The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is an annual award in the United States that honors the power of writing to help people understand and support peace. It began in 2006. Each year, the prize is given to adult books in fiction and nonfiction categories that were published within the past year. These books help readers learn more about other people, cultures, religions, and political ideas. Winners in each category receive $10,000. The award was created from the Dayton Peace Prize, which started after the 1995 peace agreement that ended the Bosnian War. In 2011, the "Lifetime Achievement Award" was renamed the Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, which also gives $10,000.

In 2008, Taylor Branch, a writer about Martin Luther King Jr., joined Studs Terkel and Elie Wiesel as a winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award. The ceremony that year was held in Dayton, Ohio, on September 28, 2008. Nick Clooney, who hosted the event in 2007, also hosted in 2008 and 2009. The 2009 ceremony took place in Dayton, Ohio, on November 8, 2009. At that time, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, who are married authors and journalists, received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is known as "the first and only U.S. literary award recognizing the power of the written word to promote peace." The prize aims to honor writers whose work helps create peace, support social justice, and improve understanding between people worldwide.

In addition to the $10,000 prize for winners in the Fiction and Nonfiction categories, runners-up in both categories also receive $5,000. Winners in the three main categories also get a unique sculpture made by Michael Bashaw as part of their award.

Recent winners of the Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award (a lifetime honor) include Salman Rushdie (2025). The most recent Fiction winner is Kaveh Akbar (2025) for Martyr!, and the Nonfiction winner is Sunil Amrith (2025) for The Burning Earth.