Congratulations and sincere thanks to the independent authors and publishers who participated in our 29th annual, Independent Publisher Book Awards contest!
OUTSTANDING BOOKS OF THE YEAR
These medalists were chosen from our regular entries for exemplifying this daring spirit — the book projects our judges found the most heartfelt, unique, outspoken and experimental among all the entries. All of these books earned IPPY Award gold medals.
Original Concept
Tennis Players as Works of Art by David Linebarger (Atmosphere Press)
Most Outstanding Design
BIG BADS Deluxe Box Set created by Hit Point Press
Outstanding Craftsmanship
We, Humans by Ruchi Shah (Trinetra, LLC)
Save the Planet
Wild Chorus: Finding Harmony with Whales, Wolves, and Other Animals by Brenda Peterson (Mountaineers Books)
Independent Spirit
Yaamay: An Anthology of Feminine Perspectives Across Indigenous California edited by Camaray Davalos, Avelaka Macarro, and Rebecca Macarro (Great Oak Press)
Independent Voice
Art is a Voice written and illustrated by Kripa
Peacemaker
Advice to 9th Graders: Stories, Poetry, Art & Other Wisdom by PATHfinder Club (Out of the Woods Press)
Audiobook
The Real Education of TJ Crowley: Coming of Age on the Redline (An Audio Drama) by Grant Overstake and May Wuthrich
GENERAL CATEGORIES 1-34
1. Fine Art
GOLD
Remedios Varo Science Fictions by Caitlin Haskell and Tere Arcq (Art Institute of Chicago)
SILVER
Hayv Kahraman: The Foreign in Us Edited by Frauke V. Josenhans (Rice University)
BRONZE (TIE)
Yayoi Kusama Edited by Wayne Crothers & Miranda Wallace, with contributors (National Gallery of Victoria)
BRONZE (TIE)
Cats and Dogs in Art & Design Edited by Laurie Benson & Imogen Mallia-Valjan (National Gallery of Victoria)
2. Performing Arts (Music/Dance/Cinema/Theater)
GOLD
That Voice: In Search of Ann Drummond-Grant, the Singer Who Shaped My Life by Marcia Menter (She Writes Press)
SILVER
Leonard Cohen: The Man Who Saw the Angels Fall by Christophe Lebold (LCW Press)
BRONZE
The Coen Brothers and American Roots Music by Jesse Gerlach Ulmer (McFarland & Company, Inc)
3. Photography
GOLD
The Long Ride Home: Black Cowboys in America by Ron Tarver (George F. Thompson Publishing)
SILVER
Passages by Robert Holmes (Robert Holmes Photography)
BRONZE
Remembering Tigers by Margot Raggett (Remembering Wildlife United)
4. Architecture
GOLD
Louis Sullivan: An American Architect by Patrick F. Cannon, Photographs by James Caulfield (Glessner House)
SILVER
Canyon Country Club: History and Design of Palm Springs’ Garden of Eden by Steve Treinen, Foreword by Alan Hess (Palm Springs Preservation Foundation)
BRONZE
Gerald Stuart Baron: Architect by Linda Saag Baker (Butler Books)
5. Coffee Table Books
GOLD
The Art of John Coleman: Spirit – Lives – Legends by Michael Clawson (Fresco Books)
SILVER
Ever Arriving | Highlands to Islands by Melissa Barrett, Travis Lovell, Howard Fullmer (Utah Valley University)
BRONZE
Complements by Carolina Levie (purefood-healthsolutions)
6. Popular Fiction
GOLD
What We Give Away by Paulette Stout (Media Goddess)
SILVER
This Isn’t Everything You Are by J. Marie Rundquist (Book, Ink)
BRONZE
Saving Vincent by Joan Fernandez (She Writes Press)
7. Literary Fiction
GOLD
Yr Dead by Sam Sax (McSweeney’s)
SILVER
Casualties of Truth by Lauren Francis-Sharma (Grove Press)
BRONZE
The Blue Maiden by Anna Noyes (Grove Press)
8. Short Story Fiction
GOLD
Softie by Megan Howell (West Virginia University Press)
SILVER
The Best That You Can Do: Stories by Amina Gautier (Soft Skull Press)
BRONZE
What We Might Become: Stories by Sara Reish Desmond (Cornerstone Press)
9. Poetry - Standard
GOLD (TIE)
Fish Wife by Alysse Kathleen McCanna (Black Lawrence Press)
GOLD (TIE)
Daughter of Three Gone Kingdoms by Joan Kwon Glass (Perugia Press)
SILVER
Happy Everything by Caitlin Cowan (Cornerstone Press)
BRONZE
Dirt Songs by Kari Gunter-Seymour (EastOver Press)
10. Poetry - Specialty
GOLD
The Way of the Heart by Éva Borka (Mary Egan Publishing)
SILVER
Heart Fiat by Desmond Francis Xavier Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé (Wipf & Stock Resource Publications; Poetry Festival Singapore)
BRONZE
We Live Here: Poems for an Ojibwe Calendar Year (Wayne State University Press)
11. Anthologies
GOLD
Be Gay, Do Crime by Molly Llewellyn and Kristel Buckley (Dzanc Books)
SILVER
The Long the Short and the Tall by E.P. Rose (Studio on 41 Press)
BRONZE
Divergent Realms: Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories About Neurodivergence by Riley Odell (Self Published)
12. Juvenile Fiction
GOLD
Beyond Mulberry Glen by Millie Florence, illustrated by Astrid Sheckels (Waxwing Books)
SILVER
Vernon Poche & the Ghosts of New Orleans by Paul Siefken (Treehouse Publishing)
BRONZE
Thorn the Unicorn – Book 1: The Torn Seam by Josh Oaktree, Art by A. D’Amico (Oak Tree Comics)
13. Young Adult Fiction - General
GOLD
Predestined by Rachel Byrne (Humboldt Press)
SILVER
After the Fall by Ellen Parent (Regal House Publishing)
BRONZE
Ugliest by Kelly Vincent (KV Books)
14. Young Adult Fiction - Fantasy
GOLD
Creatures of Chaos by Julie Hall (Julie Hall LLC)
SILVER
The Witchfinder’s Sacrifice by Rande Goodwin (Greenleaf Book Group Press)
BRONZE (TIE)
Call of the Desert: Exile by A. A. Vogel (Trillium Creek Publishing)
BRONZE (TIE)
Bedlam Bewitched by Cheryl Spanos (Deadnettle Publishing)
15. Fantasy
GOLD
The Plain of Pillars: A Celtic Story Retold by D. Firth Griffith (Robinia Press)
SILVER
Grover Wilcox Goes to the Circus by Martin Lastrapes (Cannibal Press)
BRONZE
Grand Tour: The Brass Queen II by Elizabeth Chatsworth (CamCat Books)
16. Science Fiction
GOLD
The Hub: A City Amongst the Waste by Aaron C. Lemke (Beavers Pond Press)
SILVER
Countess by Suzan Palumbo (ECW Press)
BRONZE
Universe of Lost Messages by Janet Stilson (Dragon Moon Press)
17. LGBTQ+ Fiction
GOLD
The Gift by Scott Terry (Torchflame Books)
SILVER
Mandrake Manor by (JP Rindfleisch IX 9th Publishing)
BRONZE
The Photograph by Eve M. Riley (Self-Published)
18. Erotica
GOLD
Her Wild Body by Noa Raveh (self-published)
SILVER
The Uninvited Guest: Alice Re: Wonderland by Pamela Summers (Dirty Cat Press)
BRONZE
Five Must Die by Markus Taylor – pen name Jackie Notter (Climate Publishing)
19. Historical Fiction
GOLD
A Tiny Piece of Blue by Charlotte Whitney (She Writes Press)
SILVER
Unruly Human Hearts by Barbara Southard (She Writes Press)
BRONZE
Boy with Wings by Mark Mustian (Koehler Books)
20. Military/Wartime Fiction
GOLD
The Forgotten by Robert W. Mackay (Now or Never Publishing)
SILVER
The Life of Kim and the Behavior of Men by Rod Davis (Madville Publishing)
BRONZE
Bunker Mentality by Copernicus Paul (Mount Wilson Publishing)
21. Horror
GOLD
The Inhabitants by Beth Castrodale (Regal House Publishing)
SILVER
Withered by A.G.A Wilmot (ECW Press)
BRONZE (TIE)
American Toyol by Junzi and Sean Lam (Stallion Studio)
BRONZE (TIE)
Where Dark Things Grow by Andrew K. Clark (Cowboy Jamboree Press)
22. Multicultural Fiction
GOLD
The Immortal Woman by Su Chang (House of Anansi)
SILVER
Mother of Red Mountains by Apple An (Voices Heard Publishing)
BRONZE
Cave of Secrets by Lynne Golodner (Scotia Road Books)
23. Multicultural Fiction – Juv-Young Adult
GOLD
Roots of the Banyan Tree by Kathryn Silver-Hajo (Flowersong Press)
SILVER
Justice: A Tale of the Nepali Civil War by Ram Khatri, illustrated by Sandipan Santra (Restart Publishing)
BRONZE
Shades of a Warrior by Robert Saxton (Calumet Editions)
24. Mystery
GOLD
The Paris Mistress by Mally Becker (Level Best Books – Level Historia)
SILVER
Hidden Rooms by Kate Michaelson (CamCat Books)
BRONZE (TIE)
Hard Line by Gerry Boyle (Islandport Press)
BRONZE (TIE)
Eleven Huskies by Philipp Schott (ECW Press)
25. Suspense/Thriller
GOLD
I Know She Was There by Jennifer Sadera (CamCat Books)
SILVER
The Death of Clara Willenheim by Charlotte Lesemann (The Gothic Literary Society)
BRONZE
The Far Side of the Desert by Joanne Leedom-Ackerman (Oceanview Publishing)
26. Religious Fiction
GOLD
The Last Whaler by Cynthia Reeves (Regal House Publishing)
SILVER
The Better Part of Worse: A Novel of Hope by Denise-Marie Martin (Misericordia Publishing)
BRONZE (TIE)
The Reed by Jordan Musen(Blackbird Books)
BRONZE (TIE)
A Flight of Saints by Elizabeth Braithwaite (Pampered Pilgrim Press)
27. Romance
GOLD
Pictures of You by Emma Grey (Zibby Media)
SILVER
Without Undue Pride by Heather Moll (Excessively Diverted Press)
BRONZE (TIE)
If the Stars Align by Nathalie Theodore (Written in the Stars Press)
BRONZE (TIE)
Informed Consent by Rachel Spangler (Brisk Press)
28. Novella/Short Story
GOLD
In Her Mind a Darkness by L.S. Johnson (Traversing Z Press)
SILVER
The Hike Not Taken by J.R. Miller (J.R. Miller Storytelling)
BRONZE
featherless by a.g. mojtabai (SL/.NT)
29. Visionary/New Age Fiction
GOLD
High Priestess and Empress by Susan Wands (SparkPress)
SILVER
Goode Vibrations of the Wresting Place by Amy Safford (Saco River Books)
BRONZE
Knightfall by C.L. Embry (Pendulum Publications)
30. True Crime
GOLD
Girl, Uncoded: A Memoir of Passion, Betrayal, and Eventual Blessing by Brandi Dredge (She Writes Press)
SILVER
Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir by Carla Conti (WildBlue Press)
BRONZE
The Devil in My Friend by Ivor Davis and Sally Ogle Davis (Rowman & Littlefield)
31. Graphic Novel/Drawn Book
GOLD
Between Two Sounds by Joonas Sildre (Plough Publishing House)
SILVER (TIE)
For Want of a Nail by Gail Simone, illustrated by Sarah Webb (Hit Point Press)
SILVER (TIE)
Ripple Effects by Jordan Hart and Bruno Chiroleu (Fanbase Press)
BRONZE
Three Nines Fine: A Journey with Brain Health by Alanah Knibb and Omotola Thomas (Nibb)
32. Humor
GOLD
The Silver Squad by Marty Essen (Encante Press)
SILVER
Lights Out Lizzie by James Hanna (Sand Hill Review Press)
BRONZE
Up Your HOA Hole by B.J. Irons (Spectrum Books)
33. Children’s Picture Books (7 & Under)
GOLD
Dear Duck, Please Come! by Sarah Mackenzie (Waxwing Books)
SILVER (TIE)
Lots of dots by Yayoi Kusama (National Gallery of Victoria)
SILVER (TIE)
The Odd Dog by Leia Barrett (Stories by Leia)
BRONZE (TIE)
Little Boos On the Moon by Mark Waters (Hazy Dell Press)
BRONZE (TIE)
Breathe, Little One by Sissel Waage (Self Published)
34. Children’s Picture Books (All Ages)
GOLD (TIE)
Big Blue by JQ Sirls (World of Fantoria)
GOLD (TIE)
Books Are NOT Just For Bedtime by Eleanor Pearson (Little Steps Publishing)
SILVER
Hector Fox and the Map of Mystery by Astrid Sheckels (Islandport Press)
BRONZE
Alphabetter – A Better You and Me, from A to Z by Maura Pierlot (Affirm Press)
