Paid-entry recognition
San Francisco Book Festival
JM Northern Media LLC (Hollywood, California)
In short
A $50-per-entry competition run from Hollywood by JM Northern Media, which runs identical festivals under several city names, open to any book of any publication year in about 20 categories. The official page does not say what a winner gets beyond the listing. The Alliance of Independent Authors rates it a fail for not disclosing its judging criteria, and Writer Beware has written about the company's festivals as a business. Read those before you pay.
This cycle closedChecked September 16, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Every label is a fact from the official rules, never a judgment about whether the award is worth entering. How we describe awards.
The last verified deadline has passed. Check the official source for the next cycle.
Sign in to be emailed when entries open again.
The San Francisco Book Festival is one of a family of city-named book festivals run by JM Northern Media LLC from Hollywood, California, alongside festivals named for New York, Paris, and other cities, each with the same structure. It is a paid-entry competition, not a literary festival in the usual sense: there is no restriction on when the book was published, no restriction by publisher type, citizenship, or residency, and entries are accepted in print and ebook form in about 18 to 20 categories.
The fee is $50 per entry, not refundable, payable to JM Northern Media LLC by check, money order, or PayPal; each category is a separate entry and fee. The 2026 cycle closed on June 6, 2026, with winners notified by email and posted on the site. Next cycle not announced: at the last check the entry page still showed the 2026 deadline. Named honors include an Author of the Year, Book Design of the Year, and Publisher of the Year alongside category winners and honorable mentions.
What winners receive beyond the listing is not spelled out on the official page. One independent writer reports a grand prize of cash and travel to the ceremony, but that is not confirmed on the site.
Why it may matter
An honorable mention or win here is a line for a press kit and little else: the program's audience is entrants, its judging is undisclosed, and independent coverage (the Alliance of Independent Authors' contest ratings, and Writer Beware's piece on JM Northern Media's festivals) treats the family of city festivals as a commercial operation. If you enter, do it with that understanding and for the seal, not the standing.
2026 cycle: 2026 festival, closed
- Final deadline
- June 6, 2026 (passed)Checked September 16, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Deadline note
- This cycle closed. The entry page says final entries must be in our hands by Saturday, June 6, which was the 2026 date. Next cycle not announced: the page still showed that deadline at the last check.
- Entry fee
- $50 per entry, each category a separate entry; not refundableChecked September 16, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Results
- Winners notified by email and posted on the site; no date given
- Notes
- Prizes beyond the listing are not stated on the official page
| Tier | Deadline | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Per entry | June 6, 2026 | $50 |
Worth knowing
Our reading, not a rule the organization published. We judge an award on the rubric in how we describe awards.
Checked against the entry page, which the official domain forwards to through an old frameset. Confirmed: there is no date of publication restriction; the fee is $50 per entry by check, money order, or PayPal; final entries must be in our hands by Saturday, June 6, which is the 2026 date and has passed; the category list above; and the three named special awards. Not confirmed: what a winner receives beyond the listing, and any 2027 cycle, which as of September 16, 2026 had not been announced on the entry page the official domain forwards to. The Alliance of Independent Authors rates the festival a fail for not disclosing judging criteria; Writer Beware (SFWA) published a piece in 2013 on JM Northern Media's festivals as an awards business. Those are their characterizations, reported here as such.
Rules and deadlines change. We last checked this information on September 16, 2026. If you see something that needs updating, please tell us.
Run this award? Confirm or correct this record.
Use your work email. If it is on the domain the record already links to, we send you a link that opens the record for you to confirm or correct. Otherwise a person reads it and gets back to you.