Winners were selected for the 2025 Kirkus Prize, each of whom receives $50,000. The winners (with judges' citations):
Fiction: The Slip by Lucas Schaefer (Simon & Schuster). "One day in 1998, a teenager named Nathaniel Rothstein goes missing from his uncle's house, setting off a densely packed plot that bobs, weaves, and levitates around a boxing gym in Austin, Texas, over the course of 16 years. This debut novel fearlessly explores issues of race, class, sex, and gender through a wildly inventive group of characters and events... Franzen/Roth/Irving comparisons are earned and deserved."
Nonfiction: King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation by Scott Anderson (Doubleday). "In this journalistic look back at circumstances that led to the overthrow of a dictator--and his replacement with another despot--veteran war correspondent Scott Anderson reveals just how willfully oblivious the U.S. government was in the face of a coming storm. It's a masterful and propulsive account that chronicles a devastatingly transformative series of events whose aftereffects reverberate to this day."
Young Readers' Literature: Everybelly by Thao Lam (Groundwood). "A youngster's frank and unintentionally hilarious narration of a visit to a swimming pool offers a radically inclusive child's-eye vision of community and belonging. The bellies on display belong to people of all shapes, sizes, colors, abilities, and genders. This joyful celebration of humanity springs to life through masterful, vibrant collages and text that's both poignant and witty."