2026 Medalists – Regional & eBook Categories

Northeast Fiction

• GOLD: This Way Out by Ron DeChristoforo (Köehler Books)

• SILVER: Rebecca Road: A Tale of Shipwreck, Love, and Second Chances by Mary Ford (Gatekeeper Press)

• BRONZE: Asa James by Jodi Lew-Smith (Köehler Books)

Northeast Non Fiction

• GOLD: Not All In: Race, Immigration, and Health Care Exclusion in the Age of Obamacare by Tiffany Joseph (Johns Hopkins University Press)

• SILVER: Second Avenue Subway – Building New York City’s Most Famous Thing Never Built by Dan McNichol and Bill Goodrich (Big Dig Productions) 

• BRONZE: The Great Christmas Boycott of 1906: Antisemitism and the Battle Over Christianity in the Public Schools by Scott D. Seligman (Potomac Books)

Mid-Atlantic Fiction

• GOLD: All Afternoon by Susan Kleinman (Volume 36 Books)

• SILVER: If You Leave by Margaret Hutton (Regal House Publishing)

• BRONZE: The Mark by Anne Keene (Golden Starling Publishing)

Mid-Atlantic Non Fiction

• GOLD: An Unusual Path: Three Generations from Slavery to the White House by John Wrory Ficklin (The White House Historical Association) 

• SILVER: Keystone Poetry: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania Edited by Marjorie Maddox and Jerry Wemple (Penn State University Press)

• BRONZE: Delaware Behaving Badly by Dave Tabler (Dave Tabler)

Southeast Fiction

• GOLD: Rose Dhu by Mark Murphy (Girl Friday Productions)

• SILVER: Sing Down the Moon by Robert Gwaltney (Mercer University Press)

• BRONZE: The Bible of Blackwater County by Jenny Cafaro (Brighter Days Press)

Southeast Non Fiction 

• GOLD: Spare These Stones: A Journey Through Southern Climbing Culture by Andrew Kornylak (Mountaineers Books)

• SILVER: Stopping the Deportation Machine: One Immigrant Student’s Arrest and the Kids Who Took on Washington to Get Him Back by Bryan Christopher (Bloomsbury Academic) 

• BRONZE: Beacon of the Lowcountry: The Life, Art, and Legacy of Jim Booth by Tracey Booth Owens (Evening Post Books)

South Fiction 

• GOLD: Arkansas Black by Alexander Blevens (Lost Meridian Press)

• SILVER: Blood Rivalry by Paul Attaway (Linksland Publishing)

• BRONZE: Song of Belonging by Michelle St. Romain (She Writes Press)

South Non Fiction

• GOLD: The Devil’s Own Purgatory: The United States Mississippi River Squadron in the Civil War by Robert Gudmestad (LSU Press)

• SILVER: Charles Whitfield Richards: The Artist and His Circle by J. Michael Warner (University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press) 

• BRONZE: Secret Birmingham: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure by Cherith Glover Fluker (Reedy Press)

Great Lakes Fiction 

• GOLD: Why Is My Bra Still On? by Kristen Wasyliszyn (Cusp Literary Provisions)

• SILVER: Scattered Light by Martha Engber (Vine Leaves Press)

• BRONZE: If The Train Arrives by Heather Fellin Tierney (Vine Leaves Press)

Great Lakes Non Fiction 

• GOLD: Coach of Champions by Keith Wunderlich (Wayne State University Press)

• SILVER: When Once Destroyed, A Historical Memoir of the Life and Death of a Small Town by Sid Shroyer (Wise Ink)

• BRONZE: Beyond Refuge in Arab Detroit by Yasmeen Hanoosh, Sally Howell, and Andrew Shryock (Wayne State University Press)

Plains Fiction

• GOLD: Wednesday Club: A Novel by Kristine Jensen (Prairieflower Press) 

• SILVER: Where Birds Land by Mary Ruth Barnes (White Dog Press)

• BRONZE: The Woman Who Touched the Sun by Daniel Rirdan (Corino Press)

Plains Non Fiction

• GOLD: The Girl From Madison County by Joan Sandergard (CDR Publishing)

• SILVER: Echoes of the Old Country: Growing Up German-Russian on the Northern Plains by Jessica Clark (North Dakota State University Press)

• BRONZE: John Frémont’s 100 Days: Clashes and Convictions in Civil War Missouri by Gregory Wolk (Missouri Historical Society) 

West-Mountain Fiction 

• GOLD: Savage Malice by Kit Karson (Granite Mountain Press)

• SILVER: Saving Cottonwood by Lisa Page (Jupiter Moon Press)

• BRONZE: Ida Chatfield by Thomas A. Stevens (Throughline Publishing)

West-Mountain Non Fiction

• GOLD: Storied Property: Maria Cordova’s Casa by Lydia R Otero (Planet Earth Press) 

• SILVER: unMothered, unTongued: Lyric Essays by Lee Horikoshi Roripaugh (The University of Georgia Press)

• BRONZE: The Las Vegas Massacre Connections: Finding Strength Through Tragedy After America’s Deadliest Mass Shooting by Mark Gray (WildBlue Press)

West-Pacific Fiction

• GOLD: St. James Park by John Doll (Köehler Books)

• SILVER: Closer by Miriam Gershow (Regal House Publishing)

• BRONZE: It Will Last Longer by Tara Sanders Brooks (Tara Sanders Brooks)

West-Pacific Non Fiction

• GOLD: Crisis on Mount Hood by Christopher Van Tilburg (Mountaineers Books)
• SILVER (tie): Unpacking My Father’s Bookstore by Laurence Roth (Rutgers University Press)
• SILVER (tie): Bridget’s Gambit by Craig S. Harwood (The University of Oklahoma Press)
• BRONZE: WeHo Stories – Oral Histories from the First Years of West Hollywood’s Cityhood by Barbara Grover (Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs)

Canada-East Fiction 

• GOLD (tie): I Love You, Charlie Tanner by Lynne Golodner (Scotia Road Books)

• GOLD (tie): The Governor’s Granddaughter by Theresa Redmond (FriesenPress)

• SILVER: Like Water for Weary Souls by Liisa Kovala (House of Karhu Publishing)

• BRONZE: Here by Heidi Wicks (Breakwater Books)

Canada-East Non Fiction

• GOLD: Small Fires, Long Winters by Ryan Murray (Self-Published)

• SILVER: Infinite Paradise: Witnessing the Wild, a Memoir by Dianne Ebertt Beeaff (She Writes Press)

• BRONZE: Openly Karl by Karl Wells (Breakwater Books)

Canada-West Fiction

• GOLD: The Missing Frame by Eli Lazar (FriesenPress)

• SILVER: The Wolves of Nootka Book 1: The Rising of the Wolves by John Kimantas (Wild Coast Publishing)

• BRONZE: In Spite of Thunder by Thomas Mark McKinnon (Bittaman Books)

Canada-West Non Fiction 

• GOLD: Vancouver Canadians: Play Ball! by Tom Hawthorn (Echo Storytelling Agency)

• SILVER: The Many Names of Robert Cree: How a First Nations Chief Brought Ancient Wisdom to Big Business and Prosperity to His People by Robert Cree with Therese Greenwood (ECW Press)

• BRONZE: Small Town Chaos: Lessons on Country Life by L. Focht (Fat Pheasant Press)

Asia/Australia/New Zealand-Aotearoa/Pacific Rim Fiction 

• GOLD: Sacred Seventh by Peter Bell (Aurelius Publishing)

• SILVER: The Lies We Tell Ourselves by Maura Pierlot (Big Ideas Press)

• BRONZE: Custody Down Under Bound by Loss and Saved by Love by Elizabeth Woolsey (Horse Doctor Press)

Asia/Australia/New Zealand-Aotearoa/Pacific Rim Non Fiction 

• GOLD: Advance Australia Fairer: Towards Justice, Belonging, and the Common Good by Graham Joseph Hill (Eagna Publishing)

• SILVER: The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art Edited by Myles Russell-Cook (National Gallery of Art)

• BRONZE: A Guide to Jazz in Japan by Michael Pronko (Raked Gravel Press)

Europe Fiction

• GOLD: The Last Midwife by Karen Lawrence (Exodus Books)

• SILVER: Will There Be Love? by Whitney Cubbison (Self-Published)

• BRONZE: Adélaïde: Painter of the Revolution by Janell Strube (Acorn Publishing)

Europe Non Fiction

• GOLD: Enlightenment Biopolitics: A History of Race, Eugenics, and the Making of Citizens by William Max Nelson (The University of Chicago Press)

• SILVER: Louise-Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun: Portrait of an Artist, 1755-1842 by Judith Lissauer Cromwell (McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers)
• BRONZE: Your Roots Cast A Shadow: One Family’s Search Across History for Belonging by Caroline Topperman (Health Communications, Inc.)