RISING STAR Award

Past Winners

 

 

2025

First Place
Finding Moonstone by Kristin Adams
Finalists
Finding Moonstone by Kristin Adams
The Last Seven Days of Harper Balan by Alice Lyon
All Other Ground by Lori Singaraju
The Other Hula Dancer by April Wright
Late Bloomer by Jeanette Zaichkin 

2024

First Place
Playing in the Shadow of the Wind, Jacqueline Coleman
Finalists
Istanbul Dreaming, Denise Brandt
The Swan, Anna Krammer
The Tribe of Melancholy Women, Elizabeth Luciano
This One Little Life, Stephanie Webb

2023

First Place
Out of the Crash, Susan Poole
Finalists
Time to Choose, Katherine Caldwell
The Domestic Diplomat, Christy Matheson
A Hiker's Guide to Falling, Frances McInnis
Seeds of the Pomegranate, Suzanne Samuels

2022

First Place
The Last Trial of Lucy Crawford by Victoria Watkins
Finalists
The Man Between Us, by Elizabeth Gillman
You Can't Make This Stuff Up, by Amy Maitland
The Original Handmaid, by Margaret Morse
Under Her Influence, by Erin Quinn-Kong

2021

First Place
A Better Mother, by Hadley Leggett
Finalists
The Roost, by Clare Barnett
I'd Hate Me, Too, by MG Colangelo
The Devils I Know, by Michelle Cruz
A Matter of Perspective, by Karen Kroll

2020

First Place
Scarves, by Rebecca J. Sanford
Finalists
Crocodile Tears, by Kilby Blades
Crooked Lake, by Melissa Lanning
Faces of War, by Barbara Ristine
Practically Perfect In Every Way, by Brigette Russell

2019

First Place (tie)
Someone to Watch Over, by William Schreiber
In Search of Jake Ryan, by Michele Egan

Second Place (tie)
Circumference of Silence, by Jacquie Herz
A Moment's Indulgence, by Seema Kahn
Truth and Other Lies, by Maggie Smith

2018

First Place
Angel Falls, by Shelby Riley
Second Place
Up a Gum Tree, by Robin Facer
Third Place
Love You Better, by Rachel Berros
Finalists
What Comes After Four, by Miranda Darrow
Looking for Darcy, by Ginny Elkin 

2017

First Place
The Fifty-Week Wife. by Sheri Taylor-Emery
Second Place
Exit Strategy, by Lainey Cameron
Third Place
Margin of Safety, by Rebecca Hodge
Finalists
Lavender Field, by Amiee Holland
On the Verge of Breathing, by Krista Riccioni 

2016

First Place
The Substitute Princess, by Kathleen Sander Basi
Second Place
By Accident, by Laura Levin
Third Place
Shelter Me, by Gabrielle Luthy
Finalists
The Kindest Lie, by Nancy Johnson
Four Women Talking, by Micki Berthelot Morency  

2015

First Place
Saudade, by Kristin Pedroja
Second Place
The Edge of the Ocean, by Lisa Duffy
Third Place
One Step Forward, by Kasey Ferris
Finalists
I Hold the Wind, by Erin Bartels
Soundtracks of Separation, by Layla Denny
What’s Left Untold, by Sherri Leimkuhler

2014

First Place
A Sister in Need, by Jenny Hansen
Second Place
So Brand New, by Patricia O’Day Rosen
Third Place
The Wine Widow, by Kathleen Basi
Finalists
Silent Grace, by Geri LeClerc
Trespass, by Sandra Neily

 

For more information, please email WFWA Communications