Celine Song '14 and Professor Hilary Leichter '12 Honored with Whiting Awards
The Whiting Foundation announced the 2026 recipients of their prestigious Whiting Awards, which celebrate emerging writers with exceptional literary talent. The cohort of ten included two Columbia alums, Theatre graduate Celine Song '14 and Writing alum and Assistant Professor Hilary Leichter '12.
The Whiting Award grants $50,000 to each recipient to support great work to come. "These writers work across nonfiction, poetry, drama, and fiction, and together their works offer a kaleidoscopic view of this moment—from the human cost of AI to the poetry of displacement, from Detroit to Kabul to the stage," said the Whiting Foundation of this year's cohort.
In the judge's citation for Leichter's work, the Foundation wrote, "Time bends in the hands of Hilary Leichter as she traces post-pandemic loss to our upended present. Her writing is assured and radiant; her fluid imagination shapes lush worlds, at once uncanny and beautiful. With nonconformist narration and characteristic whimsy, her work offers us a space to wonder and reflect in a fraught time."
Nominators and judges of the Whiting Awards are granted total anonymity to avoid any pressures, but the pool, which changes annually, includes booksellers, writers, critics, dramaturgs and professors. Those nominated are not notified until they receive the award.
The process is kept so under wraps, Leichter missed the news in her inbox. "The initial email notifying me that I had won a Whiting Award went to my spam folder, which was fitting, because I could not have been more surprised or humbled or flabbergasted," said Leichter. "It's an honor and a total privilege to be recognized alongside writers I deeply admire."
This year, the Foundation awarded only one prize for achievement in drama, which they granted to Song. Though Song rose to fame as a filmmaker, and became the first Asian woman nominated for an Academy Award in Screenwriting with her debut film Past Lives, her roots in the arts and at Columbia are grounded in theatre. At the School of the Arts, Song concentrated in playwriting and studied directing under Theatre Professor and Head of the Directing Concentration Anne Bogart.
"Celine Song pushes the bounds of theater with her moving excavation of humanity and love," wrote the Whiting judges. "She peels away historical narrative, challenging audiences to explore what stories remain below the surface, what art is staged, and who gets to tell the story on their own terms. Song writes with an adept eye and ear, examining time and rendering the choral and communal, the singularity of human life."
"It's a huge honor to receive this award from a place where I took my first steps towards being a professional writer," Song said. "Thank you especially to Chuck Mee and Anne Bogart for teaching me everything I know about writing and directing. Thank you to my fellow students for being my community when I first moved to New York to pursue my dreams."
Song recently returned to campus to give a talk at the Lenfest Center as part of the Speak Now series. Introduced by Dean of the School of the Arts Sarah Cole and in conversation with Bogart, Song addressed her creative practice and blockbuster sophomore film, Materialists.
Whiting Award winners have gone on to win numerous awards and fellowships, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Obie Award, and MacArthur, Guggenheim, and Lannan fellowships. We look forward to celebrating Leichter and Song's future accomplishments. Follow us for more news coverage of our alums.
Hilary Leichter is the author of the novel Temporary (Coffee House Press/Emily Books, 2020), which was a finalist for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Prize, and was longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her second novel, Terrace Story (Ecco, 2024), was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. Hilary’s reviews, essays, and short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, n+1, The New York Times, Conjunctions and elsewhere. Her work in Harper’s Magazine won the 2021 National Magazine Award in Fiction. She has been awarded fellowships from Yaddo, MacDowell, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is an Assistant Professor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Creative Writing at Columbia University.
Celine Song is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and filmmaker whose signature blend of emotional depth, intelligence, and humor has established her as an essential voice in today’s entertainment landscape.
Most recently, Song presented her highly anticipated sophomore feature, Materialists, which was released internationally in 2025 through A24 and Sony Pictures. Written, directed, and produced by Song, the film follows Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a young, ambitious New York City matchmaker torn between the perfect match (Pedro Pascal) and her imperfect ex (Chris Evans). Released by A24 in Summer 2023 following its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Song's feature debut Past Lives has received widespread critical acclaim. The film earned Academy Award® nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture, alongside numerous other honors including the Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film, Best Feature Film at the 2023 Gotham Awards, the Film Independent Spirit Award for both Best Picture and Best Director, as well as Golden Globe®, Critics’ Choice, and BAFTA nominations. As a playwright, Song is best known for Endlings, which premiered in 2019 at American Repertory Theater and had its New York debut in 2020 at New York Theatre Workshop. She has been a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and a semifinalist for the American Playwriting Foundation's Relentless Award. During New York Theatre Workshop’s virtual 2020 season, she presented live on Twitch, The Seagull on the Sims 4. Song also wrote on the first season of Amazon series The Wheel of Time.