ShelfEvidentErnest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence
2024 Winner
2024 Shortlist & Longlist
Shortlist
Shortlist
Complete History
2020s
2010s
- 2019Lot: Stories — Bryan Washington
- 2018A Lucky Man: Stories — Jamel Brinkley
- 2017The Talented Ribkins — Ladee Hubbard
- 2016The Birds of Opulence — Crystal Wilkinson
- 2015Welcome to Braggsville — T. Geronimo Johnson
- 2014The Residue Years — Mitchell S. Jackson
- 2013The Cutting Season — Attica Locke
- 2012We Are Taking Only What We Need — Stephanie Powell Watts
- 2011How to Read the Air — Dinaw Mengestu
- 2010Big Machine — Victor LaValle
About the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence
The Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence is presented annually by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, honoring the legacy of Louisiana author Ernest J. Gaines. The award recognizes outstanding fiction by rising African American writers and carries a $15,000 cash prize. Gaines, best known for novels such as A Lesson Before Dying and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, spent much of his career chronicling the African American experience in rural Louisiana. The award was established in 2007 to continue that tradition of storytelling and to spotlight new voices in literary fiction. Past winners have gone on to earn recognition from the National Book Award, the Kirkus Prize, and other major honors, making the Gaines Award an important early indicator of emerging talent in American fiction.
Frequently Asked Questions
- The Ernest J. Gaines Award is an annual literary prize administered by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation in Louisiana. It honors the legacy of novelist Ernest J. Gaines by recognizing rising African American fiction writers with a $15,000 cash prize.
- Ernest J. Gaines (1933–2019) was a Louisiana-born novelist and short story writer celebrated for works like A Lesson Before Dying and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. His fiction explored the lives of African Americans in the rural South, earning him a National Book Critics Circle Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, and the National Medal of Arts.
- The award is open to African American writers of fiction — novels or short story collections — who are considered rising or emerging voices. The prize aims to identify writers early in their careers who demonstrate exceptional literary talent and the potential for lasting impact.
- The winner is typically announced in the autumn and honored at a ceremony in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, often held in January of the following year. The event celebrates Louisiana's literary heritage and the legacy of Ernest J. Gaines.
- The Gaines Award has proven to be a strong indicator of emerging talent. Past winners and finalists have gone on to win or be shortlisted for the National Book Award, the Kirkus Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and other prestigious honors. The award is considered an important stepping stone for African American fiction writers.