The Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation announced the ten recipients of the $50,000 prize (per writer) for "emerging writers of exceptional talent and promise," according to a release.

Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than $5 million to 230 poets, fiction and nonfiction writers and playwrights. Past recipients include Stephen Adly Guirgis, Rinne Groff, Tracey Scott Wilson, Sarah Ruhl, Melissa James Gibson, Naomi Iizuka, Keith Reddin, José Rivera, Tony Kushner, August Wilson and Suzan-Lori Parks.

The winners recognized this year also include fiction writers Ben Fountain, Brad Kessler and Dalia Sofer; poets Paul Guest and Cate Marvin; and nonfiction writers Carlo Rotella, Peter Trachtenberg and Jack Turner.

Callaghan's work includes Lascivious Something, Dead City, Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake) and Kate Crackernuts The member of 13P will next see her company stage Crawl, Fade to White in 2008.

McCraney plays include The Brothers Size; Marcus; or, the Secret of Sweet; and In the Red and Brown Water. He also co-authored The Breach and will develop his Wig Out as part of the Vineyard Theatre Lab Production program. Candidates are proposed by nearly 100 anonymous nominators from across the country. Winners are then chosen by a select unidentified committee of recognized writers, literary scholars, and editors, appointed each year by the Foundation.

For more information on The Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation, visit whitingfoundation.org.