Area author in the race around 2025 Hawthorne Prize for 2nd crime novel

The novelist Charles Rogers in the region was nominated for an Elite National Award.

Rogers' novel “The Brazos Valley Files” created the “short list” for the winner of the American Writer's Awards 2025.

Rogers is now a resident of College Station in Texas and grew up in the Centerville region on the Wilkson-Amite County line. He visited the Southwest Mississippi Community College in Summit, then the University of Southern Mississippi, before he lived “throughout the country” and worked in retail and in public relations. After his retirement, he focused on writing what he loved – crime fiction. His first novel, “The Chambers Files”, was set in places where he had lived and worked, such as Centerville and Kokomo, Mississippi. “Brazos” is his second novel near his house in Texas.

The Hawthorne Prize was named in honor of the renowned American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne and is awarded to a book called the best fictional work of the year. More than one book can be awarded if the jury decides.

The authors aged 18 and over can be used, with fictional work 2020-2025 released or published in 2025. The novel must be in English, and is assessed according to several criteria, including: storytelling, transitions, hooks, pace, character development, dialogue, graceful, overall influence and overall effect on the judges.

The shortlist is limited to a list of finalists from which the winner – “First under the same” – is announced. The winners receive an official Hawthorne winner for advertising and coverage, honor as a “presented author” of the American Writer's Awards as well as recommendations for New York and Los Angeles Talent Agents for a possible manuscript assessment.

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