2025 Winners & Finalists
POSTHUMOUS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Carey Scott Wilkerson
BIOGRAPHY
Winner: Genius of Sport -- Pierre de Coubertin, Paris, and the Birth of the Olympic Movement -- A Brief Biography of a Forgotten Hero by George Hirthler
Finalist: Vagabond Princess by Ruby Lal
CHILDREN’S BOOK
Winner: Yaya and the Sea by Karen Good Marable, Illustrated by Tonya Engel
Finalist: When a Monster Meditates by Cat Gayle,
Illustrated by Joan Coleman
DETECTIVE/MYSTERY
Winner: What You Leave Behind by Wanda Morris
Finalist: Nothing But The Bones by Brian Panowich
FIRST NOVEL
Winner: Inside the Mirror by Parul Kapur
Finalist: Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi
HISTORY
Winner: A Debt of Gratitude: How Jimmy Carter Put Vietnam Veterans’ Issues on the National Agenda
by Glenn Robins
Finalist: James Oglethorpe: Father of Georgia, a Founder’s Journey from Slave Trader to Abolitionist
by Michael L. Thurmond
INSPIRATIONAL
Winner: Dig Deeper: A 21-Week Guide to Self-Discovery Through Plants by Alisha M. Bridges
Finalist: The Playbook by Gary E. Parker
LITERARY NOVEL
Winner: The Banana Wars by Alan Grostephan
Finalist: Flight of the Wild Swan by Melissa Pritchard
MEMOIR
Winner: Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor’s Unlikely Adventure by Mimi Zieman
Finalist: The Innermost House by Cynthia Blakeley
POETRY CHAPBOOK
Winner: Broken Grace at Low Tide by Sally Stewart Mohney
Finalist: Ilze’s Daughter by Livija (Riki) Bolster
POETRY FULL-LENGTH
Winner: A Night in the Country by Laura Newbern
Finalist: In Another Country by Andrea Jurjević
ROMANCE
Winner: PS: I Hate You by Lauren Connolly
Finalist: Dividing Sky by Jill Tew
SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY
Winner: Alan Dreams of Giants by T.M. May
Finalist: The Sky on Fire by Jenn Lyons
SHORT STORY COLLECTION
Winner: Zan: Stories by Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh
Finalist: The Women Who Would Not Die by Uddipana Goswami
SPECIALTY
Winner: Small Altars by Justin Gardiner
Finalist: The Fermentation Oracle: Readings and Recipes to Take You on a Magical Culinary Journey by Julia Skinner
YOUNG ADULT
Winner: Blood Justice by Terry J. Benton Walker
Finalist: Jasmine is Haunted by Mark Oshiro