1st Annual Book Awards 2023

Winning a respected book award may help an author reach new audiences and boost sales. It also delivers a satisfying cap for all the hard work that goes into publishing a manuscript.

If you have written a book that was published in the last five years, you are eligible to enter it in the NAIWE 1st Annual Book Awards 2023.

All books entered will compete within their categories and also for the top prize as the NAIWE Book of the Year Award Winner.

Category winners and the top prize winner will be showcased on the NAIWE website, and they will receive a 2023 NAIWE Book Award e-medallion for display on social media channels, websites, and marketing materials.

Entry Fee

• 1 Book Entry – $45.00 (NAIWE Member Rate: $40)
• 2 Books Entry – $85.00 (NAIWE Member Rate: $75)
• 3 Books Entry – $125.00 (NAIWE Member Rate: $110)

The fee is $45 per title, with an accompanying selection of the primary category. An additional category is $25. Make sure not to select conflicting categories.

Awards Categories

Registration includes one of the following categories for each book entered.

• LITERARY FICTION
  Fiction that does not fit neatly into the traditional formulas of genre. That favors rich language, nuanced characters, and sometimes also experimental strategies or form. That tends to concern itself with the human condition.
• GENRE FICTION
  Fiction that meets (or sometimes plays on) reader expectations for a certain type of story: mystery, romance, historical, science fiction, fantasy, and so on. Genres have one or more core features that make the genre what it is, and which a story must incorporate to be of a particular genre. Contemporary genre fiction also sometimes incorporates features traditionally associated with literary fiction, such as fine language and nuanced characters.
• CHILDREN’S BOOKS
  Picture book (ages 3–8), early reader (ages 5–8), middle grade (ages 8 to 12). Children’s books can wander over various subjects, as appropriate for the age group. Content, treatment, and reading level are key in these categories.
• YOUNG ADULT BOOKS
  Fiction or nonfiction, aimed at ages 12 and up. YA books can be of many genres, address many subjects. What distinguishes them is the focus on teens and their particular concerns. Some YA books are written with the younger teens in mind, some the older. Young adult is not to be confused with middle grade.
• GRAPHIC NOVELS
  Fiction or nonfiction, visually presented.
• NARRATIVE NONFICTION
  Nonfiction that tells a story, whether of a person (biography or memoir), an event (as with literary journalism), a time period (as with a history), or something else. The subject matter may inform the story, but narrative drives it. Enter nonfiction as either narrative or informational, not both.
• INFORMATIONAL NONFICTION
  Nonfiction that informs — and that is organized purely to inform — such as directories, travel guides, how-to’s, self-help, reference, and so on. Informational fiction may include short narratives, but narrative does not itself drive the structure or inform the content. A travel memoir, for example, is not a travel guide. Enter nonfiction as either narrative or informational, not both.
• POETRY
  Collections of poems. One long story told in verse would instead be fiction or narrative nonfiction. A collection of poems or a story in verse for children would typically be a children’s book.
• COFFEE TABLE AND ART BOOKS
  Large format, visually rich. A book in which the design is as significant, if not more so, than the substance. Either way, it has been designed to showcase that content.
• DESIGN
  This category stands apart from the others: only the design (both exterior and interior) are evaluated. Nothing of the substance. Most typically applies to coffee table or art books.

Take care to select a primary category that best fits the book, and a secondary category only when the two categories do not conflict. A coffee table/art book is a natural for a secondary category of design, for example, or vice versa. But a novel should be entered as either literary or genre, and nonfiction as either narrative or informational.

Entry Process

• Register online
• Submit your payment via online registration.
• Mail two signed copies of your book to NAIWE: PO Box 412, Montpelier, VA 23192.

 Note we only accept print copies. E-books will not be accepted.

Deadline for Registration

June 15

Finalists and Winners Announced 

Winners will be announced in November of 2023.

Submit Early!

To ensure the integrity of the judging process, entries will be capped at 100 per category.

Questions?

Email us.

Notices

Depending on the number of submissions for a category, NAIWE reserves the right to combine, divide, or otherwise modify the award categories. In the event that categories for a particular genre are added, consolidated, or eliminated, submission(s) will be judged in the category or categories most relevant. Books that have been submitted miscategorized will not be judged in the categories that do not apply.

All entries will be held to basic publishing standards with respect to length and legibility. Entries that clearly violate such standards will be disqualified.