To order copies of the finalists’ books, please click on the links below which will allow you to order through this year’s MLA bookseller, Longfellow Books.

Book Award for Crime Fiction
Katherine Hall Page, The Body in the Wake
Joseph Souza, Pray for the Girl

Book Award for Fiction
John Bragg, Exit 8
Anne Elliott, The Artstars

Book Award for Nonfiction
Cynthia Anderson, Home Now
Mira Ptacin, The In-Betweens

Book Award for Memoir
Elissa Altman, Motherland
Jaed Coffin, Roughhouse Friday

Book Award for Poetry
Michelle Lewis, Animul/Flame
Dawn Potter, Chestnut Ridge

John N. Cole Award for Maine Nonfiction
Sandra Dinsmore, More by Eye Than by Measure
Russie Lane, Snow Angels on the Moon

Book Award for Young People's Literature
Katie Coppens, The Acadia Files
Fran Hodgkins, Hex: The Apprentice

Book Award for Children's
Ryan T. Higgins, Bruce's Big Storm
Jean Flahive & Donald Soctomah,
The Canoe Maker

Book Award for Speculative Fiction
*No award will be given this year.

Book Award for Excellence in Publishing
Kenji C. Liu, Monsters I Have Been (Alice James)

Book Award for Anthology
Shannon Butler, All Is Calm
The Telling Room, Speak Up

Drama Award
Suzanne d'Corsey, "Ragnarok"
Justine Wiesinger, "Waters Rise"

Short Works Competition in Fiction
Anne Elliott, "Black, Black, Red, Black"
Claire Guyton, "Like Shit on a Cracker" and "SAT Question: The Moon"

Short Works Competition in Nonfiction
Gaye Brown, "Deck Chairs on the ICU"

Short Works Competition in Poetry
Michelle Menting, "Cross-stitched and Popping" and other poems
Martin Steingesser, "Weatherman" and "Shofar"

Youth Competition in Fiction
Catherine Morrissette, "Abduction" and "Bumblebee Heart"

Youth Competition in Nonfiction
Israel Beaulieu, "Consequence of Staying Silent"
Pearl Benjamin, "Love Instinct"

Youth Competition in Poetry
Myah Garrison, "David, the Statue"
Sara Jawad, "Young American, Also Arab"

2020 Finalists