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Our past
finalists & winners
of The Prize.
The hall of fame.
With more than 20+ years of legacy, the "Thurber Halls" are lined with incredible authors from around the country. To learn more about our past finalists and winners, check them out below.
*More author profiles coming soon.*
Past Finalists & Winners
Note: The Thurber Prize for American Humor was not awarded in 1998, 2000, or 2003. It became an annual award in 2004.
2021 | The 21st Thurber Prize
2021 WINNER:
James McBride, Deacon King Kong
2021 FINALISTS:
Mike Birbiglia, The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad
Alexandra Petri: Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why
2020 | The 20th Thurber Prize
2020 WINNER:
Damon Young, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker
2020 FINALISTS:
Dave Barry, Lessons from Lucy
Kira Jane Buxton, Hollow Kingdom
2019 | The 19th Thurber Prize
2019 WINNER:
Simon Rich, Hits & Misses
2019 FINALISTS:
Sloane Crosley, Look Alive Out There
John Kenney, Love Poems for Married People
2018 | The 18th Thurber Prize
2018 WINNER:
Patricia Lockwood, Priestdaddy
2018 FINALISTS:
Jenny Allen, Would Everybody Please Stop?: Reflections on Life and Other Bad Ideas
John Hodgman, Vactionland: True Stories from Painful Beaches
2017 | The 17th Thurber Prize
2017 WINNER:
Trevor Noah, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
2017 FINALISTS:
Ken Pisani, Amp'd
Aaron Thier, Mr. Eternity
2016 | The 16th Thurber Prize
2016 WINNER:
Harrison Scott Key, The World's Largest Man
2016 FINALISTS:
Jason Gay, Little Victories
Mary Norris, Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen
2015 | The 15th Thurber Prize
2015 WINNER:
Julie Schumacher, Dear Committee Members
2015 FINALISTS:
Roz Chast, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?
Annabelle Gurwitch, I See You Made an Effort: Compliments, Indignities, and Survival Stories from the Edge of 50
2014 | The 14th Thurber Prize
2014 WINNER:
John Kenney, Truth in Advertising
2014 FINALISTS:
Liza Donnelly, Women on Men
Bruce McCall and David Letterman, This Land Was Made for You and Me (But Mostly Me)
2013 | The 13th Thurber Prize
2013 WINNER:
Dan Zevin, Dan Gets a Minivan: Life at the Intersection of Dude and Dad
2013 FINALISTS:
Shalom Auslander, Hope, A Tragedy
Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel, Lunatics: A Novel
2012 | The 12th Thurber Prize
2012 WINNER:
Calvin Trillin, Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin: Forty Years of Funny Stuff
2012 FINALISTS:
Nate DiMeo and the creative team of Parks and Recreation, Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America
Patricia Marx, Starting From Happy
2011 | The 11th Thurber Prize
2011 WINNER:
David Rakoff, Half Empty
2011 FINALISTS:
Rick Reilly, Sports from Hell
Mike Birbiglia, Sleepwalk with Me
2010 | The 10th Thurber Prize
2010 WINNER:
Steve Hely, How I Became a Famous Novelist
2010 FINALISTS:
Jancee Dunn, Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo
Rhoda Janzen, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
2009 | The 9th Thurber Prize
2009 WINNER:
Ian Frazier, Lamentations of the Father
2009 FINALISTS:
Sloane Crosley, I Was Told There'd Be Cake
Don Lee, Wrack and Ruin
Laurie Notaro, The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death
2008 | The 8th Thurber Prize
2008 WINNER:
Larry Doyle, I Love You, Beth Cooper
2008 FINALISTS:
Patricia Marx, Him Her Him Again The End of Him
Simon Rich, Ant Farm and Other Desperate Situations
2007 | The 7th Thurber Prize
2007 WINNER:
Joe Keenan, My Lucky Star
2007 FINALISTS:
Merrill Markoe, Walking in Circles Before Lying Down
Bob Newhart, I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This and Other Things That Strike Me Funny
2006 | The 6th Thurber Prize
2006 WINNER:
Alan Zweibel, The Other Shulman
2006 FINALISTS:
Bill Scheft, Time Won’t Let Me
Kinky Friedman, Texas Hold ‘Em
2005 | The 5th Thurber Prize
2005 WINNER:
Jon Stewart and the writers of The Daily Show, America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction
2005 FINALISTS:
Andy Borowitz, The Borowitz Report: The Big Book of Shockers
Firoozeh Dumas, Funny in Farsi
2004| The 4th Thurber Prize
2004 WINNER:
Christopher Buckley, No Way to Treat a First Lady
2004 FINALISTS:
Robert Kaplow, Me and Orson Welles
Dan Zevin, The Day I Turned Uncool
2001 | The 3rd Thurber Prize
2001 WINNER:
David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day
2001 SPECIAL HONOR BOOK:
Henry Alford, Big Kiss
2001 FINALISTS:
Andy Borowitz, The Trillionaire Next Door
Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country
Brett Leveridge, Men My Mother Dated
Jim Mullen, It Takes a Village Idiot
1999 | The 2nd Thurber Prize
1999 WINNER:
The editors of The Onion, Our Dumb Century: 100 Years of Headlines from America’s Finest News Source
1997 | The 1st Thurber Prize
1997 WINNER:
Ian Frazier, Coyote v. Acme
1997 HONOR BOOKS:
David Sedaris, Naked
Al Franken, Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations
We've got the answers to your questions
Seriously, if you have any questions about The Thurber Prize, we have the answers.
We have three finalists each year out of the hundreds of submissions that we receive from authors all across the country. From indie self-pubs to best-selling authors and everything in between, these writers try their chance at taking home the coveted Thurber Prize each year. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just getting started in the field, this award show is made by and for the industry to celebrate the very best in humor writing.
The live award show on April 28, 2023 in Columbus, OH allows you to see the finalists read and be awarded in real time. The show is also jam-packed with music, dance, and comedy to give you an unforgettable evening of humor.
Shhh... The judging process is top-secret... Just kidding. Any author from around the country with a qualifying book is able to submit their work for consideration. Once submissions close for the year, our panel of national judges quickly gets to work reading and scoring each book. This process is done in two rounds of judging which gives us our top six to seven, top three, then eventually our winner who is awarded the evening of the show.
Each year, the live show is attended by industry professionals, humor and/or writing enthusiasts, fans-of-the-authors, and many other people who just want to have a good time!
The award show by and for funny people.
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