Area novelist Charles Rogers has been nominated for an elite national award.

Rogers’s novel “The Brazos Valley Files” has made the “short list” for the American Writer’s Awards 2025 Hawthorne Prize.

Now a resident of College Station, Texas, Rogers grew up in the Centreville area, on the Wilkson-Amite County line. He attended Southwest Mississippi Community College in Summit, then The University of Southern Mississippi, before living “all over the country,” working in retail and public relations. Upon retirement, he focused on writing what he loved — crime fiction. His first novel, “The Chambers Files,” was set in places he had lived and worked, such as Centreville and Kokomo, Mississippi. “Brazos” is his second novel, set near his Texas home.

Named in honor of renowned American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Hawthorne Prize is presented to a book considered the year’s best work of fiction. More than one book can be awarded, if the panel of judges chooses to do so.

Authors age 18 or older can apply, with any fiction work published 2020-2025, or set to be published in 2025. The novel must be in English, and is judged on multiple criteria, including: story-telling ability, transitions, hooks, pacing, character development, dialogue, grammar, punctuation, and overall impact on the judges.

The shortlist will be narrowed to a list of finalists, from which the winner — “first among equals” — will be announced. Winners will receive an official Hawthorne Prize seal for promotional and cover use, honor as a “featured author” of the American Writer’s Awards, and referrals to New York and Los Angeles talent agents for possible manuscript review. 

The finalists will be announced May 18, and the winner May 25.