2020

(The meeting was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.)

• Lon Tinkle Lifetime Achievement Award ($1,500): John Rechy
• Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction ($6,000): Oscar Cásares, Where We Come From (Knopf)
• Sergio Troncoso Award for Best Work of First Fiction ($1,000): Bryan Washington, Lot: Stories (Riverhead Books)
• Carr P. Collins Award for Best Book of Nonfiction ($5,000): Holly George-Warren, Janis: Her Life and Music (Simon & Schuster)
• Ramirez Family Award for Most Significant Scholarly Book ($2,500) Ron Tyler, The Art of Texas: 250 Years (Texas Christian University Press)
• Helen C. Smith Award for Best Book of Poetry ($1,500): Naomi Shihab Nye, The Tiny Journalist (American Poets Continuum Series)
• John A. Robertson Award for First Book of Poetry ($1,000): Lupe Mendez, Why I Am Like Tequila (Aquarius Press)
• Kay Cattarulla Award for Best Short Story ($1,000): Sergio Troncoso, “Rosary on the Border” in A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son (Cinco Puntos Press)
• Edwin “Bud” Shrake Award for Short Nonfiction ($1,000): Skip Hollandsworth, “Sabika’s Story,” in Texas Monthly
• Jean Flynn Award for Best Middle Grade Book ($1,000): Rebecca Balcárcel, The Other Half of Happy (Chronicle Books)
• Texas Institute of Letters Award for Best Young Adult Book ($1,000): Rubén Degollado, Throw: A Novel (Slant)
• Texas Institute of Letters Award for Best Children’s Picture Book ($1,000) José M. Hernández, The Boy Who Touched the Stars (Arte Público Press)
• Soeurette Diehl Fraser Award for Best Translation of a Book ($1,000): Cyrus Cassells, translator of Still Life with Children: Selected Poems of Francesc Parcerisas (Stephen F. Austin University Press)

2021

April 17. The event was live on Zoom, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Lon Tinkle Lifetime Achievement Award ($1,500): Benjamine Alire Sáenz
• Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction ($6,000): Bryan Washington, Memorial: A Novel (Riverhead Books)
• Sergio Troncoso Award for Best Work of First Fiction ($2,000): Marisol Cortez, Luz at Midnight (FlowerSong Press)
• Carr P. Collins Award for Best Book of Nonfiction ($5,000): Joe Holley, Sutherland Springs (Hachette Books)
• Ramirez Family Award for Most Significant Scholarly Book ($2,500): Miguel Angel González-Quiroga, War and Peace on the Rio Grande Frontier: 1830-1880 (Oklahoma University Press)
• Helen C. Smith Award for Best Book of Poetry ($1,500): Chera Hammons, Maps of Injury (Sundress Publication)
• John A. Robertson Award for First Book of Poetry ($1,000): David Meischen, Anyone’s Son (3: A Taos Press)
• Kay Cattarulla Award for Best Short Story ($1,000): David Meischen, “Crossing the Light,” in Storylandia
• Edwin “Bud” Shrake Award for Short Nonfiction ($1,000) ire’ne lara silva, “A Place Before Words,” in Texas Highways
• Jean Flynn Award for Best Young Adult Book ($1,000): Co-winners: Darcie Little Badger, Elatsoe (Levine Querido); Francisco Stork, Illegal (Scholastic Press)
• Deidre Siobhan FlynnBass Award for Best Middle Grade Book ($1,000): Christina Soontornvat, A Wish in the Dark (Candlewick Press)
• Brigid Erin Flynn Award for Best Picture Book ($1,000): Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey, The Old Truck (Norton Young Readers)
• Fred Whitehead Award for Best Design of a Trade Book ($1,500): Book design by Mary Ann Jacob, by Bob “Daddy-O” Wade, Daddy- O’ s Book of Big-Ass Art (Texas A&M University Press)

2022

April 23, Ardovino’s Desert Crossing and Hilton Doubletree, El Paso

• Lon Tinkle Lifetime Achievement Award ($1,500): Celeste Bedford Walker
• Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction ($6,000): Heath Dollar, Old Country Fiddle: Stories (Red Dirt Press)
• Sergio Troncoso Award for Best Work of First Fiction ($3,000): Babette Fraser Hale, A Wall of Bright Dead Feathers: Stories (Winedale Publishing)
• Carr P. Collins Award for Best Book of Nonfiction ($5,000): Lise Olsen, Code of Silence: Sexual Misconduct by Federal Judges, the Secret System That Protects Them, and the Women Who Blew the Whistle (Beacon Press)
• Ramirez Family Award for Most Significant Scholarly Book ($2,500): Nicholas Keefauver Roland, Violence in the Hill Country: The Texas Frontier in the Civil War Era (University of Texas Press)
• Helen C. Smith Award for Best Book of Poetry ($1,500): Rodney Gómez, Arsenal With Praise Song (Orison Books)
• John A. Robertson Award for First Book of Poetry ($1,000): César L. de León, speaking with grackles by soapberry trees (FlowerSong Press)
• Kay Cattarulla Award for Best Short Story ($1,000): Dagoberto Gilb, “Two Red Foxes,” in ZYZZYVA
• Edwin “Bud” Shrake Award for Short Nonfiction ($1,000): Skip Hollandsworth, “The Notorious Mrs. Mossler,” in Texas Monthly
• Jean Flynn Award for Best Young Adult Book ($1,000): David Bowles and Raúl the Third (illustrator), The Witch Owl Parliament—Clockwork Curandera, Volume I (Lee & Low Books: Tu Books Imprint)
• Deidre Siobhan FlynnBass Award for Best Middle Grade Book ($1,000): Varian Johnson, Playing the Cards You’re Dealt (Scholastic Press)
• Brigid Erin Flynn Award for Best Picture Book ($1,000) Divya Srinivasan, What I Am (Viking Books for Young Readers)
• Soeurette Diehl Fraser Award for Best Translation of a Book ($1,000): David Bowles, The Sea- Ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Americas (Levine Querido)

2023

April 28-29 in Corpus Christi

• Lon Tinkle Lifetime Achievement Award ($1,500): Beverly Lowry
• Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction ($6,000): Valley of Shadows by Rudy Ruiz, Blackstone Publishing
• Sergio Troncoso Award for Best Work of First Fiction ($3,000): It Falls Gently All Around and Other Stories by Ramona Reeves, University of Pittsburgh Press.
• Carr P. Collins Award for Best Book of Nonfiction ($5,000): The Fisherman and the Dragon: Fear, Greed, and a Fight for Justice on the Gulf Coast by Kirk W. Johnson, Viking.
• Ramirez Family Award for Most Significant Scholarly Book ($2,500): Unsettled Land: From Revolution to Republic, The Struggle for Texas by Sam W. Haynes, Basic Books
• Helen C. Smith Award for Best Book of Poetry ($1,500): City Without Altar by Jasminne Mendez, Noemi Press.
• John A. Robertson Award for First Book of Poetry ($1,000): Girls Guide to Leaving by Laura Villarreal, University of Wisconsin Press.
• Jean Flynn Award for Best Young Adult Book ($1,000): Echoes of Grace by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Tu Books
• Deidre Siobhan FlynnBass Award for Best Middle Grade Book ($1,000): Shine On, Luz Véliz! by Rebecca Balcarcel, Chronicle Books.
• Brigid Erin Flynn Award for Best Picture Book ($1,000): Where Wonder Grows by Xelena González, Cinco Puntos Press.
• Fred Whitehead Award for Best Design of a Trade Book ($1,000): Her Read: A Graphic Poem by Jennifer Sperry Steinorth, Texas Review Press.
• Kay Cattarulla Award for Best Short Story ($1,000): “Playing the Ghost” by Bret Anthony Johnston, Texas Monthly.
• Edwin “Bud” Shrake Award for Short Nonfiction ($1,000): “Uvalde Vive” by Gus Bova, The Texas Observer.

2024

May 3-4, The Woodlands

• Lon Tinkle Lifetime Achievement Award ($7,000): Carmen Tafolla
• Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction ($5,000): Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith; Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
• Sergio Troncoso Award for Best Work of First Fiction ($5,000): So Much Heart: Stories by Drew Buxton, With an X Books
• Carr P. Collins Award for Best Book of Nonfiction ($4,000): Black Chameleon: Memory, Womanhood, and Myth by Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, Holt Paperbacks.
• Burdine Johnson Award for Best Book of Poetry ($1,250): Still Falling by Jennifer Grotz, Graywolf Press.
• TIL Award for First Book of Poetry ($1,000): Freedom House by KB Brookins, Deep Vellum Publishing.
• Ramirez Family Award for Most Significant Scholarly Book ($2,500): This is Our Home: Slavery and Struggle on Southern Plantations by Whitney Nell Stewart, The University of North Carolina Press.
• Jean Flynn Award for Best Young Adult Book ($1,000): An Appetite for Miracles by Laekan Zea Kemp; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
• Deidre Siobhan FlynnBass Award for Best Middle Grade Book ($1,000): Los Monstruos: Felice and the Wailing Woman by Diana López, Kokila
• Brigid Erin Flynn Award for Best Picture Book ($1,000): Remembering by Xelena González, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
• Soeurette Diehl Fraser Award for Best Translation of a Book ($1,000): To the Cypress Again and Again: Tribute to Salvador Espriu translated by Cyrus Cassells, Stephen F. Austin University Press
• Kay Cattarulla Award for Best Short Story ($1,000): “Jewel of the Gulf of Mexico” by Selena Gambrell Anderson, McSweeney’s.
• Edwin “Bud” Shrake Award for Short Nonfiction ($1,000): “Amor Eterno” by Skip Hollandsworth, Texas Monthly.

2025

April 25-26, Brownsville