STAR Award 

Past Winners 

 

 

2025

GENERAL CATEGORY
Winner
The Solitary Sparrow by Lorraine Norwood
Finalists
Tender Silver Stars by Pamela Stockwell
A Sea of Spectres by  Nancy Tabor
OUTSTANDING DEBUT
Winner
Friends with Secrets by Christine Gunderson
Finalists
Dear Dotty by Jacklyn Westlake
Such a Good Family by Caitlin Weaver

2024

GENERAL CATEGORY
WinnerFive Winters by Kitty Johnson
Finalists
Girl Braiding Her Hair by Marta Molnar
Once Upon a Lie by Rebecca Taylor
OUTSTANDING DEBUT
Winner
La Vie, According to Rose by Lauren Parvizi
Finalists
Follow the Sun by Liz Locke
The Art of Becoming Another Person Entirely by Brenda Arnold

2023

GENERAL CATEGORY
Winner
The Memory Keeper of Kyiv by Erin Litteken
Finalists
Red Thread of Fate by Lyn Liao Butler
These Numbered Days by Anna Collins
OUTSTANDING DEBUT
Winner
Truth and Other Lies by Maggie Smith
Finalists
Still True by Maggie Ginsberg
Visible Signs by Grace Marcus

2022

GENERAL CATEGORY
Winner
The Wilderness Between Us by Penny Haw
Finalists
He Gets That From Me by Jacqueline Friedland
Behind the Lens by Jeannée Sacken
OUTSTANDING DEBUT
Winner
The Audacity of Sara Grayson: A Novel by Joani Elliott
Finalists
Waiting for the Night Song by Julie Carrick Dalton
A Day Like This: A Novel by Kelley McNeil

2021

GENERAL CATEGORY
Winner
Her Perfect Life, by Rebecca Taylor
Finalists
Jamie Beck, Truth of the Matter
Kim Taylor Blakemore, The Companion
OUTSTANDING DEBUT
Winner: Wildland, by Rebecca Hodge
Finalists
K.D. Allbaugh, Face Down in Rising Sun
Ehsaneh Sadr, A Door Between Us

2020

GENERAL CATEGORY
Winner
We Hope for Better Things, by Erin Bartels
Finalists
Kelly Harms, The Overdue Life of Amy Byler
Barbara O'Neal, When We Believed in Mermaids
OUTSTANDING DEBUT
Winner
We Hope for Better Things, by Erin Bartels
Finalists
Lorelei R. Brush, Uncovering
Christie Grotheim, The Year Marjorie Moore Learned to Live

2019

GENERAL CATEGORY
Winner: My Dear Hamilton, by Laura Kamoie and Stephanie Dray
Finalists
Julie Clark, The Ones We Choose
Barbara O'Neal, The Art of Inheriting Secrets
OUTSTANDING DEBUT
Winner: The Queen of Hearts, by Kimmery Martin
Finalists
Reyna Gentin, Unreasonable Doubts
Suanne Schafer, A Different Kind of Fire

2018

GENERAL CATEGORY
Winner
Last Christmas in Paris, by Heather Webb and Hazel Gaynor
Finalists
Orly Konig Lopez, The Distance Home
Jacqueline Sheehan, The Tiger in the House
OUTSTANDING DEBUT
Winner
Are You Sleeping (Truth Be Told), by Kathleen Barber
Finalists
Lori Henriksen, The Winter Loon
Orly Konig Lopez, The Distance Home

2017

GENERAL CATEGORY
Winner
The Stone Necklace, by Carla Damron
OUTSTANDING DEBUT
Winner
Lift and Separate, by Marilyn Simon Rothstein

2016

GENERAL CATEGORY
Winner
The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster, Scott Wilbanks
OUTSTANDING DEBUT
Winner
The Girl Who Wrote in Silk, by Kelli Estes

 

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