J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize

The J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize is an annual $10,000 award given to a book that exemplifies, "literary grace, a commitment to serious research and social concern." ^[1] The prize is given by the Nieman Foundation and by the Columbia University School of Journalism. ^{[1] [2]}

Established in 1998, the Lukas Prize Project consists of three awards: ^[1]

• The J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize ($10,000)
• The Mark Lynton History Prize ($10,000)
• The J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award ($25,000 plus $5,000 for an annual finalist)

The project is named for Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and author, J. Anthony Lukas; it has been underwritten since its inception by the family of Mark Lynton, a German Jew who had careers with the British military, Citroen and Hunter Douglas. ^{[1] [3]}

Recipients

In the list below, winners are listed first in the gold row, followed by the other nominees. Any finalists are marked with an asterisk. ^[4] Note that shortlists were announced only starting in 2016; previously they would just announce winners and any finalists.

  indicates the winner

Award winners and shortlists

Year	Author	Title	Publisher	Result	Ref.
1999	Henry Mayer	All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery		Winner
2000	Witold Rybczynski	A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the Nineteenth Century		Winner
2001	David Nasaw	The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst		Winner
2002	Diane McWhorter	Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution		Winner
2003	Samantha Power	"A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide		Winner
2004	David Maraniss	They Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967		Winner
2005	Evan Wright	Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War		Winner
2006	Nate Blakeslee	Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town		Winner	[5]
2007	Lawrence Wright	The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11		Winner	[6]
2008	Jeffrey Toobin	The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court		Winner
2009	Jane Mayer	The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals	Doubleday	Winner	[7]
2010	David Finkel	The Good Soldiers		Winner
2011	Eliza Griswold	The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam	Farrar, Straus & Giroux	Winner	[8]
	Jefferson Cowie	Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class	New Press	Finalist	[8]
	Paul Greenberg	Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food	Penguin Press	Finalist	[8]
	Siddhartha Mukherjee	The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer	Scribner	Finalist	[8]
2012	Daniel J. Sharfstein	The Invisible Line: Three American Families and the Secret Journey from Black to White	Viking Press	Winner	[9]
	Manning Marable	Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention	Viking Press	Finalist	[9]
2013	Andrew Solomon	Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity	Scribner	Winner	[10]
	Cynthia Carr	Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz	Bloomsbury	Finalist	[10]
2014	Sheri Fink	Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital	Crown Publishers	Winner	[11]
	Jonathan M. Katz	The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster	Palgrave Macmillan	Finalist	[11]
2015	Jenny Nordberg	The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan	Crown Publishers	Winner	[12]
	Joshua Davis	Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream	Farrar, Straus and Giroux	Shortlist	[12]
2016	Susan Southard	Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War	Viking Penguin	Winner	[13]
	Dale Russakoff	The Prize: Who's in Charge of America's Schools?	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt	Finalist	[13]
	Adam Briggle	A Field Philosopher's Guide to Fracking: How One Texas Town Stood Up to Big Oil and Gas	Liveright	Shortlist	[14]
	Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer	$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt	Shortlist	[14]
	Stephen Witt	How Music Got Free: The End of an Industry, the Turn of the Century, and the Patient Zero of Piracy	Viking Penguin	Shortlist	[14]
2017	Gary Younge	Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives	Nation Books	Winner	[15] [16]
	Zachary Roth	The Great Suppression: Voting Rights, Corporate Cash, and the Conservative Assault on Democracy	Crown	Finalist	[15] [16]
	Arlie Russell Hochschild	Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning On the American Right	The New Press	Shortlist	[17]
	Nancy Isenberg	White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America	Viking	Shortlist	[17]
	Jane Mayer	Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right	Doubleday	Shortlist	[17]
2018	Amy Goldstein	Janesville: An American Story	Simon & Schuster	Winner	[18]
	Jessica Bruder	Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century	W.W. Norton & Company	Finalist	[18]
	Nate Blakeslee	American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West	Crown	Shortlist	[19]
	Lauren Markham	The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants And the Making of an American Life	Crown	Shortlist	[19]
	Helen Thorpe	The Newcomers: Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in an American Classroom	Scribner	Shortlist	[19]
2019	Shane Bauer	American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment	Penguin Press	Winner	[20]
	Lauren Hilgers	Patriot Number One: American Dreams in Chinatown	Crown	Finalist	[20]
	Howard Blum	In the Enemy's House: The Secret Saga of the FBI Agent and the Code Breaker Who Caught the Russian Spies	HarperCollins	Shortlist	[21]
	Chris McGreal	American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts	PublicAffairs	Shortlist	[21]
	Sarah Smarsh	Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth	Scribner	Shortlist	[21]
2020	Alex Kotlowitz	An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago	Nan A. Talese/Doubleday	Winner	[22] [23]
	Emily Bazelon	Charged: The Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration	Random House	Finalist	[22] [23]
	Jennifer Berry Hawes	Grace Will Lead Us Home: The Charleston Church Massacre and the Hard, Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness	St. Martin's Press	Shortlist	[24] [25]
	Jodie Adams Kirshner	Broke: Hardship and Resilience in a City of Broken Promises	St. Martin's Press	Shortlist	[24] [25]
	Margaret O'Mara	The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America	Penguin Press	Shortlist	[24] [25]
2021	Jessica Goudeau	After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America	Viking	Winner	[26] [27]
	Barton Gellman	Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State	Penguin Press	Finalist	[26] [27]
	Becky Cooper	We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence	Grand Central Publishing	Shortlist	[28] [29]
	Seyward Darby	Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism	Little, Brown and Company	Shortlist	[28] [29]
	Isabel Wilkerson	Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents	Random House	Shortlist	[28] [29]
2022	Andrea Elliott	Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City	Random House	Winner	[30] [31]
	Patrick Radden Keefe	Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty	Doubleday	Finalist	[30] [31]
	Scott Ellsworth	The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice	Dutton	Shortlist	[32] [33]
	Jessica Nordell	The End of Bias: A Beginning: The Science and Practice of Overcoming Unconscious Bias	Metropolitan	Shortlist	[32] [33]
	Joshua Prager	The Family Roe: An American Story	Norton/Liverigh	Shortlist	[32] [33]
2023	Linda Villarosa	Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation	Doubleday	Winner	[34]
	Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa	His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice	Viking	Finalist	[34]
	Rachel Aviv	Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us	Farrar, Straus and Giroux	Shortlist	[35]
	Lyndsie Bourgon	Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America’s Woods	Little, Brown Spark	Shortlist	[35]
	Jack Lowery	It Was Vulgar & It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic	Bold Type Books	Shortlist	[35]
2024	Dashka Slater	Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed	Farrar, Straus and Giroux	Winner	[36]
	Kerry Howley	Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State	Knopf	Finalist	[36]
	Cara McGoogan	Blood Farm: The Explosive Big Pharma Scandal that Altered the AIDS Crisis		Shortlist	[37]
	Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson	American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15		Shortlist	[37]
	Joe Sexton	The Lost Sons of Omaha: Two Young Men in an American Tragedy		Shortlist	[37]
2025	Richard Beck	Homeland: The War on Terror in American Life	Crown	Shortlist	[38]
	Barbara Bradley Hagerty	Bringing Ben Home: A Murder, a Conviction, and the Fight to Redeem American Justice	Penguin Random House	Shortlist	[38]
	Mara Kardas-Nelson	We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky: The Seductive Promise of Microfinance	Metropolitan	Shortlist	[38]
	Rebecca Nagle	By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land	Harper	Shortlist	[38]
	Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans	The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels	Crown	Shortlist	[38]

See also

• Mark Lynton History Prize
• J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award

References

1. "J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project". Nieman Foundation. Archived from the original on May 29, 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
2. "The J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards". Columbia Journalism School. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
3. "Review: "Accidental Journey: A Cambridge Internee's Memoir of World War II," by Mark Lynton". Kirkus Reviews . February 15, 1995. Archived from the original on January 28, 2019. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
4. "The J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards" . Retrieved December 29, 2019.
5. "Awards: The Lukas Prizes; Man Stands by its Booker". Shelf Awareness . March 27, 2006. Archived from the original on December 1, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
6. "Awards: Kiriyama and Lukas Winners; RITA Finalists". Shelf Awareness . March 29, 2007. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
7. "Awards: Lukas Winners; Orange Award for New Writers Shortlist". Shelf Awareness . April 8, 2009. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
8. "Awards: Pulitzer, Lukas Winners". Shelf Awareness . April 19, 2011. Archived from the original on January 18, 2025. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
9. "2012 Lukas Prize Project Awards Announced". Nieman Foundation . March 16, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
10. "2013 Lukas Awards go to Niemans". Nieman Foundation. April 18, 2013. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
11. "Sheri Fink, Jill Lepore and Adrienne Berard Are Named Winners of the 2014 J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards". Nieman Foundation. April 9, 2014. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
12. "Jenny Nordberg, Harold Holzer and Dan Egan Win the 2015 J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards". Nieman Foundation. April 2, 2015. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
13. "Awards: Christophers; Lukas". Shelf Awareness . March 31, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
14. "Announcing the 2016 J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards Shortlist". Nieman Foundation. February 22, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
15. "Gary Younge, Christopher Leonard and Tyler Anbinder named winners of the 2017 J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards". Nieman Foundation. March 27, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
16. "Awards: J. Anthony Lukas; Shaughnessy Cohen". Shelf Awareness . March 27, 2017. Archived from the original on November 5, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
17. "Announcing the 2017 J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards Shortlist". Nieman Foundation. February 21, 2017. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
18. "Awards: J. Anthony Lukas; Hans Christian Andersen". Shelf Awareness . March 27, 2018. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
19. "Announcing the 2018 J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards Shortlist". Columbia Journalism School. March 23, 2018. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
20. "Awards: J. Anthony Lukas Winners; CILIP Carnegie, Kate Greenaway Shortlists". Shelf Awareness . March 20, 2019. Archived from the original on November 6, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
21. "Awards: Lukas Shortlist". Shelf Awareness . February 26, 2019. Archived from the original on December 2, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
22. "Awards: Lukas Prize Project, Wingate Literary Winners". Shelf Awareness . March 18, 2020. Archived from the original on January 15, 2025. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
23. Schaub, Michael (March 17, 2020). "J. Anthony Lukas Prize Winners Announced". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
24. "Awards: Kingsley & Kate Tufts Poetry Winners; Lukas Prizes Shortlists". Shelf Awareness . February 26, 2020. Archived from the original on January 23, 2025. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
25. Schaub, Michael (February 25, 2020). "J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize Shortlist Revealed". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on October 7, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
26. "Awards: Publishing Triangle; Lukas; Canadian Picture Book". Shelf Awareness . March 24, 2021. Archived from the original on March 31, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
27. Schaub, Michael (March 23, 2021). "Winners of J. Anthony Lukas Prizes Are Announced". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on March 24, 2022. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
28. "Awards: Montana Book Winner; Walter Scott Historical Fiction Longlist; Lukas Shortlists". Shelf Awareness . February 25, 2021. Archived from the original on August 14, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
29. Schaub, Michael (February 24, 2021). "J. Anthony Lukas Prize Shortlists Are Revealed". Kirkus Reviews . Archived from the original on September 29, 2023. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
30. Schaub, Michael (March 23, 2022). "Winners of the 2022 Lukas Prizes Revealed". Kirkus Reviews . Archived from the original on March 23, 2022. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
31. "Awards: Rathbones Folio, Lukas Winners". Shelf Awareness . March 24, 2022. Archived from the original on January 11, 2025. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
32. "Awards: Lionel Gelber, Lukas Shortlists". Shelf Awareness . February 24, 2022. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
33. Schaub, Michael (February 23, 2022). "The Lukas Prize Project Reveals Shortlists". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on January 22, 2025. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
34. "Winners and finalists of the 2023 J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards announced". Nieman Foundation . March 20, 2023. Archived from the original on February 10, 2025. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
35. "Columbia Journalism School Announces the 2023 J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards Shortlists". Columbia Journalism School . February 22, 2023. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
36. Schaub, Michael (March 19, 2024). "Winners of the J. Anthony Lukas Prizes Revealed". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on March 19, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
37. Schaub, Michael (February 29, 2024). "Shortlists for J. Anthony Lukas Prizes Revealed". Kirkus Reviews . Archived from the original on March 19, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
38. Schaub, Michael (February 19, 2025). "Shortlists for 2025 Lukas Prizes Announced". Kirkus Reviews . Archived from the original on February 19, 2025. Retrieved March 11, 2025.

External links

• Past winners and jurors at Columbia School of Journalism