Categories

CATEGORIES

All books entered into the current IBPA Book Award™ program must have a copyright date of 2024. Books with a copyright date of 2023 will not be considered. Books with a copyright date of 2025 will be held over for next year’s program. See "How to Enter" for entry deadlines and more information.

Children’s Picture Books are only eligible in categories 1, 5, 10, 18, 25, 26, 29, 41, 42, 49, 51, 57, and 60.
Large Format Books (larger than 9” x 12”) are only eligible in categories 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 18, 25, 26, 28, 29, 33, 39, 48, and 59.

PRINT BOOK AWARDS

AAPI Communities^
Animals & Pets
Art & Photography
Biography & Autobiography
Black/African American Communities^
Body, Mind, & Spirit
Business & Career
Coffee Table Book
Cookbook
Disabled Communities^
Education
Fiction: General
Fiction: Historical
Fiction: Horror
Fiction: Mystery & Thriller
Fiction: Romance
Fiction: Science Fiction & Fantasy
First Nations/Indigenous Communities^
Gift Book
Graphic Novels
Health & Fitness
History
Humor
Inspirational
Latina/o/e Communities^
LGBTQIA2+ Communities^
Memoir
Nature & Environment
Neurodivergent Communities^
Parenting & Family
Poetry
Political & Current Events
Professional & Technical
Psychology
Reference
Regional
Religion
Self-Help
Sports & Recreation
Travel

^ Note for community categories 1, 5, 10, 18, 25, 26 and 29: The addition of this suite of categories to the IBPA Book Awards is expressly to amplify authentic voices and under-represented communities. Therefore, submissions will be judged on the quality of the publication and also on the book’s contribution to the community. Furthermore, it is required that one or more of the members of the book development team (editor, primary illustrator, photographer for highly illustrated books, publisher, author) be a member of the community. For definitions of the communities, click here.

CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARDS

41. Children’s Picture Book (0–3 years)

42. Children’s Picture Book (4–7 years)

43. Middle Grade: Fiction (8–12 years)

44. Young Adult: Fiction (13–18 years)

45. Middle Grade/ Young Adult: Nonfiction (8–18 years)

DESIGN AWARDS

46. Cover Design: Fiction (9" x 12" or smaller)
47. Cover Design: Nonfiction (9" x 12" or smaller)
48. Cover Design: Large Format: (larger than 9" x 12")
49. Cover Design: Children’s/Young Adult
50. Interior Design
51. Interior Design: Children’s/Young Adult

AUDIOBOOK AWARDS

52. Audiobook: Fiction*
53. Audiobook: Nonfiction*

54. Audiobook: Children's/Young Adult*

*For audiobooks, you must send three (3) Audible gift codes to Terry Nathan. If your audiobook is not available on Audible, please contact Terry Nathan for additional submission options before applying.

BEST NEW VOICE AWARDS

55. Best New Voice: Fiction (first book by a new author)
56. Best New Voice: Nonfiction (first book by a new author)
57. Best New Voice: Children’s/Young Adult (first book by a new author)

BILL FISHER AWARDS

For Best First Book (initial titles from a new publisher)

58. The Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book: Fiction
59. The Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book: Nonfiction
60. The Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book: Children’s/Young Adult

ABOUT BILL FISHER

Bill Fisher was a visionary in the world of independent publishing and integral in starting IBPA in the early 80s, when it was known as PMA (Publishers Marketing Association). In 1999, IBPA named its “Best First Book” awards in his honor shortly before he passed away. He was proud of the honor, and of being a publisher in the West. He was known for his spontaneity and fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants approach to life.

Bill began authoring and publishing books about hot rodding in the early 1950s. Several of his early titles are still in print today. In the 1960s, he continued publishing how-to books about performance cars through a company called HPBooks.

Bill experienced big success in 1975 when he launched Crockery Cookery, a title that was a #1 New York Times Bestseller list for thirteen weeks. The following year, the 250,000-copy release of Crepe Cookery brought new attention and both titles were #1 and #2 on the New York Times Paperback bestseller list. These bestselling titles went on to sell millions of copies each.

In the 1970s, Bill’s family-owned publishing company branched into photography, gardening, and cooking, producing some of the first trade paperback books in color. HPBooks was sold in 1979 to Knight Ridder Newspapers, resold to Price Stern Sloan, later sold again to Berkeley division of Putnam, and is now part of Penguin Random House.

Bill’s next venture was Fisher Books, launched in 1986 with his son Howard Fisher and featuring books for healthy living in the areas of women's and men's health, along with more books focused on cooking. Perseus Books bought Fisher Books in 2000, and the list now resides with Hachette.

Bill was the author of many automotive titles and publisher of hundreds more. Throughout his career, he insisted on finding new and different ways to approach book publishing, and continually gave back to the community. Bill always supported new and independent publishers and gave generously of his time and expertise in the field. He was a true entrepreneur in the publishing industry and a pioneer in the illustrated trade paperback category.