The WritersReview Meridian Award is the highest literary recognition we bestow, an editorial honor given to one exceptional book per genre each year. It cannot be purchased, entered, or applied for. No submission fees exist. No relationship with this publication influences selection. The Meridian is earned solely on the merit of the work.
About the Award
WritersReview publishes long-form editorial reviews across twelve genres. Our reviewers are readers first, writers, librarians, scholars, and working critics who bring depth of knowledge to every assessment. From that ongoing body of work, our editors identify the books that warrant special recognition.
The Meridian Award was established to answer a single question: of all the books reviewed across a given year, which one in each genre did something genuinely irreplaceable? Not just excellent, irreplaceable. The kind of book that, once read, changes how you see the world.
One winner. Twelve genres. No exceptions, no ties, no consolation prizes bearing the same name.
Our Editorial Standards
Our editors evaluate each title against four criteria. A book need not excel at all four, but it must demonstrate genuine distinction in at least one while not failing in the others.
The quality of the sentence, its precision, rhythm, and ability to carry meaning that summary cannot. We consider whether the prose is doing something the story could not achieve any other way.
Does the book exist within a tradition, or does it expand one? We are not looking for novelty for its own sake, but for books that offer a perspective or form that genuinely could not have been written by anyone else.
Will this book be read in twenty years? Does it address something permanent about human experience, or is its value inseparable from the moment of its publication? We weight durability heavily.
Is the world materially different for this book existing in it? This is the hardest criterion and the one that most often separates a Meridian Award winner from a book that merely deserved a Meridian Honor.
For a full account of how WritersReview approaches criticism, see our Editorial Policy.
Two Designations, One Standard
The Meridian process produces two distinct recognitions. Neither is a consolation prize. Both are earned on merit, with no fee attached to either.
The Meridian Award
One book per genre, per year.
The Meridian Award is given to a single book per genre that our editorial board determines to be the most significant work reviewed that year. The winner is selected following a one-month community voting period in which readers rank the eight finalists. Community votes inform but do not determine the final selection, the decision rests entirely with the editorial board, who publish their reasoning alongside each winner.
Meridian Award winners receive a permanent designation in our review archive and a winner badge for use in their own marketing materials.
The Meridian Honor
Eight books per genre, per year.
Before the Award winner is announced, our editors designate eight books per genre as Meridian Honors, works of exceptional distinction that cleared every editorial threshold. These are not runners-up. The Honor is its own designation, awarded independently of who ultimately receives the Award. A Meridian Honor means a book was among the most significant works published in its genre that year, as judged by this publication’s editorial board.
Meridian Honor recipients receive a permanent designation in our review archive and an Honor badge for use in their own marketing materials.
How the Meridian Is Awarded
Twelve Genres
The Meridian Award is given in each of the following genres annually. Each genre produces one Award winner and eight Honor recipients per year.
Science Fiction
Mystery & Thriller
Biography
History
Self-Help
Business
Young Adult
Children’s
Poetry
Science & Nature
Philosophy
Award Archive
The Meridian Award is given annually. In our inaugural year, WritersReview conducted a comprehensive review of the preceding decade to identify the books across all twelve genres that most deserved retroactive recognition, titles that shaped their genres and outlasted the moment of their publication. The Meridian Decade Retrospective covers 2015 through 2024. Annual awards begin with 2025.
2025, Inaugural Annual Award
Nominations open later this year. The eight Meridian Honors per genre will be announced in the fall, followed by one month of community voting. Winners will be announced in December 2025.
| Genre | Meridian Award Winner | Author | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| Literary Fiction | To be announced | – | – |
| Science Fiction | To be announced | – | – |
| Mystery & Thriller | To be announced | – | – |
| Biography | To be announced | – | – |
| History | To be announced | – | – |
| Self-Help | To be announced | – | – |
| Business | To be announced | – | – |
| Young Adult | To be announced | – | – |
| Children’s | To be announced | – | – |
| Poetry | To be announced | – | – |
| Science & Nature | To be announced | – | – |
| Philosophy | To be announced | – | – |
The Meridian Decade Retrospective, 2015 to 2024
In our inaugural year, WritersReview editors conducted a comprehensive review of the preceding decade to identify the books in each genre that most warranted retroactive recognition. These are evaluated against our current editorial criteria and represent our board’s considered judgment of which works from each year most deserve to carry the Meridian designation. Each winner will link directly to a full WritersReview assessment.