The AML Awards are given annually by the Association for Mormon Letters (AML) to the best work "by, for, and about Mormons." They are juried awards, chosen by a panel of judges. Citations for many of the awards can be found on the AML website.[1]


The award categories vary from year to year depending on the shape of the market and what the AML decides is worthy of honor. Beginning with the 2014 awards, the AML began creating a shortlist of finalists for most categories, which preceded the final awards.

1970s

More information Year, Categorty ...
AML Award winners, 1975-1979
Year Categorty Author Title Ref.
1975-1977 Critical Writing Clifton Holt Jolley The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith: An Archetypal Study, Utah Historical Quarterly, 44:4, Fall 1976.
Poetry Arthur Henry King "The Field Behind Holly House," BYU Studies 16, 1976
Linda Sillitoe "The Old Philosopher" and "Letter to a Four-Year-Old Daughter"
Short Fiction Donald Marshall "The Wheelbarrow" and "The Reunion," both from the collection Frost in the Orchard [2]
Douglas H. Thayer "Indian Hills" and "Zarahemla," both from the collection Under Cottonwoods and Other Stories
1978 Criticism Steven P. Sondrup "Literary Dimensions of Mormon Autobiography," Dialogue 11, Summer 1978
Poetry[a] Clinton F. Larson The Western World (Brigham Young University)
Marden J. Clark "God's Plenty"
Marilyn McMeen Miller Brown "Grandmother"
Short Fiction[b] Levi S. Peterson "The Confessions of Augustine" and "Road to Damascus"
Karen Rosenbaum "Hit the Frolicking, Rippling Brooks" [2]
Criticism Cindy Lesser Larsen "Whoever Heard of a Utah Poet?: An Overview of Poetry in the Early Church." Century II, 4 (Fall 1979)
1979 Poetry Marden J. Clark Moods: Of Late
Edward L. Hart To Utah
Short Fiction Béla Petsco Nothing Very Important and Other Stories [2]
Close

1980s

More information Year, Category ...
AML Award winners, 1980-1989[3]
Year Category Author Title Ref.
1980 Biography Frank W. Fox J. Reuben Clark: The Public Years
Criticism Linda Sillitoe "New Voices, New Songs: Contemporary Poems by Mormon Women" (Dialogue, Winter 1980)
Novel Marilyn McMeen Miller Brown The Earthkeepers
Poetry Emma Lou Thayne Once in Israel
1981 Criticism George S. Tate The Typology of the Exodus Pattern in the Book of Mormon (in Literature and Belief)
Poetry Robert A. Rees "Gilead"
Linda Sillitoe "Lullaby in the New Year" and "Demons"
Short Fiction Linda Sillitoe "Lullaby in the New Year" and "Demons"
Robert A. Christmas "Another Angel"
1982-1983 Criticism Eugene England "The Dawning of a Brighter Day: Mormon Literature after 150 Years" [4]
Drama Thomas F. Rogers God's Fools: Plays of the Mitigated Conscience
Editorial Award Editors of the Exponent II
Mormon Humor, First Prize Calvin Grondahl Freeway to Perfection, Faith Promoting Rumors, and Sunday's Foyer
Mormon Humor, Second Prize Clifton Holt Jolley Selling the Chevrolet: A Moral Exercise
Novel Douglas H. Thayer Summer Fire
Poetry Clinton F. Larson "Romaunt of the Rose: A Tapestry of Poems," BYU Studies, 23:1, 1983
Poetry, Young Poet's Prize Holly Ann Welker "Feet," "Patience," "On My Father's 50th Birthday," and "The Birthday Present"
Sermon Neal A. Maxwell
Short Fiction Levi S. Peterson The Canyons of Grace
Special Award for Popular Mormon Fiction Jack Weyland
Special Award for Short Story Anthology Levi S. Peterson Greening Wheat: Fifteen Mormon Short Stories
1984 Editing & Publishing Scott Kenney
Novel Orson Scott Card A Woman of Destiny (Later republished as Saints)
Personal Essay Eugene England "A Dialogue with Myself: Personal Essays on Mormon Experience"
Special Award Carol Lynn Pearson
1985 Criticism Steven Walker "Seven Ways of Looking at Susanna"
Novel Herbert Harker Circle of Fire
Personal Essay Edward Geary Goodbye to Poplarhaven
Poetry Emma Lou Thayne
Short Fiction Neal C. Chandler "Benediction"
1986 Children's literature Steve Wunderlie and Brent Watts (illus.) Marty's World
Novel Levi Peterson The Backslider
Personal and family history book Myrtle McDonald No Regrets: The Life of Carl A. Carlquist
Personal and family history essay Paul M. Edwards "When Will the Little Woman Come Out of the House?"
Personal Essay Susan Taber "In Jeopardy Every Hour" [5]
Poetry Dennis Marden Clark "Sunwatch"
Religious Literature Dennis Rasmussen The Lord’s Question
Short Fiction Michael Fillerup "Hozhoogoo Nanina Doo" [6]
1987 Criticism Bruce W. Jorgensen No Regrets: The Life of Carl A. Carlquist
Novel Linda Sillitoe Sideways to the Sun
Personal Essay Mary Lythgoe Bradford Leaving Home
Poetry Robert A. Christmas "Self-Portrait as Brigham Young"
Short Fiction Darrell Spencer Woman Packing a Pistol [7]
1988 Honorary Lifetime Membership Elouise Bell
Mary L. Bradford
John S. Harris
Gerald N. Lund
Hugh Nibley
Levi S. Peterson
Douglas Thayer
Emma Lou Thayne
Laurel T. Ulrich
Terry Tempest Williams
William A. Wilson
Novel Ann Edwards Cannon Cal Cameron by Day, Spider-Man by Night (Delacorte)
Personal Essay Karin Anderson England "The Man at the Chapel" Dialogue 21.4 (Winter 1988): 133-41
Poetry Dennis Marden Clark Tinder: answer might be. With an almost Augustinian Dry Poems (Orem, Utah: United Order Books, 1988)
Short Story John Bennion "A Court of Love," Sunstone 12.2 (March 1988): 30-38

"A House of Order," Dialogue 21.3 (Autumn 1988): 129–48 "Dust," Ascent 14.1 (1988): 1-10.

Special Recognition in Biography Levi S. Peterson Juanita Brooks: Mormon Woman Historian (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988)
Special Recognition in Criticism Wayne C. Booth The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988) [8]
Special Recognition in Poetry Clinton F. Larson Selected Poems of Clinton F. Larson (Provo: Brigham Young University, 1988)
1989 Criticism Dennis Clark "Mormon Poetry Now!: The State of the Art" (a series of four essays published in Sunstone, 1985–1989)
Criticism Michael Hicks Mormonism and Music: A History (University of Illinois Press)
Editing & Publishing Sunstone Magazine (Editors Scott Kenney, Allen Roberts, Peggy Fletcher, and Elbert Peck)
Signature Books
Novel Judith Freeman The Chinchilla Farm (Norton)
Personal Essay Emma Lou Thayne As for Me and My House (Bookcraft)
Poetry Susan Elizabeth Howe "Things in the Night Sky" in Harvest: Contemporary Mormon Poems
Short Fiction Pauline Mortensen Back Before the World Turned Nasty (University of Arkansas Press)
Close

1990s

More information Year, Category ...
AML Award winners, 1990-1999[9]
Year Category Author Title Ref.
1990 Criticism William A. Wilson "In Praise of Ourselves: Stories to Tell"
Novel Franklin Fisher Bones
Personal Essay Elouise Bell Only When I Laugh
Poetry Loretta Randall Sharp "Doing It"
Short Fiction Walter Kirn My Hard Bargain
1991 Biography Laurel Thatcher Ulrich A Midwife's Tale
Editing & Publishing Signature Books and Ron Schow, Wayne Schow, Marybeth Raynes (ed.) Peculiar People: Mormons and Same-Sex Orientation
Honorary Lifetime Membership Marden J. Clark
Edward L. Hart
Clinton F. Larson
William Mulder
Helen Candland Stark
Virginia Eggertsen Sorensen Waugh
Maurine Whipple
Novel Orson Scott Card Xenocide
Gerald N. Lund Like a Fire is Burning
Personal Essay Terry Tempest Williams Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
Poetry Philip White "Island Spring and the Perseids", in Dialogue, Spring & Winter 1991
Short Fiction Michael Fillerup "Lost and Found" from Christmas for the World
Young Adult Literature Louise Plummer My Name is Sus5an Smith. The 5 is Silent
1992 Biography Rudi Wobbe and Jerry Borrowman Before the Blood Tribunal
Children's Literature Barbara J. Porter and Dileen Marsh All Kinds of Answers
Honorary Lifetime Membership Richard Scowcroft [10]
Emma Lou Thayne
Novel Orson Scott Card Lost Boys
Personal Essay Marden J. Clark Liberating Form: Mormon Essays on Religion and Literature
Poetry Kathy Evans "Imagination Comes to Breakfast"
Short Fiction Margaret Blair Young Elegies and Love Songs
1993 Autobiography Phyllis Barber How I Got Cultured: A Nevada Memoir
Award for Editorial Excellence M. Shayne Bell Washed by a Wave of Wind: Science Fiction from the Corridor
Children's Literature Michael O. Tunnell Chinook! The Joke's on George and Beauty and the Beastly Children
Drama Neil Labute In the Company of Men
Honorary Lifetime Membership Wayne C. Booth
Steven P. Sondrup
Novel Leslie Beaton Hedley Twelve Sisters
Gerald N. Lund Thy Gold to Refine: The Work and the Glory, Vol. 4
Personal Essay Eugene England "Monte Cristo" in Wasatch Review International, 2:1, June 1993.
Poetry Linda Sillitoe Crazy for Living
Sermon Chieko N. Okazaki Lighten Up! and Cat's Cradle
Service to Mormon Letters Neila Seshachari and Weber State University Weber Studies, Vol. 10.3, Tenth Anniversary Issue
Short Story Darrell Spencer Our Secret's Out
Young Adult Literature Martine Bates The Dragon's Tapestry and The Prism Moon
1994 Biography William G. Hartley My Best for the Kingdom: John Lowe Butler, A Mormon Frontiersman
Criticism Gideon O. Burton "Towards a Mormon Criticism: Should We Ask 'Is This Mormon Literature?'"
Drama Eric Samuelsen Accommodations: a Play in Three Acts
Honorary Lifetime Membership Samuel W. Taylor [11]
Novel Anne Perry The Sins of the Wolf
Personal Essay Richard D. Poll "A Liahona Latter-day Saint"
Poetry Pamela Porter Hamblin "Magi"
Short Fiction Wayne Jorgensen "Who Tarzan, Who Jane"
Young Adult Literature Dean Hughes The Trophy
1995 Biography Maureen Ursenbach Beecher The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow
Criticism Michael Austin How to Be a Mormo-American; Or, The Function of Mormon Criticism at the Present Time
Drama Tim Slover March Tale
Essay Terry Tempest Williams Desert Quartet: An Erotic Landscape
Novel Mack Hedges Last Buckaroo
Poetry Marden J. Clark "Snows"
Short Fiction Tory C. Anderson "Epiphany"
Young Adult Literature Louise Plummer The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman
1996 Biography Marian Robertson Wilson Leroy Robertson: Music Giant from the Rockies
Children's Literature Rick Walton You Don't Always Get What You Hope For
Criticism Bruce W. Jorgensen "Heritage of Hostility: The Mormon Attack on Fiction in the 19th Century; Roughly One of the R's: Some Notes of a BYU Fiction Teacher (with a Pedantry of Endnotes)"
Drama Tim Slover Joyful Noise
Novel Judith Freeman A Desert of Pure Feeling
Personal Essay Kenneth O. Kemp "3/4-inch Marine Ply"
Poetry Leslie Norris Collected Poems
Short Fiction Paul Rawlins No Lie Like Love: Stories
Young Adult Literature Pat Bezzant Angie
1997 Criticism Richard Dilworth Rust Feasting on the Word: The Literary Testimony of the Book of Mormon
Devotional Literature Chieko N. Okazaki Sanctuary
Drama Eric Samuelsen Gadianton
Personal Essay Holly Welker "What You Walk Away From"
Poetry Susan Elizabeth Howe Stone Spirits
Short Fiction Brady Udall Beautiful Places
1998 Devotional Literature Clark L. Kidd and Kathryn H. Kidd A Convert's Guide to Mormon Life
Novel Dean Hughes Far from Home
Personal Essay Tom Plummer Eating Chocolates and Dancing in the Kitchen: Sketches of Marriage and Family
Poetry Alex Caldiero Various Atmospheres: Poems and Drawings
Short Fiction Helen Walker Jones The Six-Buck Fortune
Young Adult Literature Martine Bates The Taker's Key
1999 Devotional Literature Neal A. Maxwell One More Strain of Praise
Drama Eric Samuelsen The Way We're Wired
Marilyn Brown Novel Award Jack Harrell Every Knee Shall Bow (published in 2003 as Vernal Promises)
Marilyn Brown Novel Award Honorable Mention Laura Dene Card The Wildest Waste
Alan Rex Mitchell Barry Monroe’s Missionary Journal
Dorothy W. Peterson Windows
Novel Anne Perry Tathea
Personal Essay Martha Beck Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth, and Everyday Magic
Short Fiction Mary Clyde Survival Rates
Close

2000s

More information Year, Category ...
AML Award winners, 2000-2009[12]
Year Category Author Title
2000 Criticism Benson Parkinson AML-List
Devotional Literature Patricia Terry Holland A Quiet Heart
Drama Margaret Blair Young I Am Jane
Film Richard Dutcher God's Army
Honorary Lifetime Membership Richard Cracroft
Novel Margaret Blair Young and Darius Gray One More River to Cross
Personal Essay Gordon B. Hinckley Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes
Short Fiction Darrell Spencer Caution: Men in Trees
2001 Children's Literature Don Staheli The Story of the Walnut Tree
2001 Criticism Dian Monson Believing in the Word
Drama J. Scott Bronson Stones
Honorary Lifetime Membership Thomas F. Rogers
Marilyn Brown Novel Award A. Jeff Call Mormonville
Middle Grade Literature Carol Lynch Williams My Angelica
Novel Brady Udall The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint
Review Jeffrey Needle
Young Adult Literature Louise Plummer A Dance for Three
2002 Drama Reed McColm Hole in the Sky
Drama Honorable Mention Melissa Leilani Larson Wake Me When It's Over
Tim Slover Hancock County
Film Christian Vuissa Roots and Wings
Film Adaptation Janine Whetton Gilbert Charly
Film Honorable Mention Andrew Black The Snell Show
Ryan Little Out of Step
Honorary Lifetime Membership Lavina Fielding Anderson
Bruce Wayne Jorgensen
In Memoriam Neila Seshachari
Novel Chris Crowe Mississippi Trial, 1955
Picture Book Rick Walton Bertie Was a Watchdog
Poetry Kimberly Johnson Leviathan with a Hook
Short Fiction Susan Palmer "Breakthrough" in Sunstone, issue 122, pages 42-45, April 2002.
Short Fiction Honorable Mention Linda Paulson Adams "First"
Karen Rosenbaum "Out of the Woods"
Young Adult Literature Ann Edwards Cannon Charlotte's Rose
Young Adult Literature Honorable Mention Kimberley Heuston The Shakeress
Martine Leavitt The Dollmage
2003 Drama LeeAnne Hill Adams Archipelago
Editing Chris Bigelow Irreantum
Film Adaptation Anne K. Black, Jason Faller, and Katherine Swigert Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy
Historical Fiction Margaret Blair Young and Darius Gray Standing on the Promises
Marilyn Brown Novel Award Janean Justham House Dreams
Novel Douglas Thayer The Conversion of Jeff Williams
Publishing BYU Studies Quarterly
Short Fiction Coke Newell "Toaster Road"
Short Fiction Honorable Mention William Shunn "The Day Pietro Coppino Spoke to the Mountain"
Robert Wagoner "A Good Sign"
Young Adult Literature Kimberley Heuston Dante's Daughter
Young Adult Literature Honorable Mention Shannon Hale The Goose Girl
Kristen Randle Slumming
2004 Criticism Meridian Magazine
Film Adam Abel Saints and Soldiers
Middle Grade Literature Patricia Wiles My Mom's a Mortician
Middle Grade Literature Honorable Mention Randall Wright Hunchback
Novel P. G. Karamesines The Pictograph Murders
Novel Honorable Mention Amber Esplin Leaving Eden
Poetry John Talbot The Well-Tempered Tantrum
Special Award Honorable Mention The J. Willard Marriott Library of the University of Utah
Young Adult Literature Shannon Hale Enna Burning
Young Adult Literature Honorable Mention Mette Ivie Harrison Mira, Mirror
Janette Rallison Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Free Throws
2005 Biography Richard Lyman Bushman Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling
Criticism William Morris, P. G. Karamesines, Kent Larsen, and Eric Russell A Motley Vision
Film Greg Whiteley New York Doll
Marilyn Brown Novel Award Arianne B. Cope The Coming of Elijah
Marilyn Brown Novel Award Honorable Mention Donald Marshall Seeker
Novel Brandon Sanderson Elantris
Novel Honorable Mention Orson Scott Card Magic Street
Roger Terry God's Executioner
Poetry Lance Larsen In All Their Animal Brilliance
Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters Dean Hughes Children of the Promise
Special Award Allred Laura The Golden Plates
Young Adult Literature Shannon Hale Princess Academy
Patricia Wiles Funeral Home Evenings
Young Adult Literature Honorable Mention David Farland Of Mice and Magic, Ravenspell Book One
Dean Hughes Search and Destroy
2006 Criticism Patricia Karamesines The Rhetoric of Stealing God
Drama Tim Slover Treasure
Film Annie Poon The Book of Visions
Film Honorable Mention Melissa Puente Sisterz in Zion
Tom Russell Angie
Novel Toni Sorensen Brown Redemption Road
Novel Honorable Mention Orson Scott Card Empire
Brandon Sanderson Mistborn
Personal Essay John Bennion "Like the Lilies of the Field"
Personal Essay Honorable Mention Wilfried Decoo "The Unspeakable"
Patricia Karamesines "The Birds of Summer"
Service to AML Angela Hallstrom
Short Fiction Kristen Carson "Atta Boy"
Short Fiction Honorable Mention Virginia Baker "And Cry the Name of David"
Heather Marx "Brother Singh"
Aaron Orullian "Judgement Day"
Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters Rick Walton
Special Award James V. D'Arc, Blaine L. Gale, E. Hunter Hale, and Richard I. Hale Trapped By the Mormons
Young Adult Literature Brandon Mull Fablehaven
Young Adult Literature Honorable Mention Shannon Hale River Secrets
Janette Rallison It's a Mall World After All
2007 Biography Carol Madsen An Advocate for Women: The Public Life of Emmeline B. Wells, 1870-1920
Criticism Terryl L. Givens People of Paradox: The History of Mormon Culture
Drama Carol Pearson Facing East
Film Helen Whitney The Mormons
Marilyn Brown Novel Award Todd Petersen Rift
Marilyn Brown Novel Award Honorable Mention Helynne Hollstein Hansen Voices at the Crossroads
Janet Kay Jensen Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys
Novel Coke Newell On the Road to Heaven
Novel Finalists Shannon Hale Austenland
Dean Hughes Before the Dawn
Brandon Sanderson The Well of Ascension
Donald Smurthwaite The Boxmaker's Son
Roger Terry I Am Not Wolf
Alissa York Effigy
Novel Honorable Mention Dean Hughes Before the Dawn
Brandon Sanderson The Well of Ascension
Short Fiction Lisa Torcasso Downing "Clothing Esther"
Short Fiction Finalists Larry Menlove "Drought", Dialogue 40:3 (Fall 2007)
Johnny Townsend "The Buzzard Tree", Dialogue 40:4 (Winter 2007)
Short Fiction Honorable Mention Darin Cozzens "Light of the New Day"
Sigrid Olsen "The Nature of Comets"
Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters Anne Perry
Special Award Segullah
Special Award Honorable Mention Gideon Burton Mormons and Film
Young Adult Literature Ann Dee Ellis This Is What I Did
Young Adult Literature Finalists Olivia Birdsall Notes on a Near-Life Experience
Jessica Day George Dragon Slippers
Shannon Hale Book of a Thousand Days
Brandon Mull Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star
Louise Plummer Finding Daddy
Young Adult Literature Honorable Mention Mette Ivie Harrison The Princess and the Hound
Brandon Sanderson Alcatraz Vs. the Evil Librarians
2008 Drama James Goldberg Prodigal Son
Film Christian Vuissa The Errand of Angels
Ron Williams Happy Valley
Lifetime AML Membership Terryl L. Givens
Novel Angela Hallstrom Bound on Earth
Personal Essay Stephen Carter "The Calling"
Patrick Madden "A Sudden Pull Behind the Heart"
Poetry Neil Aitken The Lost Country of Sight
Warren Hatch Mapping the Bones of the World
Short Fiction Stephen Tuttle "Amanuensis"
Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters Douglas Thayer
Special Award in Criticism Alan F. Keele
Special Award in History Richard Turley, Jr., Glen M. Leonard, and Ronald W. Walker Massacre at Mountain Meadows
Special Award in Textual Criticism and Bibliography Dean C. Jessee, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals Series, vol. 1, Journals 1832-1839
Youth Fiction Brandon Mull Fablehaven: The Grip of the Shadow Plague
2009 Drama Melissa Leilani Larson Little Happy Secrets
Film Jed Wells Fire Creek
Honorary Lifetime Membership James D'Arc
Humor Elna Baker The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance
Memoir Kathryn Soper The Year My Son and I Were Born
Novel Todd Petersen Rift
Novel Honorable Mention Jamie Ford Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Online Writing Sandra Tayler One Cobble at a Time
Poetry Lance Larsen Backyard Alchemy
Publishing Christopher Bigelow Zarahemla Books
Service to AML Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury
Short Fiction Larry Menlove "Path of Antelope, Pelican, and Moon"
Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters Levi Peterson
Young Adult Literature Carol Lynch Williams The Chosen One
Close

2010

Smith-Pettit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
Biography
Criticism
  • Grant Hardy for Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader's Guide
Drama / WebFilm
Editing
  • Eric W. Jepson for "Comics!" Sunstone #160
  • Angela Hallstrom for Dispensation: Latter-day Fiction
Memoir
Novel
Online Writing
Personal Essay
Poetry
  • Marilyn Bushman-Carlton for Her Side of It: Poems
Service to AML
  • Darlene Young
Short Fiction
  • Jack Harrell for A Sense of Order and Other Stories
Short Fiction Honorable Mention
  • Darin Cozzens for Light of the New Day and Other Stories
Young Adult Literature

2011

Smith-Pettit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
Honorary Lifetime Membership
Biography
Autobiography
  • Emma Lou Warner Thayne for The Place of Knowing: a Spiritual Autobiography
Criticism
  • Brant A. Gardner for The Gift and Power : Translating the Book of Mormon
Film
  • Tyler Measom and Jennilyn Merten for Sons of Perdition
Special Award in Graphical Narrative
Novel
Personal Essay
  • Adam Miller, for the body of his work published in 2011
Poetry
  • Tyler Chadwick for editing Fire in the Pasture: Twenty-first Century Mormon Poets (Peculiar Pages)
Short Story
  • David G. Pace for "American Trinity"
Short Fiction
Special Award in Literary Journalism
  • Andrew Hall
Young Adult Novel
Marilyn Brown Novel Award
  • Paul Colt for Boots and Saddles: A Call to Glory

2012

Smith–Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
Lifetime AML Membership
  • Mahonri Stewart
  • Christopher Bigelow[16][17]
Film
Novel
  • The Five Books of Jesus by James Goldberg
Devotional
Poetry
  • Amytis Leaves Her Garden by Karen Kelsay
Award in Adaptation
Drama
  • Roof Overhead by Mahonri Stewart
Short Fiction
Young Adult Novel
  • Vodnik by Bryce Moore
Memoir/Creative Non Fiction
Middle Grade Fiction Award
  • False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Humor
  • "Pat and Pete" by Larry Day (from his collection Day Dreaming: Tales from the Fourth Dementia)

2013

Given out April 12, 2014.

Smith–Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
Outstanding Achievement Award
Creative non-fiction
  • Melissa Dalton-Bradford for Global Mom: Eight Countries, Sixteen Addresses, Five Languages, One Family
Drama
  • Ariel Mitchell for A Second Birth
Film
Special Award
  • Scott Hales for The Garden of Enid
Novel
  • Sarah Eden Longing for Home
Poetry
  • Alex Caldiero sonosuono (awarded on March 28, 2015)
Other finalists
  • Susan Elizabeth Howe Salt
  • Lance Larsen Genius Loci
Short Fiction
  • Brad R. Torgersen “The Chaplain’s Legacy”. Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July/August 2013 (awarded on March 28, 2015)
Other finalists
  • “The Righteous Road” by Ryan Shoemaker, Silk Road Review, Summer/Fall 2013
  • “Expiation” by Richard Dutcher, Sunstone 171, July 2013
  • “Duplex” by Eric Freeze, Prairie Fire 34.1, Spring 2013
  • “The Gift of Tongues” by Annette Haws, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Winter 2013
Young Adult Fiction
  • Cindy M. Hogan Gravediggers
Young Adult Speculative Fiction

2014

Presented March 28, 2015, at the Utah Valley University Library.[19]

Smith–Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
AML Lifetime Achievement Award
Comics
  • iPlates, Volume 2: Prophets, Priests, Rebels, and Kings by Stephen Carter and Jett Atwood
Creative non-fiction
  • Hemingway on a Bike by Eric Freeze
Other finalists
  • To the Mountain: One Mormon Woman’s Search for Spirit by Phyllis Barber
  • Way Below the Angels: The Pretty Clearly Troubled But Not Even Close to Tragic Confessions of a Real Live Mormon Missionary by Craig Harline
  • Hippie Boy: A Girl’s Story by Ingrid Ricks
Criticism
  • Ender’s World: Fresh Perspectives on the SF Classic Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card, editor
Other finalists
  • “Of Many Hearts and Many Minds: The Mormon Novel and the Post-Utopian Challenge of Assimilation” by Scott Hales. Dissertation, University of Cincinnati
  • “Toward a Mormon Literary Theory” by Jack Harrell. BYU Studies Quarterly 53.3, 2014
Drama
  • Pride and Prejudice by Melissa Leilani Larsen
Other finalists
  • The Weaver of Raveloe by Erika Glenn and Melissa Leilani Larsen
  • Single Wide by George Nelson and Jordan Kamalu
  • Evening Eucalyptus by Mahonri Stewart
Film
Other finalists
Middle Grade Novel
  • The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
  • Honorable Mention: The End or Something Like That by Ann Dee Ellis
Other finalists
  • Almost Super by Marion Jensen
  • Time of the Fireflies by Kimberley Griffiths Little
  • Sky Raiders by Brandon Mull
Novel
  • City of Brick and Shadow by Tim Wirkus
Other finalists
Picture Book
  • Girls Who Choose God: Stories of Courageous Women from the Bible by McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding, illustrated by Kathleen Peterson
Other finalists
  • Fetch by Adam Glendon Sidwell, illustrated by Edwin Rhemrev
  • The World According to Musk Ox by Erin Cabatingan, illustrated by Matthew Myers
  • The Tooth Fairy Wars by Kate Coombs, illustrated by Jake Parker
Poetry
  • Picture Dictionary by Kristen Eliason
Other finalists
  • Uncommon Prayer and Made Flesh: Sacrament and Poetics in Post-Reformation England by Kimberly Johnson
  • In the Museum of Coming and Going by Laura Stott
Religious Non-Fiction
  • Re-Reading Job: Understanding the Ancient World’s Greatest Poem by Michael Austin
Other finalists
  • Seeking the Promised Land by David E. Campbell, John C. Green, and J. Quin Monson. Cambridge University Press
  • Wresting the Angel by Terryl Givens
Short Fiction
  • “Two-Dog Dose” by Steven L. Peck, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Spring 2014
Other finalists
  • “Recollection” by Nancy Fulda, Carbide Tipped Pens
  • “Anatomy” by Tim Wirkus, Weird Fiction Review, June 2014
  • “Jesus Enough” by Levi S. Peterson, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Winter 2014
Young Adult General Novel
Other finalists
Young Adult Speculative Novel
Other finalists
  • The Paper Magician by Charlie Holmberg
  • The Unhappening of Genesis Lee by Shallee McArthur
  • Son of War, Daughter of Chaos by Janette Rallison
  • Ruins by Dan Wells
  • Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White

2015

Presented March 5, 2016, at the Heber J. Grant building on Brigham Young University-Hawaii campus.[20]

The Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
The Association for Mormon Letters Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Donald R. Marshall[21]
Special Awards for Scholarly Publishing
Comics[22]
  • Dendō: One Year and One Half in Japan by Brittany Long Olsen
Other finalists
  • Stripling Warrior by Brian Andersen and James Neish
  • My Hot Date by Noah van Sciver
Creative Non-Fiction[23]
  • My Wife Wants You to Know I’m Happily Married by Joey Franklin
Other finalists
  • The Accidental Terrorist by William Shunn
  • Fresh Courage Take: New Directions by Mormon Women edited by Jamie Zvirzdin
Criticism[22]
  • Jana Riess "Mormon Popular Culture" from the first of the two nominated collections below
Other finalists
  • Nephi Anderson's Dorian: A Peculiar Edition With Annotated Text & Scholarship edited by Eric W. Jepson
Drama[22]
  • Pilot Program by Melissa Leilani Larson
Other finalists
Film[24]
Other finalists
Lyrics[25]
Other finalists
Middle Grade Novel[26]
  • Mothman’s Curse by Christine Hayes
Other finalists
  • A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen
  • Mysteries of Cove: Fires of Invention by J. Scott Savage
  • The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van Dolzer
  • Survival Strategies of the Almost Brave by Jen White
Novel[27]
  • Sistering by Jennifer Quist
Other finalists
Picture Book[25]
  • Zombelina Dances the Nutcracker by Kristyn Crow
Other finalists
  • Talon Wrestles an Anaconda by Auntie M (McArthur Krishna)
  • Girls Who Choose God: Stories of strong women from the Book of Mormon by McArthur Krishna, Bethany Brady Spalding, and Kathleen Peterson
  • Job Wanted by Teresa Bateman
Poetry[25]
  • Hive by Christina Stoddard
Other finalists
  • Glyphs by Colin Douglas
  • Lake of Fire: Landscape Meditations from the Great Basin Deserts of Nevada by Justin Evans
  • Let Me Drown With Moses by James Goldberg
Religious Non-Fiction[23]
  • Traditions of the Fathers: The Book of Mormon as History by Brant A. Gardner
Other finalists
  • The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism edited by Terryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow
  • Postponing Heaven: The Three Nephites, the Bodhisattva, and the Mahdi by Jad Hatem, translated by Jonathon Penny
  • Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt by Patrick Q. Mason
  • Relational Grace: The Reciprocal and Binding Covenant of Charis by Brent J. Schmidt
Short Story[27]
Other finalists
Short-Story Collection[27]
  • Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Wives by Karen Rosenbaum
Other finalists
  • Dark Watch and Other Mormon-American Stories by William Morris
  • Wandering Realities: Mormonish Short Fiction by Steve L. Peck
Young Adult Novel[26]
  • The Storyspinner by Becky Wallace
Other finalists
  • Shutter by Courtney Alameda
  • Ink and Ashes by Valynne Maetani
  • Firefight by Brandon Sanderson
  • Fish Out of Water by Natalie Whipple

2016

Presented at Utah Valley University, April 22, 2017.[28]

The Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
AML Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Susan Elizabeth Howe[30]
Comics
  • Precious Rascals by Anthony Holden
Other finalists
  • Mormon Shorts, Vol. 1 by Scott Hales
  • White Sand by Brandon Sanderson (story), Rik Hoskin (script), Julius Gopez (art), and Ross Campbell (colors)
Creative Non-fiction
  • Sublime Physick by Patrick Madden
Honorable Mention
  • Baring Witness: 36 Mormon Women Talk Candidly about Love, Sex and Marriage edited by Holly Welker
Other finalists
  • Immortal for Quite Some Time by Scott Abbott
  • The Latter Days: A Memoir by Judith Freeman
  • One Hundred Birds Taught me to Fly by Ashley Mae Hoiland
Criticism
  • Writing Ourselves: Essays on Creativity, Craft, and Mormonism by Jack Harrell
Drama
Other finalists
  • Gregorian by Matthew Greene
  • Kingdom of Heaven by Jenifer Nii
  • The King’s Men by Javen Tanner
Film
Other finalists
Middle Grade Novel
Other finalists
  • The Kidnap Plot: The Incredible Adventures of Clockwork Charlie by Dave Butler
  • Cinnamon Moon by Tess Hilmo
  • Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood by Liesl Shurtliff
Novel
Other finalists
  • Slave Queen by Heather. B. Moore
  • Pigs When they Straddle the Air by Julie J. Nichols
  • Daredevils by Shawn Vestal
Picture Book
  • Our Heavenly Family, Our Earthly Families by McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding. Illustrated by Caitlin Connolly
Other finalists
  • What Would It Be Like by McArthur Krishna, Illustrated by Ayeshe Sadr & Ishaan Dasgupta
  • She Stood for Freedom: The Untold Story of a Civil Rights Hero by Loki Mulholland and Angela Fairwell. Illustrated by Charlotte Janssen
  • Defenders of the Family by Benjamin Hyrum White. Illustrated by Jay Fontana
Poetry
  • Strange Terrain by Matthew James Babcock
Other finalists
  • Leviathan by Neil Aitken
  • flicker by Lisa Bickmore
  • Who is the Dancer, What is the Dance by Alex Caldiero
  • Kill February by Jeffrey Tucker
Religious Non-fiction
  • As Iron Sharpens Iron: Listening to the Various Voices of Scripture edited by Julie M. Smith
Other finalists
  • Nothing New Under the Sun: A Blunt Paraphrase of Ecclesiastes by Adam S. Miller
  • The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy by Carol Lynn Pearson
  • The Vision of All: Twenty-five Lectures on Isaiah in Nephi’s Record by Joseph M. Spencer
Special Award for Religious Non-fiction Publishing
  • Let Your Hearts and Minds Expand: Reflections on Faith, Reason, Charity, and Beauty by Thomas F. Rogers, edited by Jonathan Langford and Linda Hunter Adams
Short Fiction
  • "Kid Kirby" by Levi S. Peterson (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 49:2, Summer 2016)
Other finalists
  • "And Thorns Will Grow There" by Emily Belanger, Sunstone #180, Spring 2016
  • "Light as Wings" by Spencer Hyde, Glimmer Train. Fall 2016, #97
  • "The Mandelbrot Set" by Heidi Naylor, Sunstone, #182, Fall 2016
  • "Incomplete Slaughter" by Steven L. Peck, The Colored Lens, Summer 2016
  • "Purytans" by Brad R. Torgersen, Analog: Science Fact and Fiction, July/Aug 2016
Short Fiction Collection
  • The Last Blessing of J. Guyman LeGrand and Other Stories by Darin Cozzens
Other finalists
  • Invisible Men by Eric Freeze
  • Windows into Hell by various authors, edited by James Wymore
Video Series
Other finalists
  • Adam & Eve Davey & Bianca Morrison Dillard, directors
  • Studio C Jared Shores and Matt Meese, co-creators
  • The Talking Fly Steve Olpin, director
Young Adult Novel
Other finalists
  • The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
  • And I Darken by Kiersten White

2017

The final winners were presented March 23, 2018.

Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters[31]
AML Lifetime Achievement Award[31]
Novel[32]
  • The Field is White by Claire Åkebrand (Kernpunct Press)
  • Sins of Empire by Brian McClellan (Orbit/Hachette Book Press)
  • Prayers in Bath by Luisa Perkins (Mormon Artists Group)
  • Nothing Left to Lose by Dan Wells (Tor)
Short fiction[32]
  • "The Pew" by Alison Maeser Brimley (originally published in Dialogue)
  • "Le Train à Grande Vitesse" R.A. Christmas (originally published in Dialogue)
  • "The Thicket" by Bradeigh Godfrey (originally published in Sunstone)
  • "Jane’s Journey" by Heidi Naylor (originally published in Sunstone)
  • "Bishop Johansen Rescues a Lost Soul: A Tale of Pleasant Grove" by Steven L. Peck (originally published in Dialogue)
Creative nonfiction[33]
  • That We May Be One: A Gay Mormon’s Perspective on Faith and Family by Tom Christofferson
  • Learning to Like Life: A Tribute to Lowell Bennion by George B. Handley
  • The Burning Point by Tracy McKay
  • Open Midnight: Where Ancestors and Wilderness Meet by Brooke Williams
Notable mentions
  • Heterodoxologies: Essays by Matthew James Babcock
  • The OCD Mormon: Finding healing and hope in the midst of anxiety by Kari Ferguson
  • Do Clouds Rest? Dementiadventures with Mom by Michael Hicks
Religious nonfiction[33]
  • Feeding the Flock: The Foundations of Mormon Thought: Church and Praxis by Terryl L. Givens
  • The Sun Has Burned My Skin by Adam S. Miller
  • Perspectives on Mormon Theology: Apologetics edited by Blair G. Van Dyke and Loyd Isao Ericson
Middle-grade novel[34]
  • Under Locker and Key by Allison K. Hymas (Aladdin)
  • Mustaches for Maddie by Chad Morris and Shelly Brown (Shadow Mountain)
  • Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry (Feiwel and Friends)
  • Paper Chains by Elaine Vickers (Harper)
Young-adult novel
Comics[35]
Picture book[35]
  • Colour Blocked by Ashley Sorenson and David W. Miles
  • Heroic Stories from The Book of Mormon by Shauna Gibby and Casey Nelson
  • Quiet as a Church Mouse by Stephen Bevan and Jeff Harvey
Drama[36]
  • The Drown’ed Book, or the History of William Shakespeare, Part Last by Mahonri Stewart
  • Not One Drop by Morag Shepherd
Film[36]
  • Socorro written and directed by Marshal Davis
  • The Man in the Camo Jacket written and directed by Russ Kendall
  • Out of the Ground written and directed by Barrett Burgin
  • A Pug & Wolf Christmas created by Davey and Bianca Morrison Dillard
  • We Love You, Sally Carmichael! written by Daryn Tufts and directed by Christopher Gorham
Criticism[37]
  • “The Second Coming of Mormon Music,” by Michael Hicks from The Kimball Challenge at Fifty: Mormon Arts Center Essays (part of original nominee The Kimball Challenge at Fifty: Mormon Arts Center Essays from Mormon Arts Center)
  • On the Problem and Promise of Alex Caldiero’s Sonosophy: Doing Dialogical Coperformative Ethnography; Or, Enter the Poetarium by Tyler Chadwick
Anthology[37]
  • Seasons of Change: Stories of Transition from the Writers of Segullah edited by Shelah Mastny Miner and Sandra Clark Jergensen
  • States of Deseret edited by Wm Morris
Poetry[37]
  • Babbage’s Dream by Neil Aitken
  • What Was Left of the Stars by Claire Åkebrand
  • Ephemerist by Lisa Bickmore
  • Owning the Moon by Linda Sillitoe
Special Award in Religious Non-Fiction Publishing

2018

The final winners were presented March 30, 2019, in Berkeley, California.

AML Lifetime Achievement Award[38][39]
Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters[40][39]
Special Award in Publishing[41][39]
  • Dove Song: Heavenly Mother in Mormon Poetry edited by Tyler Chadwick, Dayna Patterson, Martin Pulido (Peculiar Pages)
Novel[42][39]
  • The Apocalypse of Morgan Turner by Jennifer Quist (Linda Leith Publishing)
  • The Infinite Future by Tim Wirkus (Penguin Press)
Short-fiction collections[42][39]
  • The Science of Lost Futures by Ryan Habermeyer (BOA Editions)
  • Revolver by Heidi Naylor (BCC Press)
  • Beyond the Lights by Ryan Shoemaker (No Record Press)
Short fiction[42][39]
Drama[41][39]
  • Good Standing by Matthew Greene
  • The Shower Principle by Ariel Mitchell
Poetry[41][39]
  • What the Body Knows by Lance Larsen (University of Tampa Press)
  • The Lapidary’s Nosegay by Lara Candland (The Center for Literary Publishing, Colorado State University)
  • The God Mask by Javen Tanner (Kelsay Books)
  • Half-Hazard by Kristen Tracy (Graywolf Press)
Creative nonfiction[43][39]
  • Destroying Their God: How I Fought My Evil Half-Brother to Save my Children by Wallace Jeffs, Shauna Packer, Sherry Taylor
Religious nonfiction[43][39]
  • An Early Resurrection: Life in Christ Before you Die by Adam S. Miller
  • Faith Is Not Blind by Bruce C. Hafen and Marie K. Hafen
  • Thou Art the Christ, the Son of the Living God: The Person and Work of Jesus in the New Testament edited by Eric D. Huntsman, Lincoln H. Blumell, and Tyler J. Griffin
  • The Power of Godliness: Mormon Liturgy and Cosmology by Jonathan Stapley
  • On Fire in Baltimore: Black Mormon Women and Conversion in a Raging City by Laura Rutter Strickling
Criticism[43][39]
  • Mormon Cinema: Origins to 1952 by Randy Astle
  • "Low and the Hermeneutics of Silence" by Jacob Bender (Sunstone)
  • "Isms and Prisms: A Mormon View on Writing about Nature and Women" by Ángel Chaparro-Sainz (Women’s Studies)
  • "Mormon Poetry, 2012 to the Present" by Bert Fuller (Dialogue)
  • A Book about the Film Monty Python’s Life of Brian: All the References from Assyrians to Zeffirelli by Darl Larsen
Comics[44][39]
  • Green Monk: Blood of the Martyrs by Brandon Dayton (Image Comics)
  • Comic Diaries, Vol. 1 by Brittany Long Olsen (Self-published)
  • SkyHeart Book One: The Search for the Star Seed by Jake Parker (Self-published)
  • Cooties #11 by Nick Perkins
Documentary film[44][39]
  • Church & State
Narrative film[44][39]
  • When She Runs
Picture book[45][39]
  • Jesus is Born: A Flashlight Discovery Book by Shauna Gibby and Casey Nelson (Deseret Book)
  • The Princess in Black and the Science Fair Scare by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, LeUyen Pham (Candlewick Press)
  • If Wendell Had a Walrus by Lori Mortensen and Matt Phelan (Henry Holt and Company)
  • If Da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur by Amy Newbold and Greg Newbold (Tilbury House Publishers)
Middle-grade novel[45][39]
Young-adult novel[45][39]

2019

The final winners were presented May 2, 2020, online, due to a cancellation of the 2020 AML Conference caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[46][47][48]

Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters[46][47]
Lifetime Achievement Award[46][47]
  • R. A. Christmas
Special awards[46][47]
in Literature and Art
HIVE ZINE
The ARCH-HIVE
in Literature and Performance
Thorns and Thistles: A Concert of Literature
Curated and compiled by James Goldberg and Nicole Wilkes Goldberg, directed by Ariel Rivera, music by Nicole Pinnell; supported by and performed at the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts
in Literature
Irreversible Things
Lisa Van Orman Hadley
Novel[49]
  • The Cunning Man by D. J. Butler and Aaron Ritchey (Baen Books)
  • Irreversible Things by Lisa Van Orman Hadley (Howling Bird Press)
  • Maggie’s Place by Annette Haws (Covenant Communications)
  • The Glovemaker by Ann Weisgarber (Skyhorse Publishing)
Short fiction[49]
Young-adult novel[50]
  • Let’s Call it a Doomsday by Katie Henry (Katherine Tegan Books)
  • Scars Like Wings by Erin Stewart (Delacorte)
  • Waiting for Fitz by Spencer Hyde (Shadow Mountain)
Middle-grade novel[50]
  • Out to Get You: Thirteen Tales of Weirdness and Woe by Josh Allen (Holiday House)
  • The Red Flower by Kate Coombs (Blue Sparrow Books)
  • Time Castaways: #1 The Mona Lisa Key and #2 The Obsidian Compass by Liesl Shurtliff (HarperCollins)
Picture book[50]
  • Girls Who Choose God: Stories of Extraordinary Women from Church History by McArthur Krishna, Bethany Brady Spalding, Kathleen Peterson (Deseret Book)[46][47]
Drama[51]
Narrative feature films[51]
Documentary feature films[51]
  • After Selma directed by Loki Mulholland
  • The Jets: Making it Real directed by Kels Goodman
Short film[51]
  • "Father of Man" directed by Barrett Burgin[46][47]
  • "Paper Trails" directed by Heather Moser
  • "Stickup Kid" directed by Daniel Tu
  • "Man and Kin" directed by Max Johnson
Poetry[52]
  • Homespun and Angel Feathers by Darlene Young (BCC Press)[46][47]
  • Into the Sun: Poems Revised, Rearranged, and New by Colin Douglas (Waking Lion Press)
  • After Earth by Michael Lavers (University of Tampa Press)
  • The Tree at the Center by Kathryn Knight Sonntag (BCC Press)
  • The Marriage of the Moon and the Field by Sunni Brown Wilkinson (Black Lawrence Press)
Criticism[52]
  • "Poetic Representations of Mormon Women in Late Nineteenth-Century Frontier America" by Amy Easton-Flake in Representing Rural Women (edited by Whitney Womack Smith and Margaret Thomas-Evans, Lexington Books)[46][47]
  • "Danites, Damsels, and World Domination: Mormons in the Dime Novels" by Michael Austin in Sunstone
  • "Wrestling with God: Invoking Scriptural Mythos in LDS Literary Work" by James Goldberg in Remember the Revolution: Mormon Essays and Stories (self-published)
  • Mormons, Musical Theatre, and Belonging in America by Jake Johnson (University of Illinois Press)
  • Latter-day Screens: Gender, Sexuality, and Mediated Mormonism by Brenda R. Weber (Duke University Press)
Creative nonfiction[53]
  • Remember the Revolution: Mormon Essays and Stories by James Goldberg (self-published)
  • A New Constellation: A Memoir by Ashley Mae Hoiland (BCC Press)
Religious nonfiction[53]
  • A Place to Belong: Reflections from Modern Latter-day Saint Women edited by Hollie Rhees Fluhman and Camille Fronk Olson (Deseret Book)[46][47]
  • If Truth Were a Child: Essays by George B. Handley (Maxwell Institute)
  • The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church by Jana Riess (Oxford University Press)
Comics[53]
  • That’s One Small Step for a Mom, One Giant Leap for Missionarykind by Kevin Beckstrom (self-published)[46][47]

2020

The final winners were presented June 5, 2021, as part of an online-only conference, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[54][55]

Lifetime Achievement[56]
  • John Serge Bennion
Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters[57]
Special Award in Religious Nonfiction[58]
  • The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions (Maxwell Institute)
General editors: Spencer Fluhman and Philip Barlow
Series editors: D. Morgan Davis, James E. Faulconer, Kristine Haglund, Joseph M. Spencer, Rosalynde Welch
Authors: Joseph M. Spencer, Terryl L. Givens, Deidre Nicole Green, Sharon J. Harris, James E. Faulconer, Kylie Turley, Mark Wrathall, Kimberly Berkey, Daniel Becerra, Adam S. Miller, Rosalynde Frandsen Welch, David F. Holland
Illustrator: Brian Kershisnik
Special Award in Nonfiction
Editors: Carol Edison, Eric A. Eliason, Lynne S McNeill
Novel[59]
  • Bountiful by Charity Shumway (BCC Press)
Other finalists:
Short story[59]
  • "The Water Between Us" by Ryan Shoemaker (Barzakh 12, Spring 2020)
Other finalists:
  • "Every Nerve Singing" by Ryan Habermeyer (Fugue 58, Winter/Spring 2020)
  • "Upcycling Death" by M.K. Hutchins (Brain Games: Stories to Astonish)
  • "Certain Places" by William Morris (Dialogue 53:2, Summer 2020)
  • "The Overcoat by Maurine Whipple (Irreantum 17.1, Fall 2020)
Short-fiction collection[59]
  • A Craving for Beauty: The Collected Writings of Maurine Whipple by Maurine Whipple, edited by Veda Hale, Andrew Hall, and Lynne Larson (BCC Press)
Other finalist:
Poetry[59]
Other finalists:
  • I, Taliesin by Michael R. Collings (Self-published)
  • Ese golpe de luz by Gabriel González Núñez (FlowerSong Books)
  • An Imperfect Roundness by Melody Newey Johnson (BCC Press)
Creative nonfiction[60]
  • Lies of the Magpie: A Memoir by Maleah Day Warner (Author Academy Elite)
Other finalists:
Religious nonfiction[60]
  • Buried Treasures: Reading the Book of Mormon Again for the First Time by Michael Austin (BCC Press)
Other finalists:
  • Mercy without End by Lavina Fielding Anderson (Signature Books)
  • Visions in a Seer Stone; Joseph Smith and the Making of the Book of Mormon by William L. Davis (University of North Carolina Press)
  • Tabernacles of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism by Taylor G. Petrey (University of North Carolina Press)
  • The Book of Mormon For the Least of These, volume 1: 1 Nephi-Words of Mormon by Fatimah Salleh and Margaret Olsen Hemming (BCC Press)
Audiobook[60]
  • Clogs and Shawls: Mormons, Moorlands, and the Search for Zion by Ann Chamberlin, narrated by Jacqueline de Boer
Other finalists:
  • Witchy War Series (Witchy Eye, Witchy Winter, Witchy Kingdom) by D. J. Butler, narrated by Courtney Patterson
  • Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier by Benjamin Park, narrated by Bob Souer
  • The Book of Mormon for the Least of These, volume 1 by Fatimah Salleh and Margaret Olsen Hemmings, narrated by Margaret Olsen Hemmings
  • Church History Department. Saints, Book 2, No Unhallowed Hand: 1846-1893 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, history department, narrated by Kirby Heyborne
Podcast[60][c]
Other finalists:
  • The Center’s Studio Podcast from the Center for Latter-day Arts, hosted by Glen Nelson
  • Mattathias Reads the World, hosted by Mattathias Westwood
  • Unfinished: Short Creek, part of Witness Docs from Stitcher, hosted by Ash Sanders and Sarah Ventre
Picture book[61]
Other finalists:
Middle-grade novel[61]
  • 96 Miles by J. L. Esplin (Starscape/Tor Teen)
Other finalists:
Young-adult novel[61]
Other finalists:
Comics[62]
  • Future Day Saints: Welcome to New Zion by Matt Page
Other finalists:
  • Everything Is Going to Be Okay by Dani Jones
  • Pillar of Light: Joseph Smith’s First Vision by Andrew G. Knaupp and Sal Velluto
  • Magic in the Valley: The Story of Moira Green, Witch by Brittany Long Olsen
Criticism[62]
  • "Repicturing the Restoration: New Art to Expand our Understanding" by Anthony Sweat (BYU Religious Studies Center)
Other finalists:
  • Spencer Kimball’s Record Collection: Essays on Mormon Music by Michael Hicks (Signature)
  • "The 'New Woman' and the Woman’s Exponent: An Editorial Perspective" by Carol Cornwall Madsen (BYU Studies Quarterly, 59:3, 2000)
  • Josephine Spencer: Her Collected Works, Vol. 1, 1887-1899 edited by Ardis E. Parshall and Michael Austin (BCC Press)
  • A Craving for Beauty: The Collected Writings of Maurine Whipple edited by Veda Hale, Andrew Hall, and Lynne Larson (BCC Press)
Drama[62]
Other finalists:
  • The Captivity of Hannah Dunston by Glen Nelson (liberetto) and Lansing McLoskey (music) (Guerilla Opera Company)
  • Give Me Moonlight by Ariel Mitchell (Motor House, Baltimore)
  • Escape from Planet Death by Tom Russell and BYU School of Media Arts Students (BYU)
Film[62]
Other finalist:
  • Gruff written and directed by Kohl Glass

2021

The winners were announced July 23, 2022, at the AML Conference. Note that, for the fiction awards, the additional of bilingual judges led to the consideration of Spanish-language works published as far back as 2016. Additionally, with the return of a lyrics award, music was considered from both 2020 and 2021.[63]

AML Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Michael Austin
Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
  • Darlene Young
Special award in fiction[64]
Estampas del Libro de Mormón by Gabriel González Núñez
Special award in nonfiction[63]

Eugene England: A Mormon Liberal by Kristine L. Haglund (University of Illinois Press)

Novel[64][63]
Eleusis:The Long and Winding Road by R. de la Lanza (Intendencia de las Letras/Ulterior Editorial)
The Jupiter Knife by D. J. Butler and Aaron Michael Ritchie (Baen)
Picnic in the Ruins by Todd Robert Petersen (Counterpoint)
Noria by Juan Antonio Santoyo (Ulterior Editorial)
Short fiction[64][63]
"Y no preguntes mas . . ." ("So Ask no More . . .") by Mario R. Montani (Irreantum)
"Good Shepherd Church" by Riley Clay (Irreantum)
"Between Glory and Ruin" James Goldberg (A Desolating Sickness: Stories of Pandemic)
"Skillick’s Bride" Rachel Helps[d]
"The Wall" by Spencer Hyde (Image)
Young Adult Novel[65][63]
Beyond the Mapped Stars by Rosalyn Eves (Knopf)
A Sisterhood of Secret Ambitions by Sheena Boekweg (Feiwel & Friends)
Where I Belong Marcia Mickelson (Carolrhoda Lab)
Fadeaway by E. B. Vickers (Knopf)
In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner (Crown Books)
Middle Grade Novel[65][63]
Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls by Kaela Rivera (HarperCollins)
Breathing Underwater by Sarah Allen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Horace & Bunwinkle: The Case of the Rascally Raccoon by P.J. Gardner (illustrated by Dave Mottram) (Balzer + Bray)
Friends Forever by Shannon Hale (illustrated by Leuyen Pham) (First Second)
Tips for Magicians by Celesta Rimington (Crown Books for Young Readers)
Picture Book[65][63]
A Child of God by Chantel Bonner, Mauli Bonner, and Morgan Bissant (Shadow Mountain/Ensign Peak)
The Boy and the Sea by Camile Andros and Amy June Bates (Abrams)
We Believe: Illustrated Articles of Faith by Annie Poon (Covenant)
Thankful by Elaine Vickers and Samantha Cotterill (Paula Wiseman Books)
10 Little Disciples by Sierra Wilson (Ambassador-Emerald Intl)
Film[66][63]
Witnesses (directed by Mark Goodman, written by Mitch Davis)
His Name is Green Flake (directed and written by Mauli Bonner)
Maggie on Stratford Ave (directed and written by James May)
Scenes from the Glittering World (directed by Jared Jakins)
The Touch of the Master’s Hand (directed and written by Gregory Barnes)
Drama[66][63]
REDEEMHer: How I Screwed up my perfect Mormon life by Tatum Langton
The King Stag by Janine Sobeck Knighton
Gin Mummy by Melissa Leilani Larson
1820: The Musical (book: George Nelson; music and lyrics: Kayliann Lowe Juarez, Doug Lowe, and Kendra Lowe)
Poetry[66][63]
The Ache and The Wing by Sunni Brown Wilkinson (Sundress Publications)
Beneath the Falls by Mark D. Bennion (Resource publications)
Down Their Spears by Jared Pearce (Cyberwit)
Podcast[66][63]
This Is the Gospel (LDS Living)
Faith Matters hosted by Aubrey Chaves, Tim Chaves, and Terryl Givens; produced by Bill Turnbull and Branson Hirschi (Faith Matters Foundation)
Latter-day Contemplation hosted by Christopher Hurtado and Riley Risto; created by Shiloh Logan and Riley Risto; edited by Christian Hutardo (Latter-day Peace Studies)
Leading Saints hosted by Kurt Francom; executive produced by Kurt Francom; produced by Lillian Angelovic
Sunstone Mormon History (Sunstone Education Foundation)
Comics[67][63]
Friends Forever by Shannon Hale (illustrated by Leuyen Pham) (First Second)
Future Day Saints: The Gnomlaumite Crystal by Matt Page
The Glass Looker: Collected Tales of Joseph Smith by Mark Elwood
Criticism[67][63]
Vardis Fisher: A Mormon Novelist by Michael Austin (University of Illinois Press)
“The Case for Resurrection: A Mormon Movie Manifesto” by Barrett Burgin in Mormonism and the Movies, edited by Chris Wei, (BCC Press)
“Theologies of the Afterlife in Mormon Women’s Late-Nineteenth-Century Poetry” Amy Easton-Flake in Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers and Theologies of the Afterlife (Routledge)
Mormonism in SF edited by Adam McClain for SFRA Review 51:3, Summer 2021.
Creative Nonfiction[67][63]
Zion Earth, Zen Sky by Charles Shirō Inouye (Neal A. Maxwell Institute)
Blossom as the Cliffrose: Mormon Legacies and the Beckoning Wild edited by Karin Anderson and Danielle Dubrasky (Torrey House Press)
Ninety-Nine Fire Hoops by Allison Hong Merrill (She Writes Press)
Scrupulous: My Obsessive Compulsion for God by Taylor Kerby (BCC Press)
Where the Soul Hungers: One Doctor’s Journey from Atheism to Faith by Samuel M. Brown (Neal A. Maxwell Institute)
Religious Nonfiction[67][63]
Proclaim Peace: The Restoration’s Answer to an Age of Conflict by Patrick Q. Mason and J. David Pulsipher (Maxwell Institute)
Stretching the Heavens: The Life of Eugene England and the Crisis of Modern Mormonism by Terryl L. Givens (University of North Carolina Press)
The Restoration: God’s Call to the 21st Century World by Patrick Q. Mason (Faith Matters)
The Anatomy of Book of Mormon Theology, Vols. 1 and 2 Joseph M. Spencer (Greg Kofford Books)
Humility: A Practical Approach by Shawn Tucker (BCC Press)
Lyrics[67][63]
Fragility by Christian Asplund
Therapy Sessions by David Archuleta
A Fish of Earth by Emily Brown
Pressure Machine by The Killers
Strangest Congregations by Andrew Wiscombe

2022

Award winners were announced April 29, 2023 at a virtual conference.[68][69]

AML Lifetime Achievement Award
Michael Hicks[70]
Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
Stephen R. Carter[71]
Novel[72]
The History of Honey Spring by Darin Cozzens (Zarahemla Books)
And All Eternity Shook by Jacob L. Bender (Ships of Hagoth)
The Resurrection Box by Declan Hyde (Gypsy Fox Publishing)
Heike’s Void by Steven L. Peck (BCC Press)
Short fiction[72]
"The Intelligences" ("As inteligências") by Marcelo Bighetti (translated by Kent S. Larsen) (Irreantum)
"The Profile of Daria Black" by Michaelbrent Collings (In Gilded Glass: Twisted Myths and Shattered Fairytales, WordFire Press)
"The Algorithms of Happiness" by Ryan Habermeyer (Iron Horse Literary Review)
"Worlds Without End" by Tygan Shelton (Irreantum)
"Twilight of the Eye Creature" by Nathan Shumate (Cold Fusion Media)
Short-fiction collection[72]
The Year They Gave Women the Priesthood and Other Stories by Michael Fillerup (Signature Books)
Down the Arches of the Years by Lee Allred (Hemelein Publications)
The Darkest Abyss: Strange Mormon Stories by William Morris (BCC Press)
Sharks in an Inland Sea by Lehua Parker (Hemelein Publications)
Drama[73]
The Wrong People Have Money by Reed McColm. Varscona Theatre, Alberta. Shadow Theatre.
A. D. 16 by Bekah Brunstetter (book) and Cinco Paul (story, music, and lyrics). Olney Theatre Center, Olney, Maryland.
Mestiza, or Mixed by Melissa Leilani Larson. Plan-B Theatre, Salt Lake City.
Mother, Mother: The Many Mothers of Maude by Julie Jensen. Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Salt Lake City. Pygmalion Productions.
Creative Nonfiction[74]
The Burning Book by Jason Olson and James Goldberg (BCC Press)
The Precarious Walk: Essays from Sand and Sun by Phyllis Barber (Torrey House Press)
Wineskin: Freakin’ Jesus in the ‘60s and ‘70s by Michael Hicks (Signature Books)
East Winds: A Global Quest to Reckon with Marriage by Rachel Rueckert (BCC Press)
Religious Nonfiction[75]
Ancient Christians: An Introduction for Latter-day Saints edited by Jason R. Combs, Mark D. Ellison, Cathrine Gines Taylor, and Kristian S. Heal. (Maxwell Institute)
Book of Mormon Studies: An Introduction and Guide by Daniel Becerra, Amy Easton-Flake, Nicholas J. Frederick, and Joseph M. Spencer. (Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center)
Mormon Women at the Crossroads: Global Narratives and the Power of Connectedness edited by Caroline Kline. (University of Illinois Press)
Original Grace: An Experiment in Restoration Thinking by Adam S. Miller (Maxwell Institute/Deseret Book)
The Book of Mormon for the Least of These: Vol. 2, Mosiah-Alma by Fatimah Salleh and Margaret Olsen Hemming (BCC Press)
Criticism (long-form)[74]
Mormonism, Empathy, and Aesthetics: Beholding the Body by Gary Ettari (Palgrave Macmillan)
Experiment upon the Word by Frederik S. Kleiner (BCC Press)
John Held Jr.’s Fiction by Glen Nelson (Center for Latter-day Saint Art)
Criticism (short-form)[74]
"The Divine Feminine in Mormon Art" by Margaret Olsen Hemming (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought)
"Lands Before Time: Plan of Salvation Typology in the Films of Don Bluth" by Randy Astle (Irreantum)
"Apologia Unmasked: Brigham City, Film Noir and the Future of Mormon Cinema" by Lane Welch (Utah Monthly)
"The Secular Syllabus and the Sacred Book: Literary Scholars Approach the Book of Mormon" by Rosalynde Welch (Journal of Book of Mormon Studies)
Young-adult novel[76]
Beneath the Wide Silk Sky by Emily Inouye Huey (Scholastic)
Wakers by Orson Scott Card (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
The Silence that Binds Us by Joanna Ho (HarperTeen)
This Might Get Awkward by Kara McDowell (Scholastic)
The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart (Declorate)
Middle-grade novel[76]
Willis Wilbur Wows the World by Lindsey Leavitt (Penguin Workshop)
The Legend of the Dream Giants by Dustin Hansen (Shadow Mountain)
The Hope of Elephants by Amanda Rawson Hill (Charlesbridge)
Lines of Courage by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Scholastic)
Secrets of the Looking Glass by J. Scott Savage (Shadow Mountain)
Picture book[76]
Bedtime Stories for Girls of Destiny by Raeleigh Wilkinson (Cedar Fort)
A Book, Too, Can Be A Star: The Story of Madeleine L’Engle and the Making of A Wrinkle in Time by Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Jennifer Adams (authors), Andelina Lirius (illustrator)
Mud! by Annie Bailey (author) and Jen Corace (illustrator) (Abrams Appleseed)
Pirates Don’t Dance by Shawna J. C. Tenney (Sleeping Bear)
Pretty Perfect Kitty Corn by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham (Abrams)
Comics[77]
Joseph Smith and the Mormons by Noah Van Sciver (Abrams ComicArts)
The Glass Looker: Volume 2 by Mark Elwood (Luman Books)
The Manderfield Devil by Rachel Allen Everett (independently published)
Beware the Eye of Odin Doug Wagner (writer) and Tim Odland (artist) (Image Comics)
Poetry[77]
Fatal by Kimberly Johnson (Persea Books)
Litany with Wings by Tyler Chadwick (BCC Press)
Golden Ax by Rio Cortez (Penguin)
Drift Migration by Danielle Beazer Dubrasky (Ashland Poetry Press)
Hemingway in Paradise and other Mormon Poems by Scott Hales (Mormon Lit Lab)
Special Award in Publishing—Republication[77]
The Corianton Saga edited by Ardis E. Parshall (BCC Press)
A Vision Splendid: The Discourses of David O. McKay edited by Anne-Marie Wright Lampropoulos (Greg Kofford Books)
The Bacillus of Beauty by Harriet Stark, edited by Joe Monson (Hemelein Publications)
Film[75]
The Mission. Tania Anderson, director. Danish Bear Productions.
The Brilliant Darkness! (Dem Toi Ruc Ro!). Aaron Toronto, director, co-writer, and co-producer. Nha Uyen Ly Nguyen, co-writer, co-producer, and lead actor.
Cheer. Season 2. Greg Whiteley, creator, executive producer, director. One Potato Productions, Netflix.
Lucy and Whitney. Parker Gehring, director and writer.
WWJD. Davey Morrison and Bianca Dillard, directors. Written by Davey Morrison and Anna Lewis. Based on a play by Anna Christina Kohler Lewis.
Podcast[78]
This Global Latter-day Life (Caroline Kline, host and writer; Claremont Graduate University, Claremont Mormon Studies; Dialogue Podcast Network)
Come Follow Me Kids (Bay Kids)
Leading Saints (Kurt Francom, host/executive producer; Lillian Angelovic, producer)
Tribe of Testimonies (Andrea Hales, host)
Y Religion (Anthony Sweat, host and producer; Brigham Young University Religious Education)

See also

Notes

    1. In 1978, Clark and Brown were honorable mentions in the poetry category.
    2. In 1978, Rosenbaum was an honorable mention in the short story category.
    3. Quotation from listing: "The podcast category is new to the AML Awards this year. The judges focused solely on podcast episodes published in 2020. Podcasts were required to have at least four episodes published last year to qualify. We want to acknowledge that the pandemic had an effect on podcast production, and, unfortunately, some podcasts that would have qualified in 2019 didn’t this year. Because it was a new category, we cast a fairly wide net, searching various podcast platforms for any podcast that focused on Mormonism in any capacity as well as podcasts produced by Mormon-related/adjacent organizations and individuals who are known to be Mormon. Unsurprisingly, many of the podcasts in the Mormon space focus on current issues, interviews, or Mormon history. Of those, we focused on podcasts that either featured Mormon writers or used interesting storytelling techniques. In creating the final list, we judged on such criteria as production values, literary/narrative value, and relevance to the field of Mormon literature. While they are not finalists, we also wanted to give a nod to podcasts that are doing interesting things in the space and are of special interest to Mormon literature, including Chapter and Verse (a daily poem on a verse or two of scripture); HIVE CAST (interesting production, strong focus on Mormon art); Face in Hat (in particular, the episode on the finale of The Good Place); and Zion’s Suffragists (especially the selection and presentation of documentary materials)."
    4. This is the first work of interactive fiction nominated for an AML Award.

    References

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