150 Award Genres
Children
- Children - Action
- Children - Adventure
- Children - Animals
- Children - Audiobook
- Children - Christian
- Children - Coming of Age
- Children - Concept
- Children - Educational
- Children - Fable
- Children - Fantasy/Sci-Fi
- Children - General
- Children - Grade 4th-6th
- Children - Grade K-3rd
- Children - Mystery
- Children - Mythology/Fairy Tale
- Children - Non-Fiction
- Children - Picture Book
- Children - Preschool
- Children - Preteen
- Children - Religious Theme
- Children - Social Issues
Christian
- Christian - Amish
- Christian - Biblical Counseling
- Christian - Devotion/Study
- Christian - Fantasy/Sci-Fi
- Christian - Fiction
- Christian - General
- Christian - Historical Fiction
- Christian - Living
- Christian - Non-Fiction
- Christian - Romance - Contemporary
- Christian - Romance - General
- Christian - Romance - Historical
- Christian - Thriller
Fiction
- Fiction - Action
- Fiction - Adventure
- Fiction - Animals
- Fiction - Anthology
- Fiction - Audiobook
- Fiction - Chick Lit
- Fiction - Crime
- Fiction - Cultural
- Fiction - Drama
- Fiction - Dystopia
- Fiction - Fantasy - Epic
- Fiction - Fantasy - General
- Fiction - Fantasy - Urban
- Fiction - General
- Fiction - Graphic Novel/Comic
- Fiction - Historical - Event/Era
- Fiction - Historical - Personage
- Fiction - Holiday
- Fiction - Horror
- Fiction - Humor/Comedy
- Fiction - Inspirational
- Fiction - Intrigue
- Fiction - LGBTQ
- Fiction - Literary
- Fiction - Magic/Wizardry
- Fiction - Military
- Fiction - Mystery - General
- Fiction - Mystery - Historical
- Fiction - Mystery - Legal
- Fiction - Mystery - Murder
- Fiction - Mystery - Sleuth
- Fiction - Mythology
- Fiction - New Adult
- Fiction - Paranormal
- Fiction - Realistic
- Fiction - Religious Theme
- Fiction - Science Fiction
- Fiction - Short Story/Novela
- Fiction - Social Issues
- Fiction - Southern
- Fiction - Sports
- Fiction - Supernatural
- Fiction - Suspense
- Fiction - Tall Tale
- Fiction - Thriller - Conspiracy
- Fiction - Thriller - Environmental
- Fiction - Thriller - Espionage
- Fiction - Thriller - General
- Fiction - Thriller - Legal
- Fiction - Thriller - Medical
- Fiction - Thriller - Political
- Fiction - Thriller - Psychological
- Fiction - Thriller - Terrorist
- Fiction - Time Travel
- Fiction - Urban
- Fiction - Visionary
- Fiction - Western
- Fiction - Womens
Non-Fiction
- Non-Fiction - Adventure
- Non-Fiction - Animals
- Non-Fiction - Anthology
- Non-Fiction - Art/Photography
- Non-Fiction - Audiobook
- Non-Fiction - Autobiography
- Non-Fiction - Biography
- Non-Fiction - Business/Finance
- Non-Fiction - Cooking/Food
- Non-Fiction - Cultural
- Non-Fiction - Drama
- Non-Fiction - Education
- Non-Fiction - Environment
- Non-Fiction - Genealogy
- Non-Fiction - General
- Non-Fiction - Gov/Politics
- Non-Fiction - Grief/Hardship
- Non-Fiction - Health - Fitness
- Non-Fiction - Health - Medical
- Non-Fiction - Historical
- Non-Fiction - Hobby
- Non-Fiction - Home/Crafts
- Non-Fiction - Humor/Comedy
- Non-Fiction - Inspirational
- Non-Fiction - LGBTQ
- Non-Fiction - Marketing
- Non-Fiction - Memoir
- Non-Fiction - Military
- Non-Fiction - Motivational
- Non-Fiction - Music/Entertainment
- Non-Fiction - New Age
- Non-Fiction - Occupational
- Non-Fiction - Parenting
- Non-Fiction - Relationships
- Non-Fiction - Religion/Philosophy
- Non-Fiction - Retirement
- Non-Fiction - Self Help
- Non-Fiction - Short Story/Novela
- Non-Fiction - Social Issues
- Non-Fiction - Spiritual/Supernatural
- Non-Fiction - Sports
- Non-Fiction - Travel
- Non-Fiction - True Crime
- Non-Fiction - Womens
- Non-Fiction - Writing/Publishing
Poetry
Romance
Young Adult
- Young Adult - Action
- Young Adult - Adventure
- Young Adult - Coming of Age
- Young Adult - Fantasy - Epic
- Young Adult - Fantasy - General
- Young Adult - Fantasy - Urban
- Young Adult - General
- Young Adult - Horror
- Young Adult - Mystery
- Young Adult - Mythology/Fairy Tale
- Young Adult - Non-Fiction
- Young Adult - Paranormal
- Young Adult - Religious Theme
- Young Adult - Romance
- Young Adult - Sci-Fi
- Young Adult - Social Issues
- Young Adult - Thriller
Illustration Award
Recommend this book:
Unremembered
Tales of the Nearly Famous & the Not Quite Forgotten
Ken Zurski
2019 Honorable Mention
251 Pages
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Non-Fiction - Adventure
Unremembered: Tales of the Nearly Famous & the Not Quite Forgotten is a nonfiction collection of historical events and figures written by Ken Zurski. Zurski is a broadcaster, speaker and author whose books recreate the past. This book casts a spotlight on several dozen personalities and shares their contributions to society and progress. Among them are Nellie Bly, who bluffed and blustered her way into a well-deserved career in journalism when women were not welcome, and who circumnavigated the globe in less than 80 days; Nathaniel Currier, whose lithographic processes changed how news was disseminated, and Sam Patch, the Jersey Jumper, whose acrobatic skill and daring finally met its match in the Genesee Falls. Zurski covers the tragic, fiery destruction of the Lexington in the Long Island Sound on a freezing winter night; the fiery conflagration that leveled the New York City’s Wall Street Area and the Great Chicago fire; and the evolution of the flying machine.
Ken Zurski’s Unremembered is a grand and glorious tapestry of events and personages whose impacts were definitely felt, but whose stories have for the most part been forgotten or overlooked. I was fascinated by the way he weaves each person into the stories he tells, and I loved the care with which he develops his stories about Niagara Falls and aviation history, and used lithographs and historical artwork in his presentation. Zurski is a gifted storyteller who makes those forgotten people come to life -- he even instills a purpose and rationale for the temperance firebrand Carrie Nation as he discusses the development of women’s rights and suffrage through the 19th and 20th centuries. I was fascinated by his stories and loved learning about the unknown heroes, villains and trailblazers he highlights in this work. I was also pleased with the extensive bibliography he included. Unremembered: Tales of the Nearly Famous & the Not Quite Forgotten is most highly recommended.
Recommend this book:
Back Story Alaska
Reflections on the Wild Beauty and Characters of the Alaskan Bush
Lance Brewer
2019 Bronze Medal
172 Pages
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Non-Fiction - Adventure
Back Story Alaska: Reflections on the Wild Beauty and Characters of the Alaskan Bush by Lance Brewer is the tale of an exciting Alaskan adventure of a life time. In 1993, Lance Brewer accidentally finds himself traveling to a remote fishing lodge located in Chuit Creek, west of Anchorage, Alaska. A California-based lawyer, he immediately falls in love with bush Alaska and so was planted the seed of this book. Learning how to fly a ski plane and planning to own a float plane to be able to explore Alaska, he goes back and stays at the Bear’s Den Lodge on the Ugashik River where he befriends Ted, Bob and Carol; people that share his fascination for the land, and are building a cabin adjacent to the Bear’s Den. He subsequently establishes Camp Brewer where he also hosts various guests as they share the Alaskan landscape with the bears, eagles, moose, whales and other animals that call Alaska home.
Lance Brewer's Back Story Alaska: Reflections on the Wild Beauty and Characters of the Alaskan Bush is an engaging adventure story that comes with beautiful pictures and heart tugging poems, and as such it is an original piece of work. Sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, Lance Brewer shares his Alaskan interaction not only with its awe inspiring landscape, but also with its adventurous people and its varied animals, Alaska's original inhabitants. And as we go through the pages and gasp at man's encounters with nature, we cannot help but reflect on our own personal struggles with hope, survival, love and life itself.
Recommend this book:
Tightwads on the Loose
A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey
Wendy Hinman
2019 Silver Medal
388 Pages
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Non-Fiction - Adventure
Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey by Wendy Hinman is a memoir of the adventure of a lifetime. When Wendy met Garth in Washington D.C., she was fascinated to learn that he had sailed around the world with his family and lived like Robinson Crusoe after they bumped into a reef in Fiji that left a whale of a hole in their boat. Always adventurous, she had taken sailing lessons herself when her father bought a sailboat and had spent weekends and vacations sailing the Hawaiian Islands and the Chesapeake Bay. Wendy and Garth became a couple and dreamt of life at sea but after getting married, they settled down to pursue their own careers. After ten years, they finally decided to realize their dream of a tropical escape which resulted in a seven-year odyssey in the Pacific Ocean. This is their story.
Wendy Hinman's Tightwad on the Loose is a first-hand account of living in a 31-foot boat and going on a 34,000-mile voyage in the Pacific for seven years, with only the barest of necessities. A lot of people dream of setting the business of living aside to fulfill their dreams, but only very few really do it. Wendy and Garth belong to this special breed of people. And by writing Tightwad on the Loose, Wendy Hinman brings her readers with her while she relives their fascinating journey. Reading this book feels like being involved in plotting the trip and going with them on their sometimes exhilarating, sometimes frustrating trips to Mexico, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Kwajalein, Saipan, China, Hong Kong, Philippines, and Japan. And as they return to their old lives, her feeling of dislocation is contagious. This book is the next best thing to going on a seven-year odyssey itself!
Recommend this book:
Dancing with Death
An Epic and Inspiring Travel Adventure
Jean-Philippe Soulé
2019 Gold Medal
398 Pages
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Non-Fiction - Adventure
Dancing With Death is billed as ‘An Epic and Inspiring Travel Adventure.’ It is most certainly that. The dancing with death element, however, seems to be due in equal parts to the bold adventurism of its co-authors, Jean-Philippe Soulé and Luke Shullenberger, and their often naïve, some might say foolish, risks of unpreparedness. But these two travel partners are quite candid about their foibles (like an obsessive phobia about man-eating crocodiles), as well as their sometimes friction-filled moments resulting from fatigue and basic personality differences. So the fruit of their disparate but complementary perceptions is a deeply engaging, truly mesmerizing account of ocean-going survival and contact with indigenous jungle tribes inhabiting the southern world, all part of the “Central American Sea Kayak Expedition 2000 (CASKE 2000), a three-year, 3000-mile paddle across seven countries from Baja California to Panama, alternating between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts” – brainchild of Jean-Philippe.
"We chose sea kayaking as a low-impact way to penetrate untouched jungles and their inhabitants without disturbing them. We won’t meet indigenous people as high-tech tourists, but as people like them, living from the land and sea." This admirable and ambitious decision by Jean-Philippe Soulé and Luke Shullenberger lends David and Goliath drama to the epic tale of adventure related throughout Dancing With Death – not, in fact, a hyperbolic title. Told as a recreated narrative by Jean-Philippe, but also spiced with present moment vividness from journal entries made at the time (including many enticing photographs and ecological observations), these two ambitious souls take the reader on an unforgettable escapade of ultimate danger and discovery, inspiring less intrepid souls with displays of eclectic survival traits - like athleticism, boldness, ravenous curiosity, and endless buckets of uncanny luck. Even when confronting crocodiles.
Recommend this book:
Sail Cowabunga!
A Family's Ten Years at Sea
Janis Couvreux
2018 Finalist
276 Pages
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Non-Fiction - Adventure
Sail Cowabunga! A Family's Ten Years at Sea is a nonfiction travel memoir written by Janis Couvreux. Couvreux had inherited a taste for adventure from her dad, who would regale the family with his tales about life as a student in Switzerland after serving in the armed forces during WWII. She knew she wanted to be a journalist, a foreign correspondent, and decided that spending a college year as an exchange student in France would help her polish her fairly flimsy grasp of French. What she never expected was that she’d find the love of her life while there and would move in with him shortly after she had arrived in Bordeaux. Michel had also been bitten by the adventurer’s bug and had already hitchhiked across the length and breadth of the United States, and had interned for an architectural firm in California. Michel was in his senior year at the School of Architecture when they met and would, shortly after graduating, open his own architectural firm. The two of them needed more than just the success of his company to feel their lives were complete, however, and when they accepted a friend’s invitation to travel aboard his sailboat to Spain, they realized that sailing could be their next adventure. It would take some years of preparation: finding the right boat and preparing was just the beginning, but it finally happened. The young family with two small boys then set out to discover the world from the deck of their sailboat and would spend the next ten years doing just that.
Janis Couvreux’s nonfiction travel memoir, Sail Cowabunga! A Family's Ten Years at Sea, is a marvelous account of a most spectacular adventure. Janis and Michel, relatively inexperienced at sailing, would cross oceans and live on their wits while caring for an infant and a small child. Couvreux shares their triumphs and their mishaps, including the challenges of a boat that needed relatively frequent maintenance and learning about currents, storms and the oddities of nature first hand. I was particularly fascinated by her accounts of their travels through South America and found I was falling in love with Curacao without ever having been there myself. I also appreciated the efforts they made to ensure that their sons had ample opportunities to interact with other kids and experience schools within different cultures. Couvreux’s memoir is beautifully written, and makes it so easy to get caught up vicariously in the family’s experiences. Sail Cowabunga! A Family's Ten Years at Sea is most highly recommended.
Recommend this book:
Winds of Skilak
A Tale of True Grit, True Love and Survival in the Alaskan Wilderness
Bonnie Rose Ward
2018 Honorable Mention
404 Pages
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Non-Fiction - Adventure
Sam and Bonnie Ward set out to do something right out of many peoples’ dreams. They leave behind friends, family, and their suburban life and embark on a journey into the Alaskan wilderness. A journey that will change them forever. This is the story of a young couple’s adventure, a move from the suburbs of Ohio to a remote island on the always dangerous Skilak Lake. Sam and Bonnie must learn to adapt to a life without running water, electricity, telephones and most of their usual ‘creature comforts’ and tackle head-on the unforgiving and sometimes deadly environment. Here they will face sub-freezing temperatures, unfriendly animals, and even an onset of cabin fever. But, the Wards find strength in new friends and each other, and the awe-inspiring beauty of nature at its very core. All is not easy for them as a freak accident proves to be the test of their tenacity. Will they be able to survive in this isolated wilderness filled with unseen dangers or will they return to a simple and safe life in suburbia?
Author Bonnie Ward records an exciting and thought-provoking tale of their faith in each other through all the things Alaska has to throw at them. Winds of Skilak is a true account of enthralling force, sure to bring out a reader’s own sense of adventure as they eagerly move from chapter to chapter. The book also contains personal photos throughout the chapters, giving the reader glimpses so they can appreciate and get a better understanding and feel of just how the Wards truly lived… A thoroughly enjoyable read. Once I got started, I didn't want to stop. Well done.
Recommend this book:
Sea Trials
Around the World With Duct Tape and Bailing Wire
Wendy Hinman
2018 Silver Medal
442 Pages
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Non-Fiction - Adventure
Sea Trials: Around the World With Duct Tape and Bailing Wire by Wendy Hinman is the true story of the Wilcox family. In 1973 they took to their 40-ft sailboat and started on a journey around the world. Just over a year on and they find themselves aground on a coral reef, a rather large hole letting the seawater into their boat. For many, that would be it, game over, but not so for the Wilcox family. They have spent years saving the money for this trip, getting their boat ready and learning every way they can to navigate, and one coral reef isn’t getting in their way. Their 14-year old son is raring to go, to get on with the trip; their 11-year old daughter, not so much. This is going to be a tough trip, not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. Follow the Wilcox family as they put their boat back together and struggle on around the world, battling obstacles and events that push them to their absolute limits.
Wow! What a story this is. Sea Trials: Around the World With Duct Tape and Bailing Wire by Wendy Hinman is an incredible tale of bravery, determination, and a strong will to win against all the odds and it is one of the best true-life stories I have read in a long while. The writing is amazing, it grips you from the start and is so descriptive that you truly feel as though you are battling each wave, fighting each fight and traveling every hard mile with the family. You can feel every emotion and I guarantee your teeth will be gritted and your fists clenched at several points during the story as you follow it. The story is fast and brilliantly written and I guarantee any reader will be hooked to the very end.
Recommend this book:
Man & Horse
The Long Ride Across America
John Egenes
2018 Gold Medal
291 Pages
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Non-Fiction - Adventure
Man & Horse: The Long Ride Across America by John Egenes is a non-fiction travel memoir set in the 1970s. Man & Horse is a story about a solo journey that John undertakes with his horse, Gizmo, across the continental United States. The book is written in the first person and recounts John’s experiences on the trail as he travels from the West coast to the East coast across the entire range of states in between. Interspersed with his travel details are also anecdotes and experiences from his childhood and early years, his family, and the impact it had on his desire to travel. There is a map and several photographs throughout the book that complement the narrative.
I enjoyed reading Man & Horse: The Long Ride Across America by John Egenes and, as a travel book, it fulfills all of the criteria for a novel and engaging read. The American Southwest region in particular appears to be a lot different than what it is now, and it is especially interesting to read his accounts of travel through California, Arizona, and New Mexico. His affection for his horse, who is his steady companion throughout the journey, is apparent and touching. John’s writing style is casual and relatable and makes for an easy read. I also enjoyed getting a glimpse into his early life and family experiences as this provides a marker for what prompted him to travel and explore in the first place. Overall, this is a good non-fiction travel book that anyone would enjoy!
Recommend this book:
Breaking the Fourth Wall
An Uncertain Journey on Turkey's Lycian Way
Michelle Sevigny
2017 Honorable Mention
240 Pages
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Non-Fiction - Adventure
Breaking the Fourth Wall: An Uncertain Journey on Turkey's Lycian Way is a non-fiction travel adventure memoir written by Michelle Sevigny. Sevigny was reeling after a series of awful life-changing events. Her best friend, business partner and companion, her ten-year-old Rottweiler, had died of bone cancer; she was still mourning the cycling accident that took the life of her mom seven years earlier, and her dad’s wife had been recently diagnosed with brain cancer. She wanted to run and keep on running. Sevigny sold her apartment and began selling off or donating the rest of her possessions. Friends suggested hiking, which didn’t really appeal at first, but then Sevigny realized that it was not the activity itself that didn’t appeal but rather the settings for those hikes. She had always chosen coastal countries to visit and loved running on the beach, so the concept of long-distance coastal hiking became an viable option as a way to recharge and heal. She considered the Pacific Coastal Trail and other more popular coastal treks, but then remembered a picture her dad had of her mom in front of a Turkish mosque, and an old map of Turkey with camping signs dotting it. She wasn’t sure if those things nudged her mind, but, in the end, she decided to do the Lycian Way in Turkey before her new dog came into her life and while she still had the money from the sale of her apartment. Seven months later, she arrived at Istanbul's airport.
Michelle Sevigny’s non-fiction travel adventure memoir, Breaking the Fourth Wall: An Uncertain Journey on Turkey's Lycian Way, is a fresh and inspiring account of a most memorable journey. I marvelled at how the author gradually picked up and communicated with words and phrases in Turkish as she hiked, and how she had the courage to set out on a hike of this magnitude in a foreign land with a GPS unit that functioned fitfully at best. However, as I read on, I harbored no doubts at all that Sevigny would finish her journey and have a marvelous time doing it. The author is brutally frank and honest throughout this exceptionally good memoir as she shares both the very good and pretty awful moods she experiences, and I felt as though I were sharing the healing process that her journey facilitated. Her interactions with the dogs she meets along the way, and her yearning to finally meet the new dog she was destined to have as her companion are poignant moments in the story and will, no doubt, affect anyone who’s ever lost a beloved companion dog as strongly as Sevigny’s story affected me. I loved reading about her interactions with Turkish villagers, the descriptions of the families who shared their meals with her and were so kind; and her account of the Kangol sheepdogs who guarded her overnight as she slept in an area where she was exposed to predators. I love hiking and hope to some day follow in Sevigny’s footsteps and hit the coastal trails, but, for now, I had a grand time vicariously walking the Lycian Way with her. Breaking the Fourth Wall: An Uncertain Journey on Turkey's Lycian Way is most highly recommended.
Recommend this book:
Groovin’
Horses, Hopes, and Slippery Slopes
Rich Israel
2017 Bronze Medal
298 Pages
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Non-Fiction - Adventure
Anyone who lived through the 1960s remembers it as a time like no other. The counterculture of young people smoking marijuana and using LSD, the draft, protests against the Vietnam War, changing sexual behaviors, and other events defined the hippie, or flower child, movement. Author Rich Israel shares his personal journey in Groovin’: Horses, Hopes, and Slippery Slopes. As a college student at the University of California Davis, Rich participated in the movement by fully engaging in this new lifestyle. He worked for a year after graduation before leaving the 9-to-5 work life and embarking on many new adventures. His hitchhiking trips across the country, living in a van with his dog, Charlie, escapades with various friends, both long-term and short-lived, exemplify what it meant to live during that era. He shares good times, difficult times, and certainly many humorous moments. Throughout it all, the basic need to create a more loving and compassionate world was at the core of his and other young lives.
The author is a highly skilled storyteller - he describes each scene and person so well that the reader feels he was actually present. The book itself is inviting with meaningful quotes at the beginning of each part, some artwork, and a few photographs. The dialogue is crisp and well-placed. In Groovin’: Horses, Hopes, and Slippery Slopes, Rich Israel relates his adventures in a captivating style. The reader is engaged from the first page to the last. Mr. Israel notes that this book is the first of a series he is calling The Hippie Adventurer Series. Looking forward to the next one!