2026 Finalists
MWPA is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2026 Maine Literary Awards. Thank you to the 300+ writers and publishers who sent in their work for consideration and thank you to this year’s 30+ jurors for all of their reading and deliberating. Please join us for the Maine Literary Awards in Gardiner or online on May 28 to find out the winners!
Book Award for Crime Fiction
Claire Ackroyd, Body in the Blueberry Barrens
Robert T. Kelley, Raven
Kathryn Lasky, A Slant of Light
Sara Sligar, Vantage Point
Book Award for Fiction
Brock Clarke, Special Election: Stories
Dave Patterson, Euphoria: Ten Maine Stories
Austin Taylor, Notes on Infinity
Jud Widing, Bud’s Dead.
Book Award for Nonfiction
Elizabeth DeWolfe, Alias Agnes: The Notorious Tale of a Gilded Age Spy
Alix Morris, A Year with the Seals: Unlocking the Secrets of the Sea's Most Charismatic and Controversial Creatures
Laura Poppick, Strata: Stories from Deep Time
Book Award for Memoir
Jason Brown, Character Witness: A Memoir
Michelle Lewis, Spare
Nina B. Lichtenstein, Body: My Life in Parts
Douglas W. Milliken, Any Less You: A Family History
Book Award for Poetry
Carol Willette Bachofner, Every Place I Look: Women with Embers at their Feet
Lily Brown, Blade Work
Kimberly Cloutier Green, Openings for Light to Pass Through
Book Award for Young People's Literature
Gail Donovan and Elysia Case (Illustrator), Sparrow, Always
Robin Elsbeth Jenkins, The Secret of the Catapus
Lynne Plourde, The Bionic Boy
Book Award for Children’s
Elisa Boxer and Kevin Howdeshell (Illustrator), Pine Cone Regrown: How One Species Thrives After Fire
Joyce Sidman and Melissa Sweet (Illustrator), Dear Acorn (Love, Oak): Letter Poems to Friends
Wendy Ulmer and Clara Anganuzzo (Illustrator), Every Single Day
Book Award for Speculative Fiction
Shea Michaels, Young Yaga and the Thrice Nine Kingdoms
Miriam I. Rimkunas, Survivor Concentrate
K. Stephens, By the Dark o’ the Moon
Book Award for Excellence in Publishing
Rylan Hynes (Editor), It Rains Diamonds on Neptune, The Telling Room
Esther Lin, Cold Thief Place, Alice James Books
Mia Ayumi Malhotra, Mothersalt, Alice James Books
Book Award for Anthology
Gillian Burnes (Editor), Positivity Bias: Maine Writers, Defiantly Happy Endings
Steven Long (Editor), Echoes in the Fog: Literary Reflections on the Liminal Spaces of Maine’s Coast
Mira Ptacin (Editor), All Along You Were Blooming: Collected Writings by Incarcerated Women at the Maine Correctional Center and Their Allies
t love smith (Editor), Monster Beauties: A Trans Poetic Archive Anthology
Drama Award
No winner selected by the judges this year.
Short Works Competition in Fiction
Janet Ciejka, “In Moscow, The Bodies”
Dave Patterson, “Who Would Want to Live in Delaware”
Madison Ellingsworth, “At the Auction House”
Short Works Competition in Nonfiction
Charlotte Crowder, “Mr. Too-Too Good”
Mira Ptacin, “Eight Limes, No More: The Accidental Poetry of Found Lists”
Stephanie Cotsirilos, “The Gift”
Jason Anthony, “We Are Not Alone”
Short Works Competition in Poetry
Laura A Buxbaum, “Tattoo” and Other Poems
Mike Bove, “Ouroboros” and Other Poems
t love smith, “from the barrens”
Youth Competition in Fiction
Sebastian Milstein-Jones, “Drift”
Nela Parker, “Have You Seen Sofia?”
Avery Olson, “Six Ways of Looking at an Island”
Youth Competition in Nonfiction
Neve Creswell, “The Great Batsby”
Caroline Chong, “At Halmonie’s Table”
Shreya Hosur, “From Samosas to S’mores”
Youth Competition in Poetry
Molly Gerding, “Summer Camp”
Albertina Dos Santos, “To Love a Country”
Ren Freidenrich, “Settee”
