Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

The Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction is an annual American award presented by the American Library Association (ALA) to the best fiction book for adult readers published in the United States during the previous year. Established in 2012 with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the medal is among the most prominent library-affiliated literary prizes in the country and is unique in being selected by library professionals—reflecting the reading and recommendation expertise of public librarians. The award was created to fill a gap for adult readers comparable to the ALA's long-standing Caldecott and Newbery medals for children's books. Each year, a small jury of ALA members selects a winner in both the fiction and nonfiction categories. The winner receives a gold medal and a cash prize of $5,000. Two or more finalists are also named and receive $1,500 each. Winners of the fiction medal have included Anne Enright's The Forgotten Waltz (2012), Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See (2015), Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Sympathizer (2016), Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad (2017), Jennifer Egan's Manhattan Beach (2018), Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers (2019), Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archive (2020), James McBride's Deacon King Kong (2021), and Percival Everett's James (2025). The award announced in January draws significant attention to titles recommended by librarians to their patrons.