Eugenides, who on Tuesday night was to present the award to this year's 10 recipients, is one of many top American authors and playwrights who early in their careers won the honor. It is given to those who exhibit "exceptional talent and promise."

"I remember it was a very rainy night and on my way to the ceremony the back of my trousers became sopping wet," Eugenides, who won in 1993, said during a recent telephone interview. "It was a good way to forestall any moment of grandiosity because I assumed that everyone was looking at my soggy bottoms."

He said he was so excited to win that he has forgotten who handed him his Whiting. But he considers the prize the "first vote of confidence" from someone besides his publisher and values the award's "extreme practical" value and how it made him feel "part of the writerly world."

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