prize for Poetry is an award of $5,000 and publication.
The Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction is an award of $5,000 and publication. Winners in the novel and creative nonfiction categories receive a $2,000 cash honorarium and publication.
AWP hires a staff of “screeners” who review manuscripts for the judges, who select ten manuscripts in each genre for each judge’s final evaluations.
| Year | Category | Judge | Winner | Work | - |
| 2013 | Poetry | D. A. Powell | Kirsten Kaschock | The Dottery, University of Pittsburgh Press | |
| 2013 | Short Fiction | Pam Houston | Carla Panciera | Bewildered, University of Massachusetts Press | |
| 2013 | Novel | Charles Yu | Matthew Burriesci | Nonprofit, New Issues Press | |
| 2013 | Nonfiction | Bernard Cooper | Sarah Gorham | Study in Perfect, University of Georgia Press | |
| 2012 | Poetry | Arthur Sze | Joan Naviyuk Kane | Hyperboreal, University of Pittsburgh Press | |
| 2012 | Short Fiction | Dan Chaon | Lucas Southworth | Everyone Here Has a Gun, University of Massachusetts Press | |
| 2012 | Novel | Kathryn Davis | Andrew Ladd | What Ends, New Issues Press | |
| 2012 | Nonfiction | Terry Tempest Williams | Julian Hoffman | The Small Heart of Things: Being at Home in a Beckoning World, University of Georgia Press | |
| 2011 | Poetry | Dorianne Laux | Laura Read | Instructions for My Mother's Funeral, University of Pittsburgh Press | |
| 2011 | Short Fiction | Jhumpa Lahiri | Corinna Vallianatos | My Escapee, University of Massachusetts Press | |
| 2011 | Novel | Don Lee | Kirstin Scott | Motherlunge, New Issues Press | |
| 2011 | Nonfiction | Susan Orlean | Marcia Aldrich | Companion to an Untold Story, University of Georgia Press | |
| 2010 | Poetry | Alberto Ríos | Quan Barry | Water Puppets, University of Pittsburgh Press | |
| 2010 | Short Fiction | Peter Ho Davies | Douglas Light | Girls in Trouble, University of Massachusetts Press | |
| 2010 | Novel | Francine Prose | Mandy Keifetz | Flea Circus: A Brief Bestiary of Grief, New Issues Press | |
| 2010 | Nonfiction | Luis Alberto Urrea | Danielle Cadena Deulen | The Riots, University of Georgia Press | |
| 2009 | Poetry | Jean Valentine | Bradley Paul | The Animals All Are Gathering | |
| 2009 | Short Fiction | Allan Gurganus | Christine Sneed | Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cry | |
| 2009 | Novel | Jim Shepard | Kevin Fenton | ||
| 2009 | Nonfiction | Lee Gutkind | David Vann | Last Day on Earth | |
| 2008 | Poetry | Lynn Emanuel | Beth Bachmann | Temper | |
| 2008 | Short Fiction | Jewell Parker Rhodes | Ramola D | Temporary Lives & Other Stories | |
| 2008 | Novel | Joanna Scott | Goldie Goldbloom | ||
| 2008 | Nonfiction | Kathleen Norris | Sonja Livingston | Ghostbread | |
| 2007 | Poetry | Bob Hicok | Sharon Dolin | Burn and Dodge | |
| 2007 | Short Fiction | Noy Holland | David Vann | Legend of a Suicide | |
| 2007 | Novel | Robert Eversz | Scott Blackwood | ||
| 2007 | Nonfiction | Michael Martone | Sharon White | Vanished Gardens | |
| 2006 | Poetry | Terrance Hayes | Angela Ball | Night Clerk at the Hotel of Both Worlds | |
| 2006 | Short Fiction | Nancy Reisman | Karen Brown | Pins and Needles | |
| 2006 | Novel | Nicholas Delbanco | Geoff Rips | ||
| 2006 | Nonfiction | Kyoko Mori | Mort Zachter | Dough: A Memoir | |
| 2005 | Poetry | Ha Jin | John Hodgen | Grace | |
| 2005 | Short Fiction | Ana Menendez | Nona Caspers | Heavier Than Air | |
| 2005 | Novel | Rikki Ducornet | John Robinson | Dreaming America | |
| 2005 | Nonfiction | Robin Hemley | J.D. Scrimgeour | Themes for English B | |
| 2004 | Poetry | Alicia Ostriker | Christopher Bursk | The Improbable Swervings of Atoms | |
| 2004 | Short Fiction | Douglas Bauer | No winner | ||
| 2004 | Novel | Elizabeth McCracken | M. Evelina Galang | ||
| 2004 | Nonfiction | Suzannah Lessard | David Carkeet | Campus Sexpot | |
| 2003 | Poetry | Stephen Dunn | Barbara Hamby | Babel | |
| 2003 | Short Fiction | Joan Silber | Doreen Baingana | Tropical Fish | |
| 2003 | Novel | No winner | |||
| 2003 | Nonfiction | Beverly Lowry | Karen Salyer McElmurray | Mother of the Disappeared: An Appalachian Birth Mother's Journey | |
| 2002 | Poetry | Cornelius Eady | Sandra Kohler | The Ceremonies of Longing | |
| 2002 | Short Fiction | Frederick Busch | Joan Connor | History Lessons | |
| 2002 | Novel | No winner | |||
| 2002 | Nonfiction | Sue William Silverman | Mark Anderson | Jesus Sound Explosion | |
| 2001 | Poetry | Marilyn Chin | Gray Jacobik | Brave Disguises | |
| 2001 | Short Fiction | Frederick Barthelme | Christie Hodgen | A Jeweler’s Eye for Flaw | |
| 2001 | Novel | No winner | |||
| 2001 | Nonfiction | Barry Sanders | Jill Christman | Darkroom: An Autobiography | |
| 2000 | Poetry | Li-Young Lee | Joanie V. Mackowski | The Zoo | |
| 2000 | Short Fiction | Jill McCorkle | Michelle Richmond | The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress | |
| 2000 | Novel | Alexander Parsons | Leaving Disneyland | ||
| 2000 | Nonfiction | Sven Birkerts | Brian Lennon | City: An Essay | |
| 1999 | Poetry | Dorianne Laux | Connie Voisine | Cathedral of the North | |
| 1999 | Short Fiction | Larry Woiwode | C.J. Hribal | The Clouds in Memphis | |
| 1999 | Novel | Thomas Dunn | Aaron Roy Even | Bloodroot | |
| 1999 | Nonfiction | Judith Kitchen | Lia Purpura | Increase | |
| 1998 | Poetry | Marvin Bell | Edward Kleinschmidt Mayes | Works & Days | |
| 1998 | Short Fiction | Diane Glancy | Bonnie Jo Campbell | Women & Other Animals | |
| 1998 | Novel | St. Martin's Press | No winner | ||
| 1998 | Nonfiction | Kathleen Norris | Michael Martone | The Flatness & Other Landscapes | |
| 1997 | Poetry | Arthur Vogelsang | Josie Rawson | Quarry | |
| 1997 | Short Fiction | Robert Boswell | Toni Graham | The Daiquiri Girls | |
| 1997 | Novel | St. Martin's Press | No winner | ||
| 1997 | Nonfiction | James Galvin | Peter Chilson | Riding the Demon Road | |
| 1996 | Poetry | Jorie Graham | Michele Glazer | It Is Hard to Look At What We Came to Think | |
| 1996 | Short Fiction | George Cuomo | Charlotte Bacon | A Private State' | |
| 1996 | Nonfiction | Lucy Grealy | Marilyn Moriarty | Moses Unchained | |
| 1995 | Poetry | Olga Broumas | Rick Noguchi | The Ocean Inside Kenji Takezo | |
| 1995 | Short Fiction | Lorrie Moore | David Jauss | Black Maps | |
| 1995 | Novel | Ron Carlson | Steven Bloom | No New Jokes | |
| 1995 | Nonfiction | Adam Hochschild | Sue William Silverman | Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You | |
| 1994 | Poetry | William Matthews | Ruth Schwartz | Accordion Breathing and Dancing | |
| 1994 | Short Fiction | Elizabeth Tallent | A. Manette Ansay | Read This and Tell Me What It Says | |
| 1994 | Novel | Elizabeth Cox | Tracy Daugherty | What Falls Away | |
| 1994 | Nonfiction | Patricia Hampl | William Van Wert | Memory Links | |
| 1993 | Poetry | Carolyn Forché | Reginald Shepherd | Some Are Drowning | |
| 1993 | Short Fiction | Grace Paley | E. Bumas | Significance | |
| 1993 | Novel | Josephine Humphreys | Mary Gardner | Boat People | |
| 1993 | Nonfiction | Phillip Lopate | Michael Stephens | Green Dreams: Under the Influence of the Irish | |
| 1992 | Poetry | Lucille Clifton | Suzanne Gardinier | The New World | |
| 1992 | Short Fiction | Bret Lott | Daniel Lyons | The First Snow | |
| 1992 | Novel | Alison Lurie | William Cobb | The Fire Eaters | |
| 1992 | Nonfiction | Stanley Lindberg | Fred Setterberg | Unpaved Nations: Travels Through America's Literary Landscapes | |
| 1991 | Poetry | Ron Wallace | Betsy Sholl | The Red Line | |
| 1991 | Short Fiction | Antonya Nelson | Jack Driscoll | Wanting Only to be Heard | |
| 1991 | Novel | Richard Bausch | No winner | ||
| 1991 | Nonfiction | Scott Russell Sanders | Phyllis Barber | How I Got Cultured | |
| 1990 | Poetry | Ellen Bryant Voigt | Kathleen Peirce | A Living Room | |
| 1990 | Short Fiction | Ron Hansen | Karen Brennan | Wild Desire | |
| 1990 | Novel | Bob Shacochis | Lamar Herrin | The Lies Boys Tell | |
| 1990 | Nonfiction | Bob Atwan | Philip Garrison | Augury | |
| 1989 | Poetry | Alice Fulton | Belle Waring | Refuge | |
| 1989 | Short Fiction | Charles Baxter | Susan Hubbard | Walking on Ice | |
| 1988 | Poetry | Gerald Stern | Christopher Davis | The Tyrant of the Past | |
| 1988 | Short Fiction | David Huddle | Roland Sodowsky | Things We Lose | |
| 1988 | Novel | Toby Olson | Duff Brenna | Mamie Beaver | |
| 1988 | Nonfiction | Gloria Emerson | Richard Terrill | Saturday Night in Baoding | |
| 1987 | Poetry | Linda Pastan | Robin Behn | Paper Bird | |
| 1987 | Short Fiction | François Camoin | Anne Finger | Basic Skills | |
| 1987 | Novel | John Williams | No winner | ||
| 1987 | Nonfiction | David McKain | Diane Ackerman | Spellbound: Growing Up in God's Country | |
| 1986 | Poetry | James Whitehead & Dara Wier | Judith Hemschemeyer | The Ride Home | |
| 1986 | Short Fiction | Robley Wilson, Jr., Irene Skolnick | Jesse Lee Kercheval | The Dogeater: Stories | |
| 1986 | Novel | George Cuomo | Kenn Robbins | Buttermilk Bottoms | |
| 1986 | Nonfiction | Irene Skolnick, Robley Wilson, Jr. | No winner | ||
| 1985 | Poetry | John Frederick Nims | No winner | ||
| 1985 | Short Fiction | Ann Beattie | No winner | ||
| 1985 | Novel | Margaret Atwood | Mack Faith | The Warrior's Gift | |
| 1985 | Nonfiction | Susan Fromberg Schaeffer | Scott R. Sanders | The Paradise of Bombs | |
| 1984 | Poetry | James Tate | Sandra Alcosser | A Fish to Feed All Hunger | |
| 1984 | Short Fiction | Paul Bowles | Rod Kessier | Off in Zimbabwe | |
| 1984 | Novel | George Garrett | William Holinger | The Fence-Walker | |
| 1984 | Nonfiction | Annie Dillard | Will Baker | Mountain Blood | |
| 1983 | Poetry | Josephine Jacobsen | Lisa Ress | Flight Patterns | |
| 1983 | Short Fiction | Donald Barthelme | Charles Baxter | Harmony of the World | |
| 1983 | Novel | Theodore Solotaroff | Doug Finn | Heart of a Family | |
| 1982 | Poetry | W.D. Snodgrass | Alice Fulton | Dance Script With Electric Ballerina | |
| 1982 | Short Fiction | Raymond Carver | Alvin Greenberg | Delta q | |
| 1982 | Novel | Gail Godwin | John Solensten | Good Thunder | |
| 1981 | Poetry | William Meredith | Paul Nelson | Days Off | |
| 1981 | Short Fiction | Stanley Elkin | François Camoin | The End of the World is Los Angeles | |
| 1981 | Novel | John Irving | No winner | ||
| 1980 | Poetry | Maxine Kumin | William Carpenter | The Hours of Morning | |
| 1980 | Short Fiction | Joyce Carol Oates | Eugene Garber | Metaphysical Tales | |
| 1980 | Novel | Hortense Calesher | Mary Elsie Robertson | After Freud | |
| 1979 | Poetry | Donald Justice | James Applewhite | Following Gravity | |
| 1979 | Short Fiction | Richard Yates | Ian MacMillan | Light and Power | |
| 1978 | Poetry | Robert Penn Warren | Jeanne Larsen | James Cook in Search of Terra Incognita | |
| 1978 | Short Fiction | Wallace Stegner | Rebecca Kavaler | The Further Adventure of Brunhild | |
| 1977 | Poetry | Elizabeth Bishop | Phyllis Janowitz | Rites of Strangers | |
| 1976 | Poetry | James Wright | Robert Huff | The Ventriloquist | |
| 1975 | Poetry | Richard Eberhart | David Walker | Moving Out |