Celebrating our book awards as one industry force will amplify the impact of the award for booksellers, publishers, authors, and consumers, as 13 states and 300 bookstores throughout the Greater Midwest will celebrate the same set of exemplary titles. We release jacket stickers for all winners and finalists and encourage our stores to create digital marketing and in-store displays. Our award-winning titles often remain on our bestseller lists for weeks, months, and even years to come.
Our awards are a reflection of handselling at its best, as all the books are selected directly by independent booksellers, and celebrate literature in the Great Lakes and Midwest, with content either about the region, or an author from our region.
Please nominate any titles that you feel recognize excellence in writing for books about or written by authors with ties to the Great Lakes region. The awards given this October are for Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, YA/Middle Grade and Children's Picture Book
Criteria:
• A book's relationship to the Great Lakes region may consist of either the content of the book, the author's hometown, or the author's current residence
• GLIBA submissions: Submit books by authors from the following states or books with content that pertains specifically to these states:, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio
• Books must be classifiable in one of five awarded genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, YA/Middle Grade, or Children's Picture Book
• Books submitted for the 2021 books awards must have an on-sale date between 5/1/20 - 4/30/21
•Self-Published titles are eligible only if they are carried by Ingram.
If you have any questions regarding Heartland Booksellers Award submissions, please contact
larry@gliba.org