Mass Book Awards
The Massachusetts Book Awards recognize significant works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, graphic novel/memoir, and children’s/young adult literature written, illustrated, or translated by current Commonwealth residents. An annual “notable contribution to publishing” award recognizes the work of Massachusetts-based presses.
Our office has moved! Please send all book submissions to the Easthampton address listed in the guidelines
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Our office has moved! Please send all book submissions to the Easthampton address listed in the guidelines 〰️
The 2026 Mass Book Awards
The 26th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards were announced on September 2, 2026. Learn more about this year’s honorees at Bookshop.org. Submissions will be accepted for the next awards cycle (books published in 2026) from September 1, 2026 to December 15, 2026.
FICTION AWARD
Rooms for Vanishing by Stuart Nadler (Dutton)
FICTION HONORS
Lake Song by Lesley Pratt Bannatyne (Ohio State University Press)
Isola by Allegra Goodman (Dial Press)
FICTION LONGLIST
We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad (Scribner)
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker (MIRA)
All That Life Can Afford: A Novel by Emily Everett (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Rabbit Moon: A Novel by Jennifer Haigh (Little, Brown & Company)
The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (Ballantine Books)
These Heathens: A Novel by Mia McKenzie (Random House)
The Weight by Melissa Mendes (Drawn & Quarterly)
The Lilac People by Milo Todd (Counterpoint)
The Sunflower Boys by Sam Wachman (Harper)
NONFICTION AWARD
We the People by Jill Lepore (Liveright / W.W. Norton)
NONFICTION HONORS
Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless by Maria Pinto (University of North Carolina Press)
The Art Spy by Michelle Young (HarperOne)
NONFICTION LONGLIST
The Mind Electric: A Neurologist on the Strangeness and Wonder of Our Brains by Pria Anand (Washington Square Press)
The Hard Work of Hope by Michael Ansara (Cornell University Press)
Clamor: How Noise Took Over The World and How We Can Take it Back by Chris Berdik (W.W. Norton)
Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin)
Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State by Caleb Gayle (Riverhead Books)
Trouble Maker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford by Carla Kaplan (Harper)
The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy by Ray Madoff (University of Chicago Press)
Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry (Ecco)
A Fire in His Soul: Van Gogh, Paris, and the Making of an Artist by Miles Unger (Pegasus Books)
POETRY AWARD
An Optimism by Cameron Awkward-Rich (Persea)
POETRY HONORS
In the Good Years by Laura Cresté (Four Way Books)
The Last Beast We Revel In by Noah Davis (CavanKerry Press)
POETRY LONGLIST
Preverbal by Carroll Beauvais (Lit Fox Books)
Cadet by Benjamin Bellet (Staircase Books)
Willow Hammer by Patrick Donnelly (Four Way Books)
Jailbreak of Sparrows by Martín Espada (Knopf)
Perfect Disappearances by Paul Hostovsky (Kelsay Books)
Groceries by Nora Claire Miller (Fonograf Editions)
One Trail of Longing, Another of String by Carla Panciera (Bordighera Press)
Goat, Goddess, Moon by Catherine Strisik (Holy Cow! Press)
To Wildness by Julia Thacker (The Waywiser Press)
MIDDLE GRADE / YOUNG ADULT AWARD
Imposter by Cait Levin (Charlesbridge Teen)
MIDDLE GRADE / YOUNG ADULT HONORS
The Ripple Effect by Rebecca Caprara (Charlesbridge)
A World Without Summer by Nicholas Day (Random House Studio)
MIDDLE GRADE / YOUNG ADULT LONGLIST
Absolutely Everything by Damian Alexander (Graphic Universe)
The Library of Unruly Treasures by Jeanne Birdsall (Knopf BYR)
Top Heavy by Rhonda DeChambeau (Holiday House)
13 Ways to Say Goodbye by Kate Fussner (HarperCollins)
A Spell to Wake the Dead by Nicole Lesperance (Putnam & Sons BYR)
The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon by Grace Lin (Little, Brown BYR)
Neshama by Marcella Pixley (Candlewick)
The Dragon's Apprentice by James Riley (Labyrinth Road)
Candle Island by Lauren Wolk (Dutton BYR)
PICTURE BOOK / EARLY READER AWARD
Flora and the Jazzers by Astrid Sheckels (Waxwing Books)
PICTURE BOOK / EARLY READER HONORS
We Go Slow by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie. Aaron Becker, illus. (Atheneum BYR)
Wonder Why by Lisa Varchol Perron. Nik Henderson, illus. (HarperCollins)
PICTURE BOOK / EARLY READER LONGLIST
Wind Watchers by Micha Archer (Nancy Paulsen Books)
Thank You, Old Oak by Britt Crow-Miller. Amy Schimler-Safford, illus. (Barefoot Books)
Gather Grateful by Megan Litwin. Alexandra Finkeldey, illus. (Candlewick)
There's No Place Like Gnome's by Scott Magoon (Viking BYR)
The Beat of the Dragon Boat by Christina Matula. Nicole Wong, illus. (Sleeping Bear Press)
Safe Crossing by Kari Percival (Chronicle Books)
Unnaturally Blue by Dorson Plourde. Byron Eggenschwiler, illus. (Kids Can Press)
Black Hair Can by Sylvia Rodriguez (Charlesbridge)
Otter Carries On by Maya Tatsukawa (Henry Holt and Co. BYR)
TRANSLATED LITERATURE AWARD
Cécé by Emmelie Prophète, translated from French by Aidan Rooney (Archipelago Books)
NOTABLE CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLISHING AWARD
Slices of Life: A Comic Montage by Qu (Bulgilhan Press)
Judges in the 26th Annual Awards
William Adamczyk (Milton Public Library), Daniel Allie (Nevins Memorial Library), David Biedrzycki (author & illustrator), Eliza Brown (Eric Carle Museum), Laure Colodner (Odyssey Bookshop), Heidi Haas (youth theatre educator), Hannah Harlow (The Book Shop of Beverly Farms), Anthony Abraham Jack (Boston University), Jim Kelly (UMass Libraries / Amherst College), Sarah Levine (Williston Northampton School), Claire Lobdell (Greenfield Community College), Andy Moore (Wayland Free Public Library), Porsha Olayiwola (Just Book-ish), Mario Pereira (Tagus Press), Adrie Rose (Nine Syllables Press), Caroline Todd (Marblehead Veterans Middle School), Julia Tonelli (Smith Campus School), and staff and consultants of the Massachusetts Center for the Book.