Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical

Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical
Awarded for	Outstanding Book of a Musical
Location	New York City
Presented by	Outer Critics Circle
Currently held by	Will Aronson and Hue Park for Maybe Happy Ending (2025)
Website	OuterCritics.org

The Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical is an annual award given to the author of the best book of a musical on Broadway or Off-Broadway, as determined by Outer Critics Circle. The award has been given out since the 2011-2012 season. ^[1]

Since its inception, no author has been nominated more than twice. Robert Horn has won the award the most times, with two wins for Tootsie and Shucked .

Award winners

2010s

  indicates the winner.

Year	Production	Author	Ref.
2012
	Once	Enda Walsh	[2]
	Nice Work If You Can Get It	Joe DiPietro
	Queen of the Mist	Michael John LaChiusa
2013
	Matilda	Dennis Kelly	[3]
	Kinky Boots	Harvey Fierstein
	Dogfight	Peter Duchan
	Chaplin	Christopher Paul Curtis and Thomas Meehan
	Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella	Douglas Carter Beane
2014
	A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder	Robert L. Freedman	[4]
	Fun Home	Lisa Kron
	Beautiful: The Carol King Musical	Douglas McGrath
	Disney's Aladdin	Chad Beguelin
2015
	Hamilton	Lin-Manuel Miranda	[5]
	It Shoulda Been You	Brian Hargrove
	Something Rotten!	Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell
	The Visit	Terrence McNally
	The Last Ship	John Logan and Brian Yorkey
2016
	Dear Evan Hansen	Steven Levenson	[6]
	Daddy Long Legs	John Caird
	Bright Star	Steve Martin and Edie Brickell
	Lazarus	Enda Walsh and David Bowie
	On Your Feet!	Alexander Dinelaris
2017
	Come From Away	Irene Sankoff and David Hein	[7]
	Anastasia	Terrence McNally
	The Band's Visit	Itamar Moses
	A Bronx Tale	Chazz Palminteri
	Groundhog Day	Danny Rubin
2018
	Mean Girls	Tina Fey	[8]
	Miss You Like Hell	Quiara Alegría Hudes
	SpongeBob Squarepants	Kyle Jarrow
	Desperate Measures	Peter Kellogg
2019
	Tootsie	Robert Horn	[9]
	The Hello Girls	Peter Mills and Cara Reichel
	Hadestown	Anaïs Mitchell
	Head Over Heels	Jeff Whitty and James Magruder
	Girl from the North Country	Conor McPherson

2020s

Year	Production	Author	Ref.
2020 (Hon.)	Jagged Little Pill	Diablo Cody	[10]
	Soft Power	David Henry Hwang
	A Strange Loop	Michael R. Jackson
	The Secret Life of Bees	Lynn Nottage
	Romeo and Bernadette	Mark Saltzman
2021	No awards held due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2022
	Kimberly Akimbo	David Lindsay-Abaire	[11]
	Intimate Apparel	Lynn Nottage
	Mrs. Doubtfire	Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell
	Mr. Saturday Night	Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel
	Harmony	Bruce Sussman
2023
	Shucked	Robert Horn	[12] [13]
	& Juliet	David West Read
	The Harder They Come	Suzan-Lori Parks
	Titanique	Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle and Constantine Rousouli
	Some Like It Hot	Matthew López and Amber Ruffin
2024
	Suffs	Shaina Taub	[14] [15]
	Illinoise	Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury
	Teeth	Anna K. Jacobs and Michael R. Jackson
	Dead Outlaw	Itamar Moses
	The Connector	Jonathan Marc Sherman
2025
	Maybe Happy Ending	Will Aronson and Hue Park	[16] [17] [18]
	Boop! The Musical	Bob Martin
	Death Becomes Her	Marco Pennette
	We Live in Cairo	Daniel Lazour and Patrick Lazour
	Operation Mincemeat	David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoe Roberts

Multiple wins

2 wins

• Robert Horn

Multiple nominations

2 nominations

• Robert Horn
• Enda Walsh
• Karey Kirkpatrick
• John O'Farrell
• Terrence McNally
• Itamar Moses
• Michael R. Jackson
• Lynn Nottage

See also

• Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical

References

1. "2011–2012 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
2. "2011–2012 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
3. "2012–2013 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
4. "2013–2014 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
5. "2014–2015 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
6. "2015–2016 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
7. "2016–2017 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
8. "2017–2018 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
9. "2018–2019 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
10. "Maybe Happy Ending Leads 2025 Outer Critics Circle Awards; See the Full List of Winners". Playbill. Playbill. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
11. "The Lehman Trilogy Leads 2022 Outer Critics Circle Awards, Six Wins; See the Complete List of Winners". Playbill. Playbill. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
12. Culwell-Block, Logan (May 16, 2023). "Some Like It Hot Dominates 2023 Outer Critics Circle Awards; See the Full List of Winners". Playbill. Retrieved September 1, 2025.
13. "2022-2023 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
14. "Stereophonic Leads 2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards, Wins Best Play; See the Full List of Winners". Playbill. Archived from the original on 2025-08-19. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
15. "2023–2023 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
16. Culwell-Block, Logan (May 12, 2025). "Maybe Happy Ending Leads 2025 Outer Critics Circle Awards; See the Full List of Winners". Playbill. Retrieved September 1, 2025.
17. Evans, Greg (2025-04-25). "'Death Becomes Her' Broadway Musical Leads Outer Critics Circle Award Nominees – Complete List". Deadline. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
18. "2024-2025 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.