The Lambda Literary Foundation seeks to support the creation and dissemination of writings by, for and about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community. Since 1988 they have held annual awards for LGBT literature.
2004 winners
- Children /Young adult: David Levithan, Boy Meets Boy (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
- LGBT humour: Alison Bechdel, Dykes and Sundry Other Carbon-Based Life-Forms to Watch Out For (Alyson Publications)
- LGBT drama: Brian Drader, Prok (Scirocco Drama)
- LGBT Erotica: Tristan Taormino, ed., Best Lesbian Erotica 2004 (Cleis Press)
- Science Fiction / Fantasy / Horror: Helen Sandler, ed., Necrologue (Diva Books)
- Spirituality: Fenton Johnson, Keeping Faith (Houghton Mifflin)
- Visual arts: Lonthar Schirmer, ed., Women Seeing Women (W.W. Norton)
- LGBT romance: Michael Thomas Ford, Last Summer (Kensington Publishing) and Karin Kallmaker, Maybe Next Time (Bella Books)
- LGBT fiction anthology: Michael Bronski, ed., Pulp Friction (St. Martin's Press)
- LGBT non-fiction anthology: Bob Guter and John Killacky, eds., Queer Crips (Harrington Park Press)
- Gay men's mystery: John Morgan Wilson, Blind Eye (St. Martin's Press)
- Lesbian mystery: Elizabeth Sims, Damn Straight (Alyson Publications)
- LGBT biography: Andrew Wilson, Beautiful Shadow (Bloomsbury)
- LGBT Memoir / autobiography: Lillian Faderman, Naked in the Promised Land (Houghton Mifflin)
- Lesbian poetry: Minnie Bruce Pratt, The Dirt She Ate (University of Pittsburgh Press)
- Gay men's poetry: Henri Cole, Middle Earth (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and Mark Bibbins, Sky Lounge (Graywolf Press)
- Transgender: Jennifer Finney Boylan, She's Not There (Broadway Books)
- LGBT studies: Devon Carbado and Donald Weise, eds., Time on Two Crosses (Cleis Press)
- Gay men's fiction: Christopher Bram, Lives of the Circus Animals (William Morrow)
- Lesbian fiction: Nina Revoyr, Southland (Akashic Books)
2005 winners
- Gay Men's Fiction: Colm Tóibín, The Master (Scribner)
- Lesbian Fiction: Stacey D'Erasmo, A Seahorse Year (Houghton Mifflin)
- Debut Gay Men's Fiction: Blair Mastbaum, Clay's Way (Alyson Books)
- Debut Lesbian Fiction: Judith Frank, Crybaby Butch (Firebrand)
- Gay Men's Poetry: Luis Cernuda, Written in Water (City Lights Publishers)
- Lesbian Poetry: Beverly Burch, Sweet to Burn (Gival Press)
- Gay Men's Mystery: Anthony Bidulka, Flight of Aquavit (Insomniac Press)
- Lesbian mystery: Katherine V. Forrest, Hancock Park (Berkley Prime Crime/Penguin Group USA)
- Fiction Anthology: Edmund White and Donald Weise, eds., Fresh Men: New Voices in Gay Fiction (Carroll & Graff)
- Nonfiction Anthology: Greg Wharton and Ian Philips, eds., I Do/I Don't: Queers on Marriage (Suspect Thoughts Press)
- Memoir: Alison Smith, Name All the Animals (Scribner)
- Biography: Alexis De Veaux, Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde (W. W. Norton)
- Children's / Young Adult: Alex Sanchez, So Hard to Say (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
- Erotica: Richard Labonte, Best Gay Erotica 2005 (Cleis Press)
- Humor: David Sedaris, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (Little, Brown)
- Romance: Steven Kluger, Almost Like Being in Love (HarperCollins)
- Science fiction, fantasy, or horror: Jim Grimsley, The Ordinary (Tor Books)
- Spirituality: Will Roscoe, Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love (Suspect Thoughts Press)
- Drama / Theater: Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
- Visual Arts/Photography: Evan Bachner and Harry Abrams, At Ease: Navy Men of World War II
- LGBT Studies: Elisabeth Kirtsoglou, For the Love of Women: Gender, Identity and Same-Sex Relations in a Greek Provincial Town (Routledge)
- Transgender: Mariette Pathy Allen, The Gender Frontier (Kehrer Verlag)
2006 winners
- Gay Men's Fiction: Dennis Cooper, The Sluts
- Lesbian Fiction: (tie) Abha Dawesar, Babyji and Helen Humphreys, Wild Dogs
- Gay Men's Debut Fiction: Vestal McIntyre, You Are Not the One
- Lesbian Debut Fiction: Ali Leibegott, The Beautifully Worthless
- Gay Men's Mystery: D. Travers Scott, One of These Things is Not Like the Other
- Lesbian Mystery: Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Desert Blood: The Juarez Murders
- Gay Men's Poetry: Richard Siken, Crush
- Lesbian Poetry: June Jordan, Directed by Desire: Collected Poems
- Nonfiction: Thomas Glave, Words to Our Now
- Romance: Radclyffe, Distant Shores, Silent Thunder
- Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror: Katherine Forrest, Daughters of an Emerald Dusk
- LGBT Studies: Susan Acker, When Heroes Love: The Ambiguities of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David
- Transgender/Genderqueer: Charlie Anders, Choir Boy
- Spirituality: Cheri DiNovo, Qu(e)erying Evangelism: Growing a Community from the Outside In
- Anthology: E. Lynn Harris, ed., Freedom in This Village: Twenty-Five Years of Black Gay Men's Writing, 1979 to the Present
- Belles Lettres: Martin Moran, The Tricky Part
- Biography: Sherrill Tippins, February House
- Humor: David Rakoff, Don't Get Too Comfortable
- Children's/Young Adult: Shyam Selvadurai, Swimming in the Monsoon Sea
- Erotica: Stacia Seaman and Radclyffe, eds., Stolen Moments: Erotic Interludes 2