Book Awards Roundup: Part III
IBPA Ben Franklin Awards, IPPY Awards & Eric Hoffer Awards
Welcome to Part III of my Book Awards Roundup! Today, I’ll be talking about the IBPA Ben Franklin Awards, the IPPY Awards and the Eric Hoffer Awards.
In Part I of this series, I gave an overview of the book awards process, the best ways to find book awards and how to vet them. In Part II, I reviewed the Wishing Shelf Awards, the Foreword Indie Awards and the CIBA awards.
Please see updated awards news on my pending CIBA and Wishing Shelf Awards at the end!
A reminder that this list is not exhaustive. I targeted awards that were competitive for indie and small press authors and that gave awards for Science Fiction. Also, I’m not panning any awards here—that’s not my M.O. Rather, I’m focusing on those awards that, in my view, offer the best experience, bang for the buck and promotional opportunities. If you have a question about an award that I haven’t discussed, feel free to reach out to me and I’m happy to help!
Independent Book Publishing Awards (“IBPA”) Benjamin Franklin Awards
ReInception won the 2023 IBPA award for Best Audiobook - Fiction. This was one of my favorite awards, not just because we won, which was awesome, but because of the overall experience with the awards process.
The IBPA Ben Franklin Awards are recommended by Awards and Contest Ratings (discussed in Part I) for their clear guidelines and judging criteria. They got a slight ding for their higher than average entry fees and for some upselling such as for stickers. However, they list trophies as an up-charge and as a winner, I got a beautiful trophy at no additional cost. The is an extra cost for additional trophies, which we wanted since I accepted the award with my amazing narrator, Arielle DeLisle!
Perks and Gala
Although the fees (listed below) were higher than some other awards, I found the cost well worth it for what I got in return. These awards are some of the most prestigious in independent publishing. Additionally, all participating publishers get their judging forms, “providing entrants with direct feedback on each submission.” Each submission is judged by three independent judges.
An annual awards gala, which takes place during IBPA’s PubU, is held to announce the winners, and afterwards, “winners are announced to major trade journals, select libraries, all IBPA social media channels (including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, the IBPA news feed), and more.” Additional opportunities are offered to promote winning books through IBPA media blasts and in magazines and at international book fairs. An associated opportunity resulted in my being reviewed in the prestigious Midwest Book Review’s “Small Press Bookwatch.” This review is something I use in publicity and will add to my back cover on re-release.
A riveting read that will have a special resonance with readers with an interest in post-apocalyptic and dystopian science fiction, "ReInception" by Sarena Straus is original, compelling, thought-provoking, deftly crafted storytelling and a truly memorable read that will linger in the mind of the reader long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf. While especially and unreservedly recommended for community and college/university library Science Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "ReInception" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99).
As a finalist, I received two complimentary tickets to the awards ceremony and was able to attend with my narrator, who I’d never met before. It was amazing for us to be together to win this award. I also received 15% off IBPA Publishing University tickets, an award certificate and award stickers to put on my book.
Since the gala was in Seattle, which is a long way from home for me, I decided to take advantage of the trip and attend the PubU. This was an excellent program. It is oriented toward publishers and was of somewhat more limited value to me as a writer, but learned a lot that I was able to take back and share with my publisher. I definitely recommend than any small press, fiction or non-fiction, join this organization and attend PubU! IBPA kindly allowed me to “gift” my membership to my editor.
Fees and Dealines
Fee for non-members of IBPA:
$229 for the initial entry; $95 for additional entries
$95 per title/per category, plus $134 to cover annual IBPA membership fee (an annual membership fee savings of from $21)
Fee for current members of IBPA:
$95 for the initial entry; $95 for additional entries
Deadlines for books published in 2024 are not up yet, but I assume they will look like last year with two periods of entry:
(1) July 1, 2023 to September 30, 2023.
(2) October 1, 2023 to December 15, 2023.
December 15 was a firm deadline for entry!
Book To Film Pitch Contest
PubU also had a book to film pitch competition that I entered and won! It was very fun — each entrant got an opportunity to give an elevator pitch to three industry professionals. From that group, three of us were selected to give a five minute pitch and at the end, a winner (me!) was announced.
While bragging rights were the only prize, it was a wonderful opportunity to hone my pitch in front of 200 people! A lot of people came up to me afterwards offering their support and excitement about the book and it definitely resulted in a small uptick in sales!
ELIGIBILITY
Please note that it’s publishers and not individual authors who enter books into this competition. Qualified applicants include:
Publishers of print and audiobooks with a copyright date of 2023 may enter the current competition. Qualifying publishers include:
independent publishers
hybrid publishers
self-published authors
university presses
association presses
The Eric Hoffer Awards
The Eric Hoffer Awards are the premier global awards for books from academic, small and micro presses and self-published authors. Their mission is to amplify books that “honor freethinking writers and independent books of exceptional merit.” The emphasize that, “The commercial/political environment for today’s writers has all but crushed the circulation of ideas. It seems strange that in the Information Age, many books are blocked from wider circulation, and powerful writing is barred from publication or buried alive on the Internet. Furthermore, many of the top literary prizes will not consider independent books, choosing instead to become the marketing arms of large presses.”
Who Can Enter?
Anyone (author included) can nominate one or more books. A single category registration qualifies a book for the grand prize, press distinction, category prizes, the Montaigne Medal, the da Vinci Eye, the First Horizon Award, and the Medal Provocateur (e.g. you only need enter once, but that entry qualifies you for several prizes). For each category registration, you submit one book.
Fees and Deadlines
Registration is open all year long, and the annual postmark deadline is January 21, 2025. Discount registration fees are available for submissions postmarked December 14, 2024 or sooner.
What you Get?
In addition to the prestige of this award, winners are given prizes, honors, and worldwide media exposure, as well as being covered in the US Review of Books. The US Review of Books is highly regarded as a source of independent reviews and this offering was a major boon for my book. It also provided me with fantastic quotable material for promotion, including on Amazon. You can read my full review here!
“In this intriguing novel, the development of protagonist Leandrea is a work of genius by author Straus. Through her journey, the reader can see the innovativeness of the author’s worldbuilding, spearheaded by ReInception, a neurological process by which individuals can essentially remove any bad habit or trait of their choosing. At first glance, Straus’ work is reminiscent of Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, a unique rendition of dystopian science fiction. Digging deeper, though, Straus’ novel probes into themes and elements that are directly relevant to today’s society, providing readers with not only an electrifying storyline but also food for thought as to what future societies of humanity could look like.
You can bet that’ll be going on the reprints of ReInception, too!
The annual Grand Prize winners are awarded cash prizes of $5,000. Each category has a winner, runner-up and honorable mentions.
Judging Process and Prizes
All books are judged by independent panels within eighteen categories. “Recognition is given to the best academic, small, micro, and self-published presses. The Montaigne Medal is awarded to the most thought-provoking books. The da Vinci Eye honors exceptional cover art. The First Horizon Award is given to the best first-time authors. The Medal Provocateur is given to the best on the frontier of poetry.”
ReInception was a 2023 Category Finalist!
Independent Publisher Book Awards or IPPY Awards
The IPPYs are probably the biggest name/best known of the Indie Publishing Awards. I did not win an IPPY award so I can’t add much context to the winner’s experience, but given how well known these awards are, it seemed important to include them.
I would note that Book Awards and Contest Ratings give a caution flag to the IPPYs based on unclear judging criteria, “relentless marketing and upselling,” and, that “the site's FAQ notes that judges may not even read the books.”
I would highlight, however, that this is an “unaffiliated awards program open to all members of the independent publishing industry.”
There are numerous categories that you can enter into. However, unlike many contests that have finalists awards and rounds, the IPPYs have only 3 winners in each category: gold, silver and bronze. For me, this weighs in favor of the criteria I applied to evaluating these awards, an important one of which is that the awards are “merit based.”
Entry Criteria and Deadlines
I had trouble finding all of the criteria I’d like to share here because the 2024 awards submissions are closed and they do not have entry open yet for 2025. Guidelines note that entry is open to “all members of the independent publishing industry, and are open to authors and publishers worldwide who produce books written in English and appropriate for the North American market.”
Note that entry is open not just for the awards year, but for the two years prior. This means you may have many more books entered per category than in some other awards, which limit entry to that publication year.
For the 2024 Awards:
Books released with 2022, 2023 or 2024 copyrights are eligible. Publishers are to select the category and/or region (see category list) in which the book(s) should be judged. Regional entries do best when their subject matter reflects the region in which they’re entered. In other words, a book by an author from Quebec writing about a murder in Maine will do best in the Northeast U.S. region. Make your decision on whether a book sells best at a regional level, and which region it sells in.
Judging Criteria
IPPY says that their “judging is based on quality of content, originality, design, and production with an emphasis on innovation and social relevance. Our judging panels include experts from the fields of editing, design, reviewing, bookselling and library. Judges give numerical ratings” based on six different criteria, which can be found here.
Fees
Submission in each category requires a fee—I was not able to determine what the fees for 2025 will be and did not see 2024 posted any more. The site notes early-bird deadlines in September and November and that for 2024, final deadline was March 16, 2024, with winners to be announced in May.
Benefits
Again, I was not an IPPY winner, so I can’t speak to this first hand, but the site says that: “Each announced medal-winning book will receive a packet containing gold, silver or bronze medal, a personalized certificate, and 20 foil seals. Related publicity includes the awards event, a print and online advertising campaign at sites such as Shelf Awareness and Publishers Weekly, and year-long exposure at IndependentPublisher.com.”
There is also an awards gala, which in my experience with IBPA was a great opportunity to network and amplify your book. I would imagine the IPPY gala would be similar.
Awards Updates!
The last two awards decisions for ReInception have just rolled in. Drum roll, please!
ReInception is a 2023 first place winner of the Chanticleer International Book Awards for a Cygnus Award! The Cygnus Book Awards “recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, Alternative History, and Speculative Fiction. The Cygnus Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).”
I did a full review of the CIBA’s in Part II of this series here.
Sadly, I could not make it to the CIBA Awards Banquet on Saturday April 20, 2024, but reports were that it was a fantastic event! Congratulations to all of the other winners and finalists and special congratulations to the Grand Prize Winner, “The Shadow of War” by Timothy S. Johnston. I will be sure to share images of my Blue Ribbon when I receive it in June. CIBA also informs winners that: “More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!”
I will be sure to update on a later substack as I learn more about how the Chantis promote winning authors!
ReInception was a finalist in the Young Adult Category for audiobooks-fiction in the Wishing Shelf Awards, which I also review in the Part II of this series. Sadly, we did not take home one of the top prizes, but as I discussed in my previous post, this was a fantastic experience. I found the other authors, regardless of whether they took home a prize or not, to be so supportive and congratulatory. Please read my full review in Part II! I would definitely enter this competition again!
There are the last two awards I was waiting to hear back on, now over a year after the book came out, so these things can take time! If timing of awards is important to you, please refer back to Part I of this series, where I discuss awards deadlines. I am definitely trying to time my release a little better this time around, but have also found the on-going publicity provided by awards being so spread out to have it’s own benefits.
In Parts IV and V, I will be sharing feedback on the American Writings Awards, The IANs, Pencraft, The Audies, The Nebulas and Thunderbird Awards!
Please share any thoughts in the comments and if you recommend an award, please share your experience as well!