Thornton Wilder Writing Competition Awards Ceremony In-Person
We invite you to celebrate the winners of the 2025 Thornton Wilder Writing Competition. This competition, established by the Friends of Hamden Library and open to high school students from public, private, homeschool, and parochial schools across New Haven County, pays tribute to the esteemed Thornton Wilder, a long-time resident of Hamden and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and playwright. Awards will be given for first and second place, along with an honorable mention, in both fiction and poetry categories. The winners will share excerpts from their works during the event, a Thornton Wilder-themed gift basket will be raffled off to one lucky attendee, and there will be a birthday cake in honor of Thornton Wilder. Registration is recommended.
About Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1897. He studied at Oberlin College and Yale University and later became a teacher of literature and creative writing. Both a novelist and a playwright, he is considered one of America's foremost writers. Wilder won Pulitzer Prizes for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927), as well as two plays – Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1943). Another play, The Merchant of Yonkers (1939), which he rewrote as The Matchmaker, became the basis for the popular musical Hello, Dolly.
Thornton Wilder utilized his profits from the success of The Bridge of San Luis Rey to construct his residence in Hamden in 1929. Despite his extensive travels and prolonged absences, Wilder regarded Hamden as his primary residence until his passing in 1975. The "Washburn Colonial" continued to serve as the home of his sister, Isabel Wilder, until her death in 1995.
The Hamden Public Library system pays tribute to the legacy of Thornton Wilder by hosting an annual writing competition for high school students. Established in 1986 by Augusta Thomas and the Friends of Hamden Library, the awards presented each year are funded by the generous endowment provided by Isabel Wilder.