Book Awards

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Why Enter Book Award Contests?

Earn more than just bragging rights!

Book awards for independent publishers are a powerful tool for book marketing, so winning one can lead to increased visibility and sales—not just a pretty badge on your book cover and promotional materials.

Winning a book award puts a spotlight on your book in the following ways:

Improved Author Reputation
Increased Visibility
Associative Marketing
Lifetime Promotion
Cost-Effective Marketing Solution
Author Networking Opportunities

All these and more can bring you opportunities you might not have the chance to see otherwise. So why not enter now? Some awards you can enter include the Independent Publisher Book Awards or “IPPY” Book Awards, the Illumination Book Awards, and the Living Now Book Awards.

Not sure which book awards fit your category or how to enter? Keep reading, or schedule a free consultation about awards or book marketing with one of our team members.

Jenkins Group Book Awards

Below are the various Jenkins Group book award collections. Explore each award type and enter those that apply to your work!

Axiom Business Book Awards

With 22 different categories of awards, the Axiom Business Book Awards are designed to spotlight the year’s best business books and their creators.

The awards were established in 2007 with the goal of celebrating the innovative, intelligent, and creative aspects of the books that make us think, see, and work differently every day.

The Axiom Awards offer no global boundaries, allowing participants from every continent to earn further recognition for their English-language titles.

Celebrate with us and experience the greatest business books the world has to offer: yours!

eLit Book Awards

Established in 2009, the annual eLit Awards recognize the ever-growing market of electronic publishing in a wide variety of reader formats.

Our independent e-book publishers are encouraged to join the global book awards program highlighting the best in English-language electronic reading entertainment!

The contest is an industry-wide, unaffiliated awards program open to all members of the electronic publishing industry.

Illumination Book Awards

With the motto, “Shining a Light on Exemplary Christian Books,” the Illumination Book Awards are designed to honor the year’s best new titles written and published with a Christian worldview.

Books have always been powerful tools for helping us understand scripture and to explore various aspects of faith in a complicated world. Started in 2013, the Illumination Book Awards “shine a light” on the best of the many new Christian titles released each year.

Award categories range from Bible Study and Devotional to family-oriented subjects like Education and Children’s Picture Book. The Illumination Book Awards help bring winning authors and publishers the credibility and publicity they need to improve book sales and marketing efforts.

With more and more people searching for inspiration and seeking answers to life’s tough questions, books dedicated to Christian belief and personal development are a fast-growing segment of publishing and bookselling today.

Independent Publisher Book Awards

Established in 1996, the annual Independent Publisher Book Awards honor the year’s best independently published titles.

The “IPPY” Book Awards celebrate those who exhibit the courage, innovation, and creativity to bring about change in the world of publishing. Independent spirit and expertise come from publishers of all sizes and budgets, and books are judged with that in mind.

All independent, university, small press, and self-publishers who produce books written in English and intended for the North American market are eligible to enter titles copyrighted or released within the year. Independent authors using print-on-demand publishing services are also welcome to enter their books into the Independent Publisher Book Awards themselves.

Entrants can choose from over 75 subjects in national categories; regional awards for the United States, Australia, Canada, and Europe; and e-book categories.

The “IPPY” Book Awards were conceived as a broad-based, unaffiliated awards program open to all members of the independent publishing industry.

We define “independent” as (1) independently owned and operated, (2) operated by a foundation or university, or (3) long-time independents that became incorporated but operate autonomously and publish fewer than 50 titles a year. Enter your book today!

Living Now Book Awards

Life moves fast. Home and work, family and friends, school and vacations, exercise and hobbies — it’s time to celebrate the books that help us balance it all!

Established in 2008, the Living Now Book Awards is the only awards program recognizing life’s most relevant book genres in various categories.

Candidates for the Living Now Book Awards are books written and designed to help shape our lives through creative ideas and time-saving tips. They live up to the awards’ motto of “Books for Better Living.”

The awards offer entrants incredible benefits like increased recognition, a boost in sales, and sustainable credibility within an ever-growing marketplace.

Pit your title against some of the greatest life books in the industry. Winners are awarded medals and matching emblems for their book’s cover.

Moonbeam Children's Book Awards

Presented by Jenkins Group and Independent Publisher Online, the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards increase recognition of exemplary children’s books and their creators and support childhood literacy and life-long reading.

Awards are given in over 40 categories covering the full range of subjects, styles, and age groups in which children’s books are written and published today.

As with the Independent Publisher Book Awards, Living Now Book Awards, and other Jenkins Group book awards, the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards are open to authors, illustrators, publishers, and self-publishers.

As our society has become more complex, and growing up has become more complicated, children’s book authors and publishers have risen to the occasion, creating books that not only celebrate the joys of childhood but also help kids and families deal with its challenges.

Since being founded in 2006, the Moonbeam Awards have brought the best of these books to the attention of parents, booksellers, librarians — and to children themselves.

What Our Winners Are Saying

“I was speaking to (a publisher I’d met at BookExpo) on the phone and she didn’t remember me, but then the moment I said that my book won the 2006 IPPY Award for Outstanding Book of the Year – Most Life Changing, she immediately perked up and went “OH.” She got really excited after that and wanted to hear more about my book. She was happily anticipating my book proposal. First, it shows how well-known and prestigious the IPPY award is. Just the name IPPY Award can knock down brick walls. Second, it’s a great example of how important it is for authors to submit their books to award contests.”

Bronwyn Marmo

Author of The Food is a Lie, the Truth is Within

“What synchronicity! It’s an incredible honour to have won two eLit awards now. They have boosted my career. Freeing Teresa: A True Story About My Sister and Me has won the Silver in the Audiobook Autobiography/Biography category. It is the eighteenth award for Freeing Teresa in 2024.
In 2015, I won the Gold eLit for Banned on the Hill in the Current Events II category (Social Issues/ Public Affairs/ Ecological/Humanitarian).”

Franke James

Author of "Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me", 2020 Silver Medalist

“My book is now in Barnes and Noble, Books Inc. in the San Francisco Airport, several independent bookstores and at least 10 libraries (and counting). Many libraries won’t purchase from indie authors/publishers unless the novel has some critical acclaim and have won awards. Winning a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award has made my marketing journey a lot easier. Thank you.”