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Winners and Distinguished Favorites

get National Media & Industry Exposure!

DON'T KEEP IT A SECRET - INDUSTRY AWARDS AND REVIEWS CAN HELP SELL BOOKS.  PROMOTE YOU'RE AN AWARD WINNER OR DISTINGUISHED FAVORITE!

As a Winner or Distinguished Favorite, promote your award on all your marketing materials.  We provide general Winner or Distinguished Favorite banners in two different sizes, digital certificate of recognition and a press release template that you can customize or have us do it for you for FREE. 

In addition, you can purchase self-adhesive seals to put on each book you have already printed.  We send thousands of press releases that result in media coverage for winners and favorites.  Lastly, check out our promotion page to help get additional exposure to key book buying audiences.  Books recognized as a Winner or Distinguished Favorite of the Independent Press Award® is a celebrated honor given by industry experts, and you'll want everyone to know!  

AWARD RULES  

Books Eligible - Next rolling DEADLINE is April 30, 2024

  • Any book submitted is subject to eligibility of the Independent Press Award® selection committee.

  • All books requested are to be in final published print form except Audiobooks.

  • All titles should have an ISBN or ASIN or universal product code.

  • Although we accept earlier published work since we are most concern with content, essentially all books submitted are published in the past three years.

  • Please send one printed book PER category entered up to four books maximum (even if more than four categories are entered, i.e six categories entered, send only four books).   

  • One Submission Form can be used for multiple categories, but each book should accompany a copy of the Submission Form, unless mailed directly from a distributor or Amazon.

  • We reserve the right to move books into another category if it seems appropriate. 

  • Independent Press Award® is open to all English language books that are available for sale wherever good books are sold both online and in bookstores.  

  • This SPRING award is for independent author and press books.. Books published by the Big 5 book house publishers: Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, or Simon & Schuster are not eligible to apply, although imprints may submit.  These Big 5 main houses must apply for the FALL NYC Big Book Award, nycbigbookaward.com

  • All publishers and authors are eligible to enter into our FALL program as well, NYC Big Book Award, see website nycbigbookaward.com for details on deadlines and entry fee.

  • We accept audiobooks in any category.  For audiobooks only, you can include a redeemable Audible code or similar service for us to redeem and download instead of sending a hard copy.

Book Submissions

  • Book submissions are not complete until you receive email confirmation from the Independent Press Award®.  Books must be received by the published deadline to be considered, and any book received after deadline will be automatically considered for the next year's judging process.  

  • Book submissions cannot be returned. Each entry should contain the official entry form, including your e-mail address and contact telephone number. 

Independent Press Award® Refund Policy

All sales are final. There are no refunds. Only appropriate submissions will be eligible to enter the contest. Independent Press Award® therefore reserves the right to refuse any material for any reason.

Notifications and Deadlines of Winners and Distinguished Favorite 

Receipt of every book entry will be acknowledged via e-mail within 2 weeks and will announce the winning entries on our website.

In addition, Winners and Distinguished Favorite in each category will be notified by e-mail.

Thank you for applying to the Independent Press Award®!

ENTRY FEES AND DEADLINE

$125.00 per entry/per category, then $75 for each additional book entry/category

  • All monies must be in U.S. Dollars

  • Please send one copy of the book per category entered. 

  • You can put all the categories in which you submit on one submission form but be sure to copy the submission form and put it in each book you submit in each category. 

  • All titles should have an ISBN and be published books for sale available on Amazon.com or major retailers,

  • Next rolling DEADLINE April 30, 2024.

  • Winners and Finalists will be announced March 2025.

  • All submissions are final. 

  • There are no refunds.

(All international checks or money orders must have “USD” or “US Dollar” pre-printed on the check/money order.)

Please include proof of Paypal or check with your entry submission. Please make checks payable to: “Independent Press Award” and mail to:

Independent Book Award

63 Clinton Road

Glen Ridge, NJ  07028

To pay by credit card, use pay pal here:

Go to the Categories page, or click on link here to view the:

OFFICIAL CATEGORIES OF THE ANNUAL INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARDS®

 

About the Independent Press Award 

We started the Independent Press Award for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to help independent publishers gain more attention and to better purvey their content to a larger audience.  We have individually met with thousands of publishers, distributors, and authors face to face, and have seen their lists of published work for years.  We have discovered worthy independent presses and authors publishing for years without much notice, and were able to bring to a larger book buying audience in our other roles.  We have crisscrossed the nation (and in some cases even the globe) where we found many individual books that were well worth promoting, and may have never found their audience as quickly as they did without our help.  We plan to continue our work with the Independent Press Award.

The Independent Press Award applies a number of criteria in judging a book, and some are more subjective than others in it's interpretation.  We draw upon our relationships of literally thousands of contacts that like us have a vast knowledge of the marketplace, and the diversity and breath of publishing to give a framework to the decision-making process.  Judging is done by committee and point system.  We make every effort to bring a fairness and high standard to every book we judge, hence why we have known industry leaders advise us in the awards.  The names and contact information of judges will not be made public to respect their privacy, but feel free to LinkedIn with us, as we open our contacts for all to see.  We recognize that some books have outstanding qualities in every category but reserve the right to limit those that are designated “Winner.”  To that point, often there is more than one category a book excels, and believe these books are due their just deserve, so the notable category of “Distinguished Favorite” has been designed for such recognition.

Books that are recognized as Distinguished Favorite are so competitive in many ways that the difference between the Winner and Distinguished Favorite books can be small.

The bottom line is that being recognized as a Distinguished Favorite is a high honor and something about which any author can and should be justifiably proud.

Readers recognize that Distinguished Favorite books are worthy of their attention and their book-buying dollars.

All submitted books, except the winners, are donated to veterans groups, Boy Scouts of America book drives and the local libraries in Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Montclair and Newark, New Jersey.

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Every entry will be considered for a listing in our 2024 issue

2023 Winners &

Distinguished Favorites 

were listed in our 2023 Holiday Magazine

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(1) March 2024 to August 30, 2024;

(2) September 1, 2023 to

December 30, 2023

December 30, 2024.

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