Build the award plan
Identify identity, community, and regional awards
Awards tied to where you live, where the book is set, or a community the book belongs to are often the best-fit programs available, and the easiest to overlook.
Why it matters
Regional and community programs reach local media, local booksellers, and local libraries, which are the people most likely to host you, stock you, and recommend you in person. The entrant pool is smaller and the fit is real. For an author without a national platform, these are often the programs where recognition is realistic and where it leads to something.
Your part
- What you do
- Do it. You normally do this yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Author and Publisher and Publicist. Author, publisher, or publicist researches; author supplies the residency and community facts
- When
- About 6 months before publication; regional programs often follow an annual cycle tied to publication year (Build the award plan: twelve to six months before publication, because eligibility windows close early)
How to do it
The full walkthrough
Three kinds of programs live here. Identity and community awards recognize books by or about a particular community: the Lambda Literary Awards for LGBTQ+ literature and the National Jewish Book Awards are two established examples, and there are programs for many other communities. Regional awards are run by state library associations, state humanities councils, regional booksellers' associations, and city or state book festivals, and they usually require that the author live in, or the book be about, the jurisdiction. Some are both, such as a regional program for a specific community.
Eligibility in this group is about fit and connection, not marketing reach. If the book qualifies, it is because of something true about you or the book, and the judges and audience are people for whom that connection matters.
Traditionally published authors should tell the publisher where they live and what communities the book speaks to, because the publisher cannot know to enter a state award if nobody mentions the state. Hybrid and self-published authors will find that many regional and community programs accept entries from any publishing path, and some are free.
Search by place and by community, not by "book awards". State library associations, regional independent bookseller associations, and community cultural organizations are the usual hosts.
Common mistakes
- Never telling the publisher where you live.
- Assuming a regional award is minor because it is regional.
- Entering a community award the book does not belong to because the category looked open.
- Missing a state program because it is run by a library association rather than a literary body.
What done looks like
- Your state and region's book awards identified, including library association and bookseller association programs.
- Community programs identified for any community you or the book belong to, with eligibility read carefully and respectfully.
- Residency, setting, and membership requirements recorded per program.
- The publisher told about your location and community connections so it can enter where it will.
Ask your publisher
Copy this into an email. Replace the bracketed parts with your details.
Sources and last checked
- Official source
- No single official page for this step.
- Last checked
- Not checked against its source yet.
- How confident we are
- Verified