MISSOURI LITERARY AWARD
ABOUT THE AWARD
The Missouri Literary Award recognizes and promotes readership of works by living Missouri authors and/or authors with strong ties to Missouri. Special attention is given to works in which the state of Missouri is significant. The award is based on literary merit. Submitted works must have a publication date within three years of the current award cycle. Reprints of works published before the cutoff year of the award are not eligible. An edited or translated work may be considered if other requirements are met.
The award consists of a $600 prize and a commemorative plaque.
NOMINATIONS: Electronic submission is required. Submissions for the 2026 award will be accepted starting July 1, 2025.
AWARD WINNERS
2024
Nonfiction - Susan Croce Kelly, Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks: The Life and Times of Lucile Morris Upton
2023
Fiction - Laura McHugh, What's Done in Darkness
2022
Fiction - Steve Wiegenstein, Scattered Lights
Nonfiction - Vivian Gibson, The Last Children of Mill Creek
2021
Fiction - Amy Engel, The Familiar Dark
Nonfiction - Jonathan Metzl, Dying of Whiteness; How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland
2020
Fiction - Sofia Grant, Lies in White Dresses
Nonfiction - (tie) C.J. Janovy, No Place Like Home and Karen Piper, A Girl's Guide to Missiles
2019
Fiction - Ann Leckie, Provenance
Nonfiction - Michael Wallis, The Beast Land Under Heaven
2018
Fiction - Alex George, Setting Free the Kites
Nonfiction - Nicholas J.C. Pistor, Shooting Lincoln
2017
Fiction - Craig Albin, Hard Toward Home
Nonfiction - Angela Dietz and Joseph Heathcott, Capturing the City: Photographs from the Streets of St. Louis, 1900-1930
2016
Fiction - Laura McHugh, Weight of Blood
Nonfiction - Gayle Harper, Roundtrip With a Raindrop