Vermont Humanities

Vermont Book Award

Rep. John Lewis and Andrew Aydin with students in front of a schoolbus

News

Supported by a new partnership between Vermont College of Fine Arts, the Vermont Department of Libraries, and Vermont Humanities, the Vermont Book Award is an annual prize for outstanding literature by a Vermont author.

The 2021 award honors books written by a Vermont author and published in 2021.

Please join us at the 2021 Vermont Book Awards on Saturday, April 30! We’ll celebrate the finalists and announce the winners in the following categories:

Fiction:

  • The Hare, by Melanie Finn
  • North, by Brad Kessler
  • The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven, by Nathaniel Ian Miller
  • An Apparent Horizon and Other Stories, by Ricardo Wilson

Creative nonfiction:

  • The Secret to Superhuman Strength, by Alison Bechdel
  • But You Seemed So Happy: A Marriage, in Pieces and Bits, by Kimberly Harrington
  • Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People, by Kekla Magoon
  • Endpapers: A Family Story of Books, War, Escape, and Home, by Alexander Wolff

Poetry:

  • Disintegration Loops, by Stephen Cramer
  • GHETTOCLAUSTROPHOBIA: Dreamin of Mama While Trying to Speak Woman in Woke Tongues, by Shanta Lee Gander
  • American Wake, by Kerrin McCadden

Reserve your tickets now for this exceptional event, which will be held at Alumnx Hall on the Vermont College of Fine Arts campus in Montpelier. To make the evening even more special, we’ll announce our Vermont Reads 2022 choice during the event.

Buy tickets for the 2021 Vermont Book Awards

Accessibility

symbol of two hands using American Sign LanguageThis in-person event will feature an ASL interpreter.

To request a specific accommodation or a reduced price ticket contact us by email at info@vermonthumanities.org by Friday, April 22.

Vermont Humanities strives to provide accommodations whenever possible. All event locations are ADA accessible.

If you’re an independent bookseller, librarian, publisher, or member of the general public, you can nominate books using our online form.

Please note: the deadline for nominations was Thursday, January 20, 2022 at midnight.

What is the Vermont Book Award?

Established in 2014 by Vermont College of Fine Arts, the Vermont Book Awards is a literary prize that honors work of outstanding literary merit by Vermont authors and celebrates the long tradition of literature in the state.

What books are eligible?

In order to be eligible for the award, a book must be written by a Vermont writer and published between January 1 and December 31 of the year prior to the award. A “Vermont writer” is a writer who lives in Vermont for at least half the year. Self-published books are not eligible for the 2021 book award, nor are books written by staff of VCFA, the Vermont Department of Libraries, and Vermont Humanities. Anthologies containing work written by multiple authors are also not eligible.

Who nominates books?

A committee of librarians and independent booksellers of Vermont nominates books in three categories: Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, and Poetry.  Writing for children and young adults should be entered in the appropriate category; for instance, a middle grade novel should be entered as Fiction, and a book of poems for young adults should be entered as Poetry. Graphic literature should also be entered into the appropriate category; for example, a graphic memoir should be entered as Creative Nonfiction.

If you’re an independent bookseller, librarian, publisher, or member of the general public, you can nominate books when we are accepting nominations.

Please note: the deadline for nominations was Thursday, January 20, 2022 at midnight.

Who are the judges?

Each year, the Vermont Book Awards leadership team  selects a panel of judges made up of Vermont writers, teachers, librarians, and passionate supporters of literature in Vermont. Staff members and trustees of leadership team organizations are not included in this independent panel of judges.

How are the finalists and the winner chosen?

The judging panel reads the nominated books and selects finalists from each category before deciding on winners.  The winners will be revealed at a spring celebration hosted by Vermont Humanities.

What does the award entail?

The winners of the Vermont Book Awards receive a prize of $1,000. The winners are announced at a celebration hosted by Vermont Humanities in the spring.

Vermont Humanities*** August 6, 2021

Poet Sarah Audsley in a black dress in front of a large gray rock.

Poet Sarah Audsley joined us at the Taconic Mountains Ramble State Park for Words in the Woods.

Group of students walking on a boardwalk into the woods

Humanities Camps are filled with reading and writing projects, field trips, and outdoor activities.

Rep. John Lewis and Andrew Aydin with students in front of a schoolbus

We won a 2020 Schwartz Prize for best public humanities programming in the U.S. for Vermont Reads 2019: “March: Book One.”

Group on tour in snowy Burlington

We supported Historic New England’s “More than a Market” project that explored the experiences of new Americans through food markets.

Woman raising her hand during a public event

Our free public events help bring the power of the humanities to communities across Vermont.