Thurber Prize for American Humor

The Thurber Prize for American Humor, named after American humorist James Thurber, recognizes outstanding contributions in humor writing. The prize is given out by the Thurber House. It was first awarded irregularly, but since 2004 has been bestowed annually. In 2015, the finalists were for the first time, all women.^[1] Winners of the Thurber Prize have included authors from an array of diverse backgrounds, from The Daily Show hosts Jon Stewart and Trevor Noah to The New Yorker staff writers Calvin Trillin and Ian Frazier, as well as university professors Julie Schumacher and Harrison Scott Key.^[2]

Honorees

Award winners and finalists^[3]

Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref.
1997	Ian Frazier	Coyote v. Acme	Winner	[4]
	Al Franken	Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations	Finalist
	David Sedaris	Naked	Finalist
1999	The Onion editorial staff	Our Dumb Century	Winner
2001	David Sedaris	Me Talk Pretty One Day	Winner	[5]
	Henry Alford	Big Kiss	Special Honor
	Andy Borowitz	The Trillionaire Next Door	Finalist
	Bill Bryson	In a Sunburned Country	Finalist
	Brett Leveridge	Men My Mother Dated	Finalist
	Jim Mullen	It Takes a Village Idiot	Finalist
2004	Christopher Buckley	No Way to Treat a First Lady	Winner	[6]
	Robert Kaplow	Me and Orson Welles	Finalist
	Dan Zevin	The Day I Turned Uncool	Finalist
2005	Jon Stewart, Ben Karlin, David Javerbaum and The Daily Show writing staff	America (The Book)	Winner	[7]
	Andy Borowitz	The Borowitz Report: The Big Book of Shockers	Finalist
	Firoozeh Dumas	Funny in Farsi	Finalist
2006	Alan Zweibel	The Other Shulma	Winner	[8]
	Kinky Friedman	Texas Hold 'Em: How I Was Born in a Manger, Died in the Saddle, and Came Back as a Horny Toad	Finalist
	Bill Scheft	Time Won't Let Me	Finalist
2007	Joe Keenan	My Lucky Star	Winner	[9][10][11]
	Merrill Markoe	Walking In Circles Before Lying Down	Finalist
	Bob Newhart	I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This! And Other Things That Strike Me As Funny	Finalist
2008	Larry Doyle	I Love You Beth Cooper	Winner	[12]
	Patricia Marx	Him Her Him Again The End of Him	Finalist	[13][14]
	Simon Rich	Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations	Finalist
2009	Ian Frazier	Lamentations of the Father	Winner	[15]
	Sloane Crosley	I Was Told There'd Be Cake	Finalist	[4][16]
	Don Lee	Wrack and Ruin	Finalist
	Laurie Notaro	The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death	Finalist
2010	Steve Hely	How I Became a Famous Novelist	Winner	[17]
	Jancee Dunn	Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo?	Finalist	[18]
	Rhoda Janzen	Mennonite in a Little Black Dress	Finalist	[18]
2011	David Rakoff	Half Empty	Winner	[19][20]
	Mike Birbiglia	Sleepwalk With Me and Other Painfully True Stories	Finalist	[21]
	Rick Reilly	Sports from Hell	Finalist	[21]
2012	Calvin Trillin	Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin: Forty Years of Funny Stuff	Winner	[22][23]
	Nate DiMeo	Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America	Finalist	[24][25]
	Patricia Marx	Starting from Happy	Finalist	[24][25]
2013	Dan Zevin	Dan Gets a Minivan	Winner	[26]
	Shalom Auslander	Hope: A Tragedy	Finalist	[27]
	Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel	Lunatics	Finalist	[27]
2014	John Kenney	Truth in Advertising	Winner	[28]
	Liza Donnelly	Women on Men	Finalist	[29][30]
	Bruce McCall and David Letterman	This Land Was Made for You and Me (But Mostly Me)	Finalist	[29][30]
2015	Julie Schumacher	Dear Committee Members	Winner	[31][32][33]
	Roz Chast	Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?	Finalist	[34][35]
	Annabelle Gurwitch	I See You Made an Effort: Compliments, Indignities, and Survival Stories from the Edge of 50	Finalist	[34][35]
2016	Harrison Scott Key	The World's Largest Man	Winner	[36][37]
	Jason Gay	Little Victories	Finalist	[38][39]
	Mary Norris	Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen	Finalist	[38][39]
2017	Trevor Noah	Born a Crime	Winner	[40][41]
	Ken Pisani	Amp'd	Finalist	[42][43]
	Aaron Thier	Mr. Eternity	Finalist	[42][43]
2018	Patricia Lockwood	Priestdaddy	Winner	[44]
	Jenny Allen	Would Everybody Please Stop?	Finalist	[45][46]
	John Hodgman	Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches	Finalist	[45][46]
2019	Simon Rich	Hits and Misses	Winner	[47]
	Sloane Crosley	Look Alive Out There	Finalist
	John Kenney	Love Poems for Married People	Finalist
2020	Damon Young	What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker	Winner	[48][49]
	Dave Barry	Lessons from Lucy	Finalist	[50]
	Kira Jane Buxton	Hollow Kingdom	Finalist	[50]
2021	James McBride	Deacon King Kong	Winner	[51]
	Mike Birbiglia	The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad	Finalist	[52]
	Alexandra Petri	Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why	Finalist	[52]
2022	Steven Rowley	The Guncle	Winner	[53]
	Annabelle Gurwitch	You're Leaving When? Adventures in Downward Mobility	Finalist	[54]
	Danielle Henderson	The Ugly Cry	Finalist	[54]
2023	S.E. Boyd	The Lemon	Winner
	Elaine Hsieh Chou	Disorientation	Finalist
	Elinor Lipman	Ms. Demeanor	Finalist

References

1. Armao, Mark (25 August 2015). "Thurber Prize for American Humor Announces First All-Female Trio of Finalists". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 29 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
2. "Thurber House — PAST THURBER PRIZE WINNERS AND FINALISTS — Literary Center and James Thurber Museum". Thurber House. Archived from the original on November 25, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
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9. "'Frasier' writer wins literary award". USA Today. The Associated Press. 3 October 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
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39. "3 finalists announced for Thurber Prize for American Humor". AP News. 2016-08-25. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
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41. "Awards: Thurber Prize; Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence". Shelf Awareness. October 3, 2017. Archived from the original on March 22, 2023. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
42. "Awards: Thurber Finalists; PEN Center USA Winners". Shelf Awareness. August 24, 2017. Archived from the original on March 27, 2023. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
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44. "Awards: Thurber Prize; Grammy Nominations". Shelf Awareness. December 10, 2018. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
45. "Awards: Thurber American Humor". Shelf Awareness. October 16, 2018. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
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48. "Awards: Thurber Winner; Orwell Book Shortlists". Shelf Awareness. June 1, 2021. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
49. Schaub, Michael (May 24, 2021). "Damon Young Wins Thurber Prize for American Humor". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on 2021-06-06. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
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51. "Past Thurber Prize Winners". Thurber House. Archived from the original on November 25, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
52. Gilson, Nancy (April 23, 2022). "James McBride, author of 'Deacon King Kong,' winner of Thurber Prize for American Humor". The Columbus Dispatch. Archived from the original on 2022-08-12. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
53. "Our past finalists & winners of The Prize". Thurber Prize. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
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External links

• Thurber Prize for American Humor at Thurber House