AML Awards


The AML Awards are given annually by the Association for Mormon Letters to the best work "by, for, and about Mormons." They are juried awards, chosen by a panel of judges. Citations for many of the awards can be found on the AML website.
The award categories vary from year to year depending on the shape of the market and what the AML decides is worthy of honor. Beginning with the 2014 awards, the AML began creating a shortlist of finalists for most categories, which preceded the final awards.

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010

;Smith-Pettit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
;Biography
;Criticism
;Drama / WebFilm
;Editing
;Memoir
;Novel
;Online Writing
;Personal Essay
;Poetry
;Service to AML
;Short Fiction
;Short Fiction Honorable Mention
;Young Adult Literature

2011

;Smith-Pettit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
;Honorary Lifetime Membership
;Biography
;Autobiography
;Criticism
;Film
;Special Award in Graphical Narrative
;Novel
;Personal Essay
;Poetry
;Short Story
;Short Fiction
;Special Award in Literary Journalism
;Young Adult Novel
;Marilyn Brown Novel Award

2012

;Smith–Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
;Lifetime AML Membership
;Film
;Novel
;Devotional
;Poetry
;Award in Adaptation
;Drama
;Short Fiction
;Young Adult Novel
;Memoir/Creative Non Fiction
;Middle Grade Fiction Award
;Humor

2013

Given out April 12, 2014.
;Smith–Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
;Outstanding Achievement Award
;Creative non-fiction
;Drama
;Film
;Special Award
;Novel
;Poetry
;Short Fiction
;Young Adult Fiction
;Young Adult Speculative Fiction

2014

Presented March 28, 2015, at the Utah Valley University Library.
;Smith–Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
;AML Lifetime Achievement Award
;Comics
;Creative non-fiction
;Criticism
;Drama
;Film
;Middle Grade Novel
;Novel
;Picture Book
;Poetry
;Religious Non-Fiction
;Short Fiction
;Young Adult General Novel
;Young Adult Speculative Novel

2015

Presented March 5, 2016, at the Heber J. Grant building on Brigham Young University-Hawaii campus.
;The Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
;The Association for Mormon Letters Lifetime Achievement Award
;Special Awards for Scholarly Publishing
;Comics
;Creative Non-Fiction
;Criticism
;Drama
;Film
;Lyrics
;Middle Grade Novel
;Novel
;Picture Book
;Poetry
;Religious Non-Fiction
;Short Story
;Short-Story Collection
;Young Adult Novel

2016

Presented at Utah Valley University, April 22, 2017.
;The Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
;AML Lifetime Achievement Award
;Comics
;Creative Non-fiction
;Criticism
;Drama
;Film
;Middle Grade Novel
;Novel
;Picture Book
;Poetry
;Religious Non-fiction
;Special Award for Religious Non-fiction Publishing
;Short Fiction
;Short Fiction Collection
;Video Series
;Young Adult Novel

2017

The final winners were presented March 23, 2018.
;Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
;AML Lifetime Achievement Award
;Novel
;Short fiction
;Creative nonfiction
;Religious nonfiction
;Middle-grade novel
;Young-adult novel
;Comics
;Picture book
;Drama
;Film
;Criticism
;Anthology
;Poetry
;Special Award in Religious Non-Fiction Publishing

2018

The final winners were presented March 30, 2019, in Berkeley, California.
;AML Lifetime Achievement Award
;Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
;Special Award in Publishing
;Novel
;Short-fiction collections
;Short fiction
;Drama
;Poetry
;Creative nonfiction
;Religious nonfiction
;Criticism
;Comics
;Documentary film
;Narrative film
;Picture book
;Middle-grade novel
;Young-adult novel

2019

The final winners were presented May 2, 2020, online, due to a cancellation of the 2020 AML Conference caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
;Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
;Lifetime Achievement Award
;Special awards
;Novel
;Short fiction
;Young-adult novel
;Middle-grade novel
;Picture book
;Drama
;Narrative feature films
;Documentary feature films
;Short film
;Poetry
;Criticism
;Creative nonfiction
;Religious nonfiction
;Comics

2020

The final winners were presented June 5, 2021, as part of an online-only conference, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
;Lifetime Achievement
;Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
;Special Award in Religious Nonfiction
;Special Award in Nonfiction
;Novel
;Short story
;Short-fiction collection
;Poetry
;Creative nonfiction
;Religious nonfiction
;Audiobook
;Podcast
;Picture book
;Middle-grade novel
;Young-adult novel
;Comics
;Criticism
;Drama
;Film

2021

The winners were announced July 23, 2022, at the AML Conference. For the fiction awards, the addition of bilingual judges led to the consideration of Spanish-language works published as far back as 2016. Additionally, with the return of a lyrics award, music was considered from both 2020 and 2021.
;AML Lifetime Achievement Award
;Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
;Special award in fiction
;Special award in nonfiction
Eugene England: A Mormon Liberal by Kristine L. Haglund
;Novel
;Short fiction
;Young Adult Novel
;Middle Grade Novel
;Picture Book
;Film
;Drama
;Poetry
;Podcast
;Comics
;Criticism
;Creative Nonfiction
;Religious Nonfiction
;Lyrics

2022

Award winners were announced April 29, 2023 at a virtual conference.
;AML Lifetime Achievement Award
;Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters
;Novel
;Short fiction
;Short-fiction collection
;Drama
;Creative Nonfiction
;Religious Nonfiction
;Criticism
;Criticism
;Young-adult novel
;Middle-grade novel
;Picture book
;Comics
;Poetry
;Special Award in Publishing—Republication
;Film
;Podcast

2023

The 2023 awards finalists and winners can be found here: https://www.associationmormonletters.org/2024/08/2023-aml-award-winners/

2024

The 2024 awards finalists and winners can be found here:
https://www.associationmormonletters.org/2025/05/2024-aml-award-winners/