Award Finalists
Ohioana Award finalists from the years 2008-2023. For the winners, please visit the Past Award Winners page.
2023 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Allegra Hyde | Fiction | Eleutheria |
| Celeste Ng | Fiction | Our Missing Hearts |
| Nnedi Okorafor | Fiction | Noor |
| John Scalzi | Fiction | The Kaiju Preservation Society |
| Thrity Umrigar | Fiction | Honor |
| Douglas Brinkley | Nonfiction | Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening |
| Ross Gay | Nonfiction | Inciting Joy: Essays |
| Beth Macy | Nonfiction | Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis |
| Candice Millard | Nonfiction | River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile |
| Luma Mufleh | Nonfiction | Learning America: One Woman’s Fight for Educational Justice for Refugee Children |
| Richard F. Celeste | About Ohio or an Ohioan | In the Heart of It All: An Unvarnished Account of My Life in Public Service |
| Joyce Dyer | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Pursuing John Brown: On the Trail of a Radical Abolitionist |
| Kelcey Ervick | About Ohio or an Ohioan | The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women's Lives |
| Gene Andrew Jarrett | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird |
| Kathryn Schulz | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Lost & Found: Reflections on Grief, Gratitude, and Happiness |
| Nancy Schwartman and Nora Zelevansky | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Roll Red Roll: Rape, Power, and Football in the American Heartland |
| Kathy Fagan | Poetry | Bad Hobby |
| Siaara Freeman | Poetry | Urbanshee |
| Saeed Jones | Poetry | Alive at the End of the World |
| Noor Hindi | Poetry | Dear God. Dear Bones. Dear Yellow. |
| Sara Moore Wagner | Poetry | Swan Wife |
| Marcy Campbell, Illus. by Francesca Sanna | Juvenile Literature | The More You Give |
| Shannon Hale, Illus. by Tracy Subisak | Juvenile Literature | This Book is Not for You! |
| Kate Hoefler, Illus. by Jessixa Bagley | Juvenile Literature | Courage Hats |
| Andrea Wang, Illus. by Hyewon Yum | Juvenile Literature | Luli and the Language of Tea |
| Jacqueline Woodson, Illus. by Rafael López | Juvenile Literature | The Year We Learned to Fly |
| Echo Brown | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | The Chosen One: A First-Generation Ivy League Odyssey |
| Margaret Peterson Haddix | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | The School for Whatnots |
| Cory McCarthy | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | Man O' War |
| Marilyn Nelson | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor’s Life |
| Carmella Van Vleet | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | Nothing is Little |
| Jasmine Warga | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | A Rover's Story |
2022 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Jesse Bethea | Fiction | Fellow Travellers |
| Anthony Doerr | Fiction | Cloud Cuckoo Land |
| Genevieve Gornichec | Fiction | The Witch's Heart |
| Alison Stine | Fiction | Trashlands |
| Laura Maylene Walter | Fiction | Body of Stars |
| Hanif Abdurraqib | Nonfiction | A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance |
| Amy Butcher | Nonfiction | Mothertrucker: Finding Joy on the Loneliest Road in America |
| Wil Haygood | Nonfiction | Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World |
| Susan Orlean | Nonfiction | On Animals |
| Brandy Schillace | Nonfiction | Mr. Humble & Dr. Butcher: A Monkey’s Head, the Pope’s Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul |
| Anneliese Abbott | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Malabar Farm: Louis Bromfield, Friends of the Land, and the Rise of Sustainable Agriculture |
| Brian Alexander | About Ohio or an Ohioan | The Hospital: Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town |
| Bret Baier and Catherine Whitney | About Ohio or an Ohioan | To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876 |
| Brian Broome | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir |
| Jeff Shesol | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War |
| Emily Spencer | Poetry | East Walnut Hills |
| Conor Bracken | Poetry | The Enemy of My Enemy is Me |
| Manuel Iris | Poetry | The Parting Present / Lo que se irá |
| Joey S. Kim | Poetry | Body Facts |
| Felicia Zamora | Poetry | I Always Carry My Bones |
| Marcy Campbell, Illus. by Corinna Luyken | Juvenile Literature | Something Good |
| Keila V. Dawson, Illus. by Alleanna Harris | Juvenile Literature | Opening the Road: Victor Hugo Green and His Green Book |
| Amanda Gorman, Illus. by Loren Long | Juvenile Literature | Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem |
| Andrea Wang, Illus. by Jason Chin | Juvenile Literature | Watercress |
| Anne Wynter, Illus. by Oge Mora | Juvenile Literature | Everybody in the Red Brick Building |
| Rae Carson | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | Any Sign of Life |
| Sharon M. Draper | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | Out of My Heart |
| Brendan Kiely | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | The Other Talk: Reckoning with Our White Privilege |
| Andrea Wang | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | The Many Meanings of Meilan |
| Jasmine Warga | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | The Shape of Thunder |
2021 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Lee Martin | Fiction | Yours, Jean |
| Tiffany McDaniel | Fiction | Betty |
| TaraShea Nesbit | Fiction | Beheld |
| Connie Schultz | Fiction | The Daughters of Erietown |
| Carter Sickels | Fiction | The Prettiest Star |
| Maggie Downs | Nonfiction | Braver Than You Think |
| Saeed Jones | Nonfiction | How We Fight For Our Lives |
| Aimee Nezhukumatathil | Nonfiction | World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments |
| Brad Ricca | Nonfiction | Olive the Lionheart: Lost Love, Imperial Spies, and One Woman’s Journey into the Heart of Africa |
| Paul M. Sutter | Nonfiction | How to Die in Space |
| Derf Backderf | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio |
| Carole Genshaft, ed. | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Raggin’ On: The Art of Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson’s House and Journals |
| David Giffels | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Barnstorming Ohio to Understand America |
| Eliese Colette Goldbach | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Rust: A Memoir of Steel and Grit |
| Stephen Heyman | About Ohio or an Ohioan | The Planter of Modern Life: Louis Bromfield and the Seeds of a Food Revolution |
| Ali Black | Poetry | If It Heals at All |
| Marianne Chan | Poetry | All Heathens |
| Ross Gay | Poetry | Be Holding: A Poem |
| Paula J. Lambert | Poetry | How to See the World (Harmony) |
| Amit Majmudar | Poetry | What He Did in Solitary: Poems |
| Rita Lorraine Hubbard, Illus. by Oge Mora | Juvenile Literature | The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read |
| Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, and Jeanette Bradley, eds. Illus. by Jeannette Bradley | Juvenile Literature | No Voice Too Small |
| Jon J. Muth | Juvenile Literature | Addy’s Cup of Sugar: Based on a Buddhist Story of Healing |
| Adam Rex | Juvenile Literature | On Account of the Gum |
| Thrity Umrigar, Illus. by Khoa Le | Juvenile Literature | Sugar in Milk |
| Sharon Creech | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | One Time |
| Justin A. Reynolds | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | Early Departures |
| Mildred D. Taylor | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | All the Days Past, All the Days to Come |
| Jacqueline Woodson | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | Before the Ever After |
2020 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Alex DiFrancesco | Fiction | All City |
| Kameron Hurley | Fiction | The Light Brigade |
| Jess Montgomery | Fiction | The Widows |
| Jacqueline Woodson | Fiction | Red At the Bone |
| Hanif Abdurraqib | Nonfiction | Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest |
| Douglas Brinkley | Nonfiction | American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race. |
| Julie Salamon | Nonfiction | An Innocent Bystander: The Killing of Leon Klinghoffer. |
| Karen Abbott | About Ohio or an Ohioan | The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America. |
| Sigmund Brouwer | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Moon Mission |
| Jill Grunenwald | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Reading Behind Bars: A True Story of Literature, Law, and Life as a Prison Librarian. |
| Howard Ruffner | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Moments of Truth: A Photographer’s Experience of Kent State 1970. |
| Russell Atkins | Poetry | World’d Too Much: The Selected Poetry of Russell Atkins. |
| Anne Lesley Selcer | Poetry | Sun Cycle |
| Ann Townsend | Poetry | Dear Delinquent |
| Bruce Weigl | Poetry | On the Shores of Welcome Home. |
| Jean Daigneau | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | Code Cracking for Kids: Secret Communication Throughout History, with 21 Codes and Ciphers |
| Ronni Davis | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | When the Stars Lead to You |
| Mindy McGinnis | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | Heroine |
| George Takei, with Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott, Illus. by Harmony Becker, | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | They Called Us Enemy |
| Rukhsanna Guidroz, Illus. by Dinara Mirtalipova | Juvenile Literature | Leila in Saffron |
| Kate Hoefler, Illus. by Sarah Jacoby | Juvenile Literature | Rabbit and the Motorbike |
| Michelle Houts, Illus. by Bagram Ibatoulline | Juvenile Literature | Sea Glass Summer |
| Laura Purdie Salas, Illus. by Angela Matteson | Juvenile Literature | In the Middle of the Night: Poems from a Wide-Awake House |
| Salvatore Scibona | Fiction | The Volunteer |
| Jeannie Vanasco | Nonfiction | Things We Didn't Talk About When I Was a Girl |
| David McCullough | About Ohio or an Ohioan | The Pioneers |
| Hanif Abdurraqib | Poetry | A Fortune for Your Disaster |
| Jasmine Warga | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | Other Words for Home |
| Oge Mora | Juvenile Literature | Saturday |
2019 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Brad Felver | Fiction | The Dogs of Detroit: Stories |
| Jeffrey Ford | Fiction | Ahab's Return: or, The Last Voyage |
| Stephen Markley | Fiction | Ohio: A Novel |
| Curtis Sittenfeld | Fiction | You Think It, I'll Say It: Stories |
| Thrity Umrigar | Fiction | The Secrets Between Us |
| Wil Haygood | Nonfiction | I, Too, Sing America: The Harlem Renaissance at 100 |
| Stephen Kuusisto | Nonfiction | Have Dog, Will Travel |
| Beth Macy | Nonfiction | Dopesick |
| Susan Orlean | Nonfiction | The Library Book |
| Jane Congdon | About Ohio or an Ohioan | How the "Wild" Effect Turned Me into a Hiker at 69 |
| William Hazelgrove | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Wright Brothers, Wrong Story |
| Lawrence P. Jackson | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Chester B. Himes: A Biography |
| Julia Van Haaften | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Berenice Abbott: A Life in Photography |
| Anne Barngrover | Poetry | Brazen Creature |
| Roy Bentley | Poetry | Walking with Eve in the Loved City |
| Aimee Nezhukumatahil | Poetry | Oceanic |
| Marcy Campbell, Illus. by Corinna Luyken | Juvenile Literature | Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse |
| Denise Fleming | Juvenile Literature | This is the Nest That Robin Built |
| Carole Miller Genshaft | Juvenile Literature | Aminah's World |
| Oge Mora | Juvenile Literature | Thank You, Omu! |
| David Arnold | Middle Grade & Young Adult Literature | The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik |
| Sharon M. Draper | Middle Grade & Young Adult Literature | Blended |
| Michelle Houts | Middle Grade & Young Adult Literature | Count the Wings: The Life and Art of Charley Harper |
| Jacqueline Woodson | Middle Grade & Young Adult Literature | Harbor Me |
| Moriel Rothman-Zecher | Fiction | Sadness is a White Bird |
| David Giffels | Nonfiction | Furnishing Eternity |
| Marcus Jackson | Poetry | Pardon My Heart |
| Jacqueline Woodson | Juvenile Literature | The Day You Begin |
| Ellen Klages | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | Out of Left Field |
| Wil Haygood | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Tigerland |
2018 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jeffrey Ford | Fiction | A Natural History of Hell: Stories | |
| Ruth Emmie Lang | Fiction | Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances | |
| Robert Olmstead | Fiction | Savage Country | |
| Thrity Umrigar | Fiction | Everybody's Son | |
| Bob Batchelor | Nonfiction | Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel | |
| Jennifer Bowers | Nonfiction | Betrayer's Waltz | |
| Gene Logsdon | Nonfiction | Letters to a Young Farmer | |
| Brad Ricca | Nonfiction | Mrs. Sherlock Holmes | |
| Jonathan Blunk | About Ohio or an Ohioan | James Wright: A Life in Poetry | |
| Ron Chernow | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Grant | |
| Robert W. Merry | About Ohio or an Ohioan | President McKinley: Architect of the American Century | |
| James Reston, Jr. | About Ohio or an Ohioan | A Rift in the Earth: Art, Memory, and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial | |
| Kathy Fagan | Poetry | Sycamore | |
| Sarah Rose Nordgren | Poetry | Darwin's Mother | |
| Allison Pitinii Davis | Poetry | Line Study of a Motel Clerk | |
| Maggie Smith | Poetry | Good Bones | |
| Mary Kay Carson | Juvenile Literature | Mission to Pluto: The First Visit to an Ice Dwarf and the Kuiper Belt | |
| Drew Daywalt | Juvenile Literature | The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors | |
| Shawn Dougherty | Juvenile Literature | Wake | |
| Cynthia Rylant | Juvenile Literature | Life | |
| Erin McCahan | Middle Grade & Young Adult Literature | The Lake Effect | |
| Margaret Rogerson | Middle Grade & Young Adult Literature | An Enchantment of Ravens | |
| Julie K. Rubini | Middle Grade & Young Adult Literature | Virginia Hamilton: America's Storyteller | |
| Tricia Springstubb | Middle Grade & Young Adult Literature | Cody and the Rules of Life | |
| Celeste Ng | Fiction | Little Fires Everywhere | |
| Deanne Stillman | Nonfiction | Blood Brothers: The Story of the Strange Friendship between Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill | |
| Brian Alexander | About Ohio or an Ohioan | Glass House | |
| Sally Derby | Juvenile Literature | A New School Year: Stories in Six Voices | |
| Tamara Bundy | Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature | Walking with Miss Millie | |
| Ruth Award | Poetry | Set to Music a Wildfire |
2017 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gustine, Amy | Fiction | You Should Pity Us Instead | Lucas |
| McDaniel, Tiffany | Fiction | The Summer That Melted Everything | Pickaway |
| Pollock, Donald Ray | Fiction | The Heavenly Table | Ross |
| Silver, Marisa | Fiction | Little Nothing | Cuyahoga |
| Woodson, Jacqueline | Fiction | Another Brooklyn | Franklin |
| Brinkley, Douglas | Nonfiction | Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America | Lucas/Franklin |
| Macy, Beth | Nonfiction | Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother’s Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South | Champaign |
| Mezurek, Kelly D. | Nonfiction | For Their Own Cause: The 27th United States Colored Troops | Lorain |
| Millard, Candice | Nonfiction | Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape and the Making of Winston Churchill | Richland |
| Phillips, Christopher | Nonfiction | The Rivers Ran Backward: The Civil War and the Remaking of the American Middle Border | Hamilton |
| Collins, Martha | Poetry | Admit One: An American Scrapbook | Lorain |
| Davis, Terri Ellen Cross | Poetry | Haint | Cuyahoga |
| Hartsock, Katie | Poetry | Bed of Impatiens | Mahoning/Hamilton |
| Matthias, John | Poetry | Complayntes of Doctor Neuro & Other Poems | Franklin |
| Siegel, James J. | Poetry | How Ghosts Travel | Lucas |
| Fries-Gaither, Jessica | Juvenile | Notable Notebooks: Scientists and Their Writings | Franklin |
| Lewis, J. Patrick | Juvenile | The Navajo Code Talkers | Franklin |
| Long, Loren | Juvenile | Otis and the Kittens | Hamilton |
| Payne, C.F. (illus.) | Juvenile | Miss Mary Reporting | Hamilton |
| Macy, Sue | Juvenile | Miss Mary Reporting | |
| Stanek, Linda | Juvenile | Once Upon An Elephant | Franklin |
| Creech, Sharon | Middle Grade / Young Adult | Moo: A Novel | Cuyahoga |
| Derby, Sally | Middle Grade / Young Adult | Jump Back, Paul: The Life and Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar | Hamilton |
| Knight, Mary | Middle Grade / Young Adult | Saving Wonder | Hamilton |
| Salamon, Julie | Middle Grade / Young Adult | Mutt's Promise | Adams |
| Wiechman, Kathy Cannon | Middle Grade / Young Adult | Empty Places | Hamilton |
| Cenziper, Debbie | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality | |
| Obergefell, Jim | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality | Hamilton |
| Connors, Joanna | About Ohio/An Ohioan | I Will Find You: A Reporter Investigates the Life of the Man Who Raped Her | Cuyahoga |
| McDonough, James Lee | About Ohio/An Ohioan | William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country: A Life | |
| Vance, J.D. | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and a Culture in Crisis | Butler/Warren |
| White, Ronald C. | About Ohio/An Ohioan | American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant |
2016 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russell, Mary Doria | Fiction | Epitaph: A Novel of the OK Corral | Cuyahoga |
| Batiuk, Tom | Fiction | Roses in December | Medina |
| Ayers, Chuck | Fiction | Roses in December | Summit |
| McClain, Paula | Fiction | Circling the Sun | Cuyahoga |
| Roether, Barbara | Fiction | This Earth You'll Come Back To | Hancock |
| Stewart, Leah | Fiction | The New Neighbor | Hamilton |
| Haygood, Wil | Nonfiction | Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America | Franklin |
| Bahney, Jennifer Bowers | Nonfiction | Stealing Sisi's Star | Pickaway |
| Dirda, Michael | Nonfiction | Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books | Lorain |
| Greenwald, Marilyn | Nonfiction | Pauline Frederick Reporting: A Pioneering Broadcaster Covers the Cold War | Franklin/Athens |
| Norris, Mary | Nonfiction | Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen | Cuyahoga |
| Andrews, Nin | Poetry | Why God Is a Woman | Mahoning |
| Ross, Gay | Poetry | Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude | Mahoning |
| Golden, Tasha | Poetry | Once You Had Hands | Washington |
| Greenway, William | Poetry | Selected Poems | Mahoning |
| Gundy, Jeff | Poetry | Abandoned Homeland | Allen |
| Long, Loren | Juvenile | Little Tree | Hamilton |
| Borden, Louise | Juvenile | Kindergarten Luck | Hamilton |
| Ebbeler, Jeffrey | Juvenile | Click! | Hamilton |
| Peot, Margaret | Juvenile | Crow Made a Friend | Montgomery |
| Pilkey, Dav (illus.) | Juvenile | One Today | Portage |
| Pearsall, Shelley | Middle Grade / Young Adult | The Seventh Most Important Thing | Cuyahoga |
| Draper, Sharon | Middle Grade / Young Adult | Stella By Starlight | Hamilton |
| McGinnis, Mindy | Middle Grade / Young Adult | A Madness So Discreet | Morrow |
| Rosen, Michael J. | Middle Grade / Young Adult | The Tale of Rescue | Franklin |
| Wiechman, Kathy Cannon | Middle Grade / Young Adult | Like a River: A Civil War Novel | Hamilton |
| McCullough, David | About Ohio/An Ohioan | The Wright Brothers | |
| Heath, William | About Ohio/An Ohioan | William Wells and the Struggle for the Old Northwest | Mahoning |
| Rove, Karl | About Ohio/An Ohioan | The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters | |
| Steinem, Gloria | About Ohio/An Ohioan | My Life on the Road | Lucas |
| Stockwell, Mary | About Ohio/An Ohioan | The Other Trail of Tears: The Removal of the Ohio Indians | Lucas |
2015 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doerr, Anthony | Fiction | All the Light We Cannot See | Cuyahoga |
| Chiaverini, Jennifer | Fiction | Mrs. Lincoln's Rival | Hamilton |
| McFawn, Monica | Fiction | Bright Shards of Someplace Else | Lucas |
| Ng, Celeste | Fiction | Everything I Never Told You | Cuyahoga |
| Umrigar, Thrity | Fiction | The Story Hour | Cuyahoga |
| Hagedorn, Ann | Nonfiction | The Invisible Soldiers: How America Outsourced Our Security | Montgomery |
| Gilbert, Richard | Nonfiction | Shepherd: A Memoir | Franklin |
| Pramuk, Christopher | Nonfiction | Hope Sings, So Beautiful: Graced Encounters Across the Color Line | Hamilton |
| Rall, Ted | Nonfiction | After We Kill You, We Will Welcome You Back as Honored Guests | Montgomery |
| Zola, Gary Phillip | Nonfiction | "We Called Him Rabbi Abraham: Lincoln and American Jewry: A Documentary History" | Hamilton |
| Friebert, Stuart | Poetry | Floating Heart | Lorain |
| Ankney, Christopher | Poetry | Hearsay | Defiance |
| Bilgere, George | Poetry | Imperial | Hamilton |
| Greenway, William | Poetry | The Accidental Garden | Mahoning |
| Grubbs, Gerry | Poetry | The Hive is a Book We Read for Its Honey | |
| Lewis, J. Patrick | Juvenile | Harlem Hellfighters | Franklin |
| Kennedy, Anne Vittur | Juvenile | The Farmer's Away! Baa! Neigh! | Franklin/Delaware |
| Long, Loren | Juvenile | Otis and the Scarecrow | Hamilton |
| Rosen, Michael J. | Juvenile | The Forever Flowers | Franklin |
| Woodson, Jacqueline | Juvenile | This is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration | Franklin |
| Woodson, Jacqueline | Middle Grade / Young Adult | Brown Girl Dreaming | Franklin |
| Carson, Mary Kay | Middle Grade / Young Adult | Park Scientists: Gila Monsters, Geysers, and Grizzly Bears in America's Own Backyard | Hamilton |
| Creech, Sharon | Middle Grade / Young Adult | The Boy On the Porch | Cuyahoga |
| Houts, Michelle | Middle Grade / Young Adult | Winterfrost | Mercer |
| Lewis, J. Patrick | Middle Grade / Young Adult | Voices from the March On Washington | Franklin |
| Gold, Betty | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Beyond Trochenbrod: The Betty Gold Story | Cuyahoga |
| Hodermarsky, Mark | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Beyond Trochenbrod: The Betty Gold Story | Cuyahoga |
| Huhn, Rick | About Ohio/An Ohioan | The Chalmers Race: Ty Cobb, Napoleon Lajoie, and the Controversial 1910 Batting Title That Became a National Obsession | Franklin |
| Logsdon, Gene | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Gene Everlasting: A Contrary Farmer's Thoughts On Living Forever | Wyandott |
| Leonard, Lee | About Ohio/An Ohioan | James A. Rhodes: Ohio Colossus | Franklin |
| Diemer, Tom | About Ohio/An Ohioan | James A. Rhodes: Ohio Colossus | Franklin |
| Oller, John | About Ohio/An Ohioan | American Queen: The Rise and Fall of Kate Chase Sprague | Sandusky |
2014 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hoffman, Beth | Fiction | Looking For Me | Hamilton |
| Bog, Justin | Fiction | Sandcastle and Other Stories | Licking |
| Brazaitis, Mark | Fiction | Julia & Rodrigo | Cuyahoga |
| Gass, William H. | Fiction | Middle C. | Trumbull |
| Stewart, Leah | Fiction | The History of Us | Hamilton |
| Weisgarber, Ann | Fiction | The Promise | Montgomery |
| Ricca, Brad | Nonfiction | Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster--The Creators of Superman | Cuyahoga |
| Barnett, Joseph | Nonfiction | Mr. Joe: Tales from a Haunted Life | Warren |
| Congdon, Jane | Nonfiction | Mr. Joe: Tales from a Haunted Life | |
| Bashor, Will | Nonfiction | Marie Antoinette’s Head: The Royal Hairdresser, the Queen, and the Revolution | Franklin |
| Davis, William E., Jr. | Nonfiction | Alexander Wilson: The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology | |
| Burrt, Edward H., Jr. | Nonfiction | Alexander Wilson: The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology | Alexander Wilson: The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology |
| Taxel, Laura | Nonfiction | Cleveland’s West Side Market: 100 Years and Still Cooking | Cuyahoga |
| Suszko, Marilou | Nonfiction | Cleveland’s West Side Market: 100 Years and Still Cooking | Lucas |
| Williams, Geoff | Nonfiction | Washed Away: How the Great Flood of 1913, America's Most Widespread Natural Disaster, Terrorized a Nation and Changed It Forever | Montgomery |
| Ali, Kazim | Poetry | Sky Ward | Lorain |
| Baker, David | Poetry | Hunger to Hunger: Hungry/Foame | Licking |
| Giovanni, Nikki | Poetry | Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid | Hamilton |
| Harvey, Yona | Poetry | Hemming the Water | Hamilton |
| Stone, Myrna | Poetry | In the Present Tense: Portraits of My Father | Darke |
| Cheng, Andrea | Poetry | Etched in Clay: The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet | Hamilton |
| Charlton-Trujillo | Juvenile | Fat Angie | Hamilton |
| Goldsmith, Suzanne | Juvenile | Washashore | Franklin |
| Klein, Lisa | Juvenile | Love Disguised | Franklin |
| Lewis, J. Patrick | Juvenile | When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders | Franklin |
| McGinnis, Mindy | Juvenile | Not a Drop to Drink | Morrow |
| Goodwin, Doris Kearns | About Ohio/An Ohioan | The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism | |
| Anderson, Melanie R. | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison | |
| Sferrazza Anthony, Carl | About Ohio/An Ohioan | "Ida McKinley: The Turn- of-the-Century First Lady through War, Assassination, and Secret Disability" | |
| Hatch, Thom | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Glorious War: The Civil War Adventures of George Armstrong Custer | |
| Tocquigny, Rick | About Ohio/An Ohioan | "When Core Values Are Strategic: How the Basic Values of Procter & Gamble Transformed Leadership at Fortune 500 Companies" | Hamilton |
| Butcher, Andy | About Ohio/An Ohioan | "When Core Values Are Strategic: How the Basic Values of Procter & Gamble Transformed Leadership at Fortune 500 Companies" |
2013 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olmstead, Robert | Fiction | The Coldest Night | Delaware |
| Morrison, Toni | Fiction | Home | Lorain |
| Chaon, Dan | Fiction | Stay Awake: Stories | Cuyahoga |
| Umrigar, Thrity | Fiction | The World We Found | Cuyahoga |
| Zickefoose, Julie | Nonfiction | The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds | Washington |
| Frye, Joanne S. | Nonfiction | Biting the Moon: A Memoir of Feminism and Motherhood | Wayne |
| Sanders, Scott Russell | Nonfiction | Earth Works: Selected Essays | Portage |
| Gibbs, Nancy | Nonfiction | The Presidents' Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity | |
| Duffy, Michael | Nonfiction | The Presidents' Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity | |
| Martin, Lee | Nonfiction | Such a Life | Franklin |
| Logsdon, Gene | Nonfiction | A Sanctuary of Trees: Beechnuts, Birdsongs, Baseball Bats, and Benedictions | Wyandott |
| Waggoner, David | Poetry | After the Point of No Return | Stark |
| Weems, Mary E. | Poetry | For (e) closure | Cuyahoga |
| Hilles, Rick | Poetry | A Map of the Lost World | Stark/Portage |
| Looney, George | Poetry | Monks Beginning to Waltz | Hamilton |
| Collins, Martha | Poetry | White Papers | Lorain |
| Woodson, Jacqueline | Juvenile | Each Kindness | Franklin |
| Hillenbrand, Will | Juvenile | Kite Day: A Bear and Mole Story | Hamilton |
| Lewis, J. Patrick | Juvenile | Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs | Franklin |
| Yolen, Jane | Juvenile | Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs | |
| Clayton, Colleen | Juvenile | What Happens Next | Cuyahoga |
| Kiser, Joy | About Ohio/An Ohioan | America's Other Audubon | Summit |
| Ziff, Katherine | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Asylum on the Hill: History of a Healing Landscape | Athens |
| Caps, John | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Henry Mancini: Reinventing Film Music | Cuyahoga |
| LaBarbara, Jim | About Ohio/An Ohioan | The Music Professor: A Life Amplified Through Radio and Rock ‘n’ Roll | Hamilton |
| Meyers, David | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Ohio Jazz: A History of Jazz in the Buckeye State | Franklin |
| Watkins, Candice | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Ohio Jazz: A History of Jazz in the Buckeye State | Franklin |
| Howard, Arnett | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Ohio Jazz: A History of Jazz in the Buckeye State | Franklin |
| Loeffler, James | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Ohio Jazz: A History of Jazz in the Buckeye State | Franklin |
| Bush, Perry | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Rust Belt Resistance: How a Small Community Took on Big Oil and Won | Allen |
| Vreeland, Susan | Book Set in Ohio (Special Category) | Clara and Mr. Tiffany: A Novel | |
| Chevalier, Tracy | Book Set in Ohio (Special Category) | The Last Runaway |
2012 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| McClain, Paula | Fiction | The Paris Wife | Cuyahoga |
| Pollock, Donald Ray | Fiction | The Devil All the Time | Ross |
| Cline, Ernest | Fiction | Ready Player One | Ashland |
| Castillo, Linda | Fiction | Breaking Silence | Lucas |
| Russell, Mary Doria | Fiction | Doc: A Novel | Cuyahoga |
| Wilson, Tom (II) | Fiction | Ziggy | Cuyahoga |
| Orlean, Susan | Nonfiction | Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend | Cuyahoga |
| Bialosky, Jill | Nonfiction | History of a Suicide: My Sister's Unfinished Life | Cuyahoga |
| Haas, Jacqui Greene | Nonfiction | Dance Anatomy | Hamilton |
| Kritsky, Gene | Nonfiction | The Quest for the Perfect Hive: A History of Innovation in Bee Culture | Hamilton |
| Coan, Peter Morton | Nonfiction | Toward a Better Life: America's New Immigrants in Their Own Words--from Ellis Island to the Present | Cuyahoga |
| Gallaher, John | Poetry | Your Father on the Train of Ghosts | Athens |
| Waldrep, G.C. | Poetry | Your Father on the Train of Ghosts | |
| Lucas, Dave | Poetry | Weather: Poems | Cuyahoga |
| Miltner, Robert | Poetry | Hotel Utopia | Cuyahoga |
| Stine, Alison | Poetry | Wait | Licking |
| Ramspeck, Doug | Poetry | Mechanical Fireflies | Allen |
| Adoff, Arnold | Juvenile | Roots and Blues: A Celebration | Franklin |
| Cheng, Andrea | Juvenile | Where Do You Stay? | Hamilton |
| Carson, Rae | Juvenile | Girl of Fire and Thorns | Franklin |
| Dutton, Sandra | Juvenile | Mary Mae and the Gospel Truth | Hamilton |
| Roth, Ty | Juvenile | So Shelly | Erie |
| Zimmer, Tracie Vaughn | Juvenile | Cousins of Clouds: Elephant Poems | Hamilton |
| Markle, Sandra | Juvenile | Butterfly Tree | Wood |
| Brown, Dale | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Literary Cincinnati: The Missing Chapter | Hamilton |
| Charry, Michael | About Ohio/An Ohioan | George Szell: A Life of Music | Cuyahoga |
| Horowitz, Tony | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War | |
| Millard, Candice | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President | Richland |
| Tolzman, Don Heinrich | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Over-the-Rhine Tour Guide: Cincinnati's Historic German District, Over-the-Rhine, and Environs | Hamilton |
2011 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weisgarber, Ann | Fiction | The Personal History of Rachel DuPree | Montgomery |
| Cunningham, Michael | Fiction | By Nightfall | Ha |
| Buckley, Carla | Fiction | The Things That Keep us Here | Franklin |
| King, James | Fiction | Bill Warrington's Last Chance | Cuyahoga |
| Doerr, Anthony | Fiction | Memory Wall | Cuyahoga |
| Black, Lisa | Nonfiction | Trail of Blood | Cuyahoga |
| Gup, Ted | Nonfiction | A Secret Gift: How One Man's Kindness And a Trove of Letters Revealed the Hidden Story of the Great Depression | Stark |
| Heimlich, Jane | Nonfiction | Out of Step | Hamilton |
| Meyer, David L. | Nonfiction | A Sea Without Fish | Hamilton |
| Davis, Richard Arnold | Nonfiction | A Sea Without Fish | Hamilton |
| Schulz, Katherine | Nonfiction | Being Wrong | Cuyahoga |
| Schiff, Thomas | Nonfiction | Wright Panorama | Hamilton |
| Johnson, Daniel | Poetry | How to Catch a Falling Knife | Columbiana |
| Stone, Myrna | Poetry | The Casanova Chronicles | Darke |
| Young, David | Poetry | Field of Light & Shadow: Selected New Poems | Lorain |
| Bilgere, George | Poetry | The White Museum | Hamilton |
| Suarez, Lou | Poetry | Traveler | Franklin/Stark |
| Klein, Lisa | Juvenile | Cate of the Lost Colony | Franklin |
| Draper, Sharon | Juvenile | Out of My Mind | Hamilton |
| Springstubb, Tricia | Juvenile | What Happened on Fox Street | Cuyahoga |
| Nelson, Marilyn | Juvenile | Snook Alone | Cuyahoga |
| Markle, Sandra | Juvenile | Hip-pocket Papa | Wood |
| Millen, C.M. | Juvenile | The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane | Lucas |
| Philbrick, Nathaniel | About Ohio/An Ohioan | The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn | |
| Adoff, Arnold | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Virginia Hamilton: Speechs, Essays and Conversations | Franklin |
| Cook, Kacy | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Virginia Hamilton: Speechs, Essays and Conversations | Summit |
| Nuxhall, Phil | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Beauty in the Grove: Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum | Hamilton |
| Morgan, Michael | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Over-the-Rhine: When Beer Was King | Hamilton |
| Dyer, Joyce | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Goosetown: Reconstructing an Akron Neighborhood | Portage |
2010 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Umrigar, Thrity | Fiction | The Weight of Heaven | Cuyahoga |
| Chaon, Dan | Fiction | Await Your Reply | Cuyahoga |
| Morgan, C.E. | Fiction | All the Living | All the Living |
| Olmstead, Robert | Fiction | Far Bright Star | Delaware |
| Patterson, Richard North | Fiction | The Spire | Delaware |
| Thorndike, John | Nonfiction | Last of His Mind | Athens |
| Haygood, Wil | Nonfiction | Sweet Thunder | Franklin |
| Brinkley, Douglas | Nonfiction | Wilderness Wonder | Lucas/Franklin |
| Sanders, Scott Russell | Nonfiction | The Conservationist Manifesto | Portage |
| Collins, Gail | Nonfiction | When Everything Changes: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present | Hamilton |
| Dove, Rita | Poetry | Sonata Mulattica: Poems | Summit |
| Ali, Kazim | Poetry | Bright Felon | Lorain |
| Baker, David | Poetry | Never-Ending Birds | Licking |
| Oliver, Mary | Poetry | Evidence | Cuyahoga |
| Nelson, Marilyn | Juvenile | Sweethearts of Rhythm | Cuyahoga |
| Rosen, Michael J. | Juvenile | Cuckoo's Haiku | Franklin |
| Creech, Sharon | Juvenile | Unfinished Angel | Cuyahoga |
| Durrant, Lynda | Juvenile | Imperfections | Summit |
| Smith, Jeff | Juvenile | Little Mouse Gets Ready | Franklin |
| Garsee, Jeannine | Juvenile | Say the Word | Cuyahoga |
| McCormac, Jim | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Wild Ohio: The Best of Our Natural Heritage | Summit |
| Meszaros, Gary | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Wild Ohio: The Best of Our Natural Heritage | Franklin |
| Robenalt, James | About Ohio/An Ohioan | The Harding Affair | Marion |
| Metzger, Lynn | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Canal Fever | Summit |
| Bobel, Peg | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Canal Fever | Summit |
| Nelson, Daniel | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Passion for the Land | Summit |
2009 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clarke, Brock | Fiction | An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England | Hamilton |
| Sittenfeld, Curtis | Fiction | American Wife | Hamilton |
| Kluge, P.F. | Fiction | Gone Tomorrow | Knox |
| McGraw, Erin | Fiction | The Seamstress of Hollywood Boulevard | Franklin |
| Morrison, Toni | Fiction | A Mercy | Lorain |
| Scibona, Salvatore | Fiction | The End | Cuyahoga |
| Dean, John W. | Nonfiction | Pure Goldwater | Summit |
| Mansoor, Peter | Nonfiction | Baghdad at Sunrise: A Brigade Commander's War | Franklin |
| Dodd, Elizabeth | Nonfiction | In the Mind's Eye: Essays Across the Animate World | Athens |
| Mullen, Patrick B. | Nonfiction | The Man Who Adores the Negro | Franklin |
| Salamon, Julie | Nonfiction | Hospital | Adams |
| Arroyo, Rain | Poetry | The Roswell Poems | Lucas |
| Greenway, William | Poetry | Everywhere at Once | Mahoning |
| Howard, Richard | Poetry | Without Saying | Cuyahoga |
| Spires, Elizabeth | Poetry | The Wave-Maker | Fairfield |
| Weems, Mary E. | Poetry | An Unmistakable Shade of Red | Cuyahoga |
| Adoff, Jaime | Juvenile | The Death of Jason Porter | Greene |
| Cheng, Andrea | Juvenile | Where the Steps Were | Hamilton |
| Qamar, Amjed | Juvenile | Beneath My Mother's Feet | Franklin |
| Rosen, Michael J. | Juvenile | Our Farm | Perry |
| Zimmer, Tracie Vaughn | Juvenile | The Floating Circus | Trumbull |
| Albacete, M.J. | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Clyde Singer's America | Stark |
| Borowiec, Andrew | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Cleveland | Summit |
| Flischel, Robert A. | About Ohio/An Ohioan | The University of Cincinnati | Hamilton |
| Giffels, David J. | About Ohio/An Ohioan | All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down House | Summit |
| Vazzano, Frank P. | About Ohio/An Ohioan | Politician Extraordinaire | Stark |
2008 Finalists
| Name | Award Category | Title | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corbett, David | Fiction | Blood of Paradise | Franklin |
| Norman, Howard | Fiction | Devotion | Lucas |
| Olmstead, Robert | Fiction | Coal Black Horse | Delaware |
| White, Edmund | Fiction | Hotel de Dream | Hamilton |
| Zink, William | Fiction | Ohio River Dialogues | Summit |
| Dean, John | Nonfiction | Broken Government | Summit |
| Doerr, Anthony | Nonfiction | Four Seasons in Rome | Cuyahoga |
| Hagedorn, Ann | Nonfiction | Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America 1919 | Montgomery/Brown |
| Schultz, Connie | Nonfiction | …And His Lovely Wife | Cuyahoga |
| Tevis, Joni | Nonfiction | The Wet Collection | Belmont |
| Andrews, Nin | Poetry | Sleeping with Houdini | Mahoning |
| Gallaher, John | Poetry | The Little Book of Guesses | Athens |
| Giovanni, Nikki | Poetry | Acolytes | Hamilton |
| Martin, Herbert Woodward | Poetry | Inscribing My Name | Montgomery |
| Sporluck, Larissa | Poetry | Embryos and Idiots | Wood |
| Zimmer, Paul | Poetry | Crossing to Sunlight: Revisited | Stark |
| Babbitt, Natalie | Juvenile | Jack Plank Tells Tales | Montgomery |
| Draper, Sharon | Juvenile | Fire from the Rock | Hamilton |
| Haddix, Margaret Peterson | Juvenile | Uprising | Fayette/Delaware |
| Fitzgerald, Dawn | Juvenile | Vinnie and Abraham | Cuyahoga |
| Johnson, Angela | Juvenile | Wind Flyers | Portage |
| Garis, Leslie | Book About Ohio/an Ohioan | House of Happy Endings | |
| Griffith, Deborah , ed. | Book About Ohio/an Ohioan | Out of the Woods | |
| Haverstock, Mary Sayre | Book About Ohio/an Ohioan | George Bellows: An Artist in Action | Lorain |
| Lowenfish, Lee | Book About Ohio/an Ohioan | Branch Rickey: Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman | |
| Sullivan, George | Book About Ohio/an Ohioan | Berenice Abbott: Photographer | |
| Watts, Lisa, ed. | Book About Ohio/an Ohioan | Good Roots: Writers Reflect on Growing Up in Ohio |