Premier Book Awards Announced

The Premier Book Awards are given to book length fiction and non-fiction titles published by small presses or independent publishers. According to a press release issued by Premier Books, self-published books are also considered.

The prizes are not huge, but it’s nice to see an award for smaller presses. Each of five winners in the Fiction category wins $100. The five categories were: Fantasy, General Fiction, Mystery/Thriller/Horror, Historical, and Poetry. Each of the four winners in the non-fiction category also wins $100. Those four categories were: Biography, Health, Memoir/Autobiography, and Religion/Spirituality. Then there’s a top prize of $500 for the Best Book of the Year.

Submissions by authors and publishers came in from the United States, Canada and Australia.

And the winners are:

Fiction:
* Sacrifice: Book One of the Last Forever by Kelly Komm, Edmonton, AB, Canada (Infinity Publishing) took top honors in the Fantasy category.

* Pike Place by Marilyn Howard Tschudi, Raleigh, NC (Quarrystone Publishing) was selected as the best General Fiction entry.

* Eboracum, The Village by Graham Clews, Westlock, AB, Canada (Trafford Publishing) took top honors in the category of Historical Fiction.

* Brookwater's Curse, Vol 2 by Steven Van Patten, Brooklyn, NY (Authorhouse) was judged the best Mystery/Thriller/Horror novel.

* Hermetica: Myths, Legends, Poems by Paul Kiritsis, Melbourne, Australia (iUniverse) captured the judges hearts in the Poetry category.

Non-Fiction:
* Kelly: A Father, A Son, An American Quest by Daniel J. Boyne, Cambridge, MA (Mystic Seaport) was chosen as the premier Biography.

* Birth Emergency Skills Training by Bonnie Gruenberg, Duncannon, PA (Birth Guru Publications) won first place in the Health Category.

* Reflections of a Khmer Soul by Navy Phim, Bellflower, CA (Wheatmark Book Publishing) received the top award in the Memoir/Autobiography category.

* (reflection of) An American Idiot by Ronald Koustas, Clifton, NJ (Xulon Press) won in the Religion/Spirituality category.

Best Book of the Year:
Knowing Things, a novel by Erica Boardman Thomas, Myrtle Beach, SC (PublishAmerica)

You can find other titles that placed, but didn’t win top position on the Premier Book Awards site.

Congratulations to all the winners.

If you’re interested in entering, the 2009 Premier Book Awards will have the rules and entry requirements available and will begin accepting entries in January.