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The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction were established in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. in the previous year. They are named in honor of nineteenth-century American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in recognition of his deep belief in the power of books and learning to change the world.
The award is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and administered by the American Library Association (ALA). Booklist and the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) cosponsor the awards. The shortlist and winners are selected by a seven-member selection committee of library experts who work with adult readers. The annually appointed selection committee includes a chair, three Booklist editors or contributors, and three former members of RUSA CODES Notable Books Council.
The winners, one each for fiction and nonfiction, are announced at an event in June at the American Library Association Annual Conference; winning authors receive a $5,000 cash award, and two finalists in each category receive $1,500.
Winners and finalists Fiction +Winners and finalists in fiction Year Winner Work Finalists 2012 Winner Lost Memory of Skin Finalist Swamplandia! 2013 CanadaWinner This Is How You Lose HerFinalist 2014WinnerAmericanahFinalist Claire of the Sea Light2015All the Light We Cannot SeeWinnerOn Such a Full SeaFinalistNora Webster2016WinnerFinalist2017WinnerMoonglowFinalistSwing Time2018Manhattan BeachWinnerSing, Unburied, SingFinalistLincoln in the Bardo2019WinnerThere ThereFinalistWashington Black2020Lost Children ArchiveWinnerFeast Your EyesFinalist2021Deacon King KongWinnerHomeland ElegiesFinalist2022WinnerFinalistMatrix2023WinnerGreenlandFinalistNight of the Living Rez2024WinnerHillel Italie, "Roxanna Asgarian's 'We Were Once a Family' and Amanda Peters' 'The Berry Pickers' win library medals" . Airdrie City View, January 20, 2024. and Denison AvenueFinalistLet Us Descend2025JamesWinnerCinema LoveFinalistMartyr!2026Winner, translated by Sarah MosesFinalist, translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris We Do Not Part
Nonfiction +Winners and finalists in nonfiction Year Winner Work Finalists Refs. 2012 Catherine the Great: Portrait of a WomanWinner The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood Finalist Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention 2013 Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward CurtisWinner The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and DeathFinalist Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic2014 Winner On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-Thousand-Year HistoryFinalist Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital2015Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and RedemptionWinnerThe Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural HistoryFinalistThirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin and Sadat at Camp David2016Hold Still: A Memoir with PhotographsWinnerH is for HawkFinalistThe Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World2017Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American CityWinnerThe Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a FriendshipFinalistBlood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America2018No award given The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War PlannerFinalistKillers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI2019Heavy: An American MemoirWinnerDopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted AmericaFinalistThe Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border2020Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear DisasterWinnerFiguringFinalistThe Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present2021Fathoms: The World in the WhaleWinnerJust Us: An American ConversationFinalistMemorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir2022A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black PerformanceWinnerKeisha N. BlainFour Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019FinalistSeek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness2023An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around UsWinnerConstructing a Nervous SystemFinalistVagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage2024We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in AmericaWinner Finalist2025WinnerChallenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of SpaceFinalistCue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV2026Things in Nature Merely GrowWinner, translated by Catherine KhordocBaldwin, Styron, and MeFinalistThere Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America
Notes The 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction was originally awarded to Sherman Alexie for his book, You Don't Have to Say You Love Me: A Memoir, but Alexie declined the award amid sexual harassment allegations. In response, ALA said in a statement that "We acknowledge his decision and will not award the Carnegie nonfiction medal in 2018."
References
External links Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction & Nonfiction – official website