For distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, Seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500).
Awarded to "Empire Falls" by Richard Russo (Alfred A. Knopf).
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), and "John Henry Days" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday).