IPNE 9th Annual Book Awards 2022

9th Annual IPNE Book Awards

Registration Extended to July 17

We're looking for books. Is yours a winner? 

There's no time like now to step up and find out. Winning a respected book award can help you reach new audiences and boost sales. It also delivers a satisfying cap to all the hard work that goes into putting out a fine book. 

Read on for important details about registering your book, and where to send the four copies. 

If you have a book with a publication date of 2020, 2021, or 2022, you are eligible to enter the 9th Annual IPNE Book Awards. Read about last year’s winners.

Winners are showcased on the IPNE website. They receive a 2022 IPNE Book Award e-medallion for display on social media channels, websites, and marketing materials. And they are honored at the annual IPNE book award ceremony, the high point of the conference for that year.

Each book is judged by three independent judges drawn from a panel of literary scholars, authors, librarians, developmental editors, booksellers, and other qualified reviewers selected by IPNE’s 2022 Book Awards Committee. This rich, independent evaluation is the foundation of our process.

All entries will compete within their categories, and also for the top prize as IPNE Book of the Year. 

Become a member of IPNE and be eligible for the member submission rate. 

. . . 

Eligibility

Print books published in 2020, 2021, or 2022. 

Entry Fee

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. 

1. 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. For a “hybrid novel,“ one that seems to extend the framework of genre into the realm of the literary, enter your novel as one or the other, based on the novel's strongest attributes.

2. 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.
3. CHILDREN’S BOOKS 
   Fiction or nonfiction, for 12 and under. 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.
4. YOUNG ADULT BOOKS
   Fiction or nonfiction, for 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.
5. GRAPHIC NOVELS
   Fiction or nonfiction, visually presented.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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. 
9. 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.
10. 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.