Harris has won numerous accolades and prizes for his work.

2003: A Love of My Own, Blackboard's Novel of the Year and NAACP Image Award nominee
2002: Any Way the Wind Blows, Blackboard's Novel of the Year
2002: Poets & Writers "Writers for Writing" Award for work with the E, Lynn Harris Better Days Foundation
2000: Inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame
1999: University of Arkansas Citation of Distinguished Alumni for outstanding professional achievement
1997: Abide With Me and Any Way the Wind Blows, NAACP Image Award nominees
1997: If This World Were Mine, winner of the James Baldwin Award for Literary Excellence
1997: If This World Were Mine, NAACP Image Award nominee
1996: Just As I Am, Blackboard's Novel of the Year

Over the past two years, he has also been named to Ebony's "Most Intriguing Blacks" list, Out Magazine's "Out 100" list, New York Magazine's "Gay Power 101" list, Savoy's "100 Leaders and Heroes in Black America" list. Other honors have included the Sprague Todes Literary Award, the Harvey Milk Honorary Diploma, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.