Independent Publisher Book Awards

The Independent Publisher Book Awards, also known as the IPPY Awards, is an annual book awards contest conducted to honor the year's best independently published titles.^{[1] [2]} The awards are open to independent authors and publishers worldwide who produce books written in English and that are intended for the North American market.^[2] The Independent Publisher Book Award is considered one of the highest honors^[3] for books published by independent publishers.

History

The awards were conceived in 1996 as a broad-based, unaffiliated awards program open to all members of the independent publishing industry.^[4] Since the creation of the Independent Publisher Book Awards, the contest has expanded in size - today, over 4,500 "IPPYs" have been awarded to authors and publishers around the world.^[5]

In 2006, regional categories were added to the contest to spotlight the best entries of each area and books written or published with a regional focus.^[6]

In 2012, the awards categories were expanded to include e-book categories in response to the growing use of e-readers. The e-book categories received 390 entries in the first year.

Categories

As of 2013, the Independent Publisher Book Awards accepts entries in 76 national categories, 22 regional categories, and 10 e-book categories. National categories cover different genres, children's books and poetry, among others. For regional categories, gold, silver and bronze medals are given for the best fiction and best non-fiction books in each of the 11 regions. The e-book categories include fiction, non-fiction, children's books and best regional e-book for the east and west of the USA.^[2]

2013 Winners

The 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards awarded 382 medals from a total of 5,300 entries, from 44 states plus the District of Columbia, five Canadian provinces and eight countries.^[7]

2014 Winners

• Most Original Concept - "A Life in Books: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley" by Warren Lehrer
• Most Likely to Save the Planet - "Energy: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth" by Tom Butler and George Wuerthner
• Independent Spirit Award - "I’m Falling" by Kelly Reemtsen
• Peacemaker of the Year - "American Teacher: Heroes in the Classroom" by Katrina Fried
• Independent Voice Award - "Little Fish: A Memoir from a Different Kind of Year" by Ramsey Beyer and "The Tragedy of Orenthal: Prince of Brentwood" by Michael W. Monk
• Most Outstanding Design - "Leaves" by Reese Taylor
• Fine Art - "Hopper Drawing" by Carter E. Foster
• Performing Arts - All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release, by Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin
• Photography - "Mitakuye Oyasin" by Aaron Huey
• Architecture - "Skyscrapers: A History of the World’s Most Extraordinary Buildings" by Judith Dupré
• Popular Fiction - "11 Stories" by Chris Cander
• Short Fiction - "Train Shots" by Vanessa Blakeslee and "Corporeality" by Hollis Seamon
• Juvenile Fiction - "The Boy Who Ran" by Michael Selden
• Science Fiction - "Artifact" by Shane Lindemoen
• Historical Fiction - "The Kiss" by Scott E. Blumenthal and "Anvil of God, Book One of the Carolingian Chronicles" by J. Boyce Gleason
• Biography - "John Wayne: The Genuine Article" by Michael Goldman
• US History - "Connected: How Trains, Genes, Pineapples, Piano Keys, and a Few Disasters Transformed Americans at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century" by Steven Cassedy
• World History - "Père Marie-Benoît and Jewish Rescue: How a French Priest Together with Jewish Friends Saved Thousands during the Holocaust" by Susan Zuccotti
• Travel Essays - "The Blind Masseuse" by Alden Jones
• Best Regional Fiction - "The Biology of Luck" by Jacob M. Appel; "Something that Feels like Truth" by Donald Lystra; "The Stray Pitch" by Marilyn Bos; "Badlands: A Collection of Stories" by Thomas Biel.
• Business/Career/Sales - "Talent Wants to be Free: Why We Should Learn to Love Leaks, Raids, and Free Riding" by Orly Lobel

References