BookAwards

The state of Texas has a long tradition of serving as a setting for and inspiring great storytelling. Honoring that tradition, the Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards were established in 1991 (known first as the Violet Crown Awards before being renamed in 2008) to recognize the year’s best among those stories and to celebrate the exceptional writers behind them.

2019 Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards

Now open for submissions until February 21, 2020.

Rules & Guidelines

Past Book Award Honorees

2018 Writers' League Book Award Winners

Winner: 

LITTLE by Edward Carey

Finalists: 

DAUGHTER OF A DAUGHTER OF A QUEEN by Sarah Bird

THE WHICH WAY TREE by Elizabeth Crook

PRESIDIO by Randy Kennedy

SHE WOULD BE KING by Wayétu Moore

EVERYONE KNOWS YOU GO HOME by Natalia Sylvester

Discovery Prize Winner: 

DEATH TO THE BULLSHIT ARTISTS OF SOUTH TEXAS by Fernando A. Flores

Winner: 

THE RECKONINGS: ESSAYS by Lacy M. Johnson

Finalists: 

FISHERMAN’S BLUES by Anna Badkhen

THE LINE BECOMES A RIVER: DISPATCHES FROM THE BORDER by Francisco Cantú 

AN UNLIKELY JOURNEY: WAKING UP FROM MY AMERICAN DREAM by Julián Castro 

TICKER: THE QUEST TO CREATE AN ARTIFICIAL HEART by Mimi Swartz

Discovery Prize Winner: 

BEYONCÉ IN FORMATION: REMIXING BLACK FEMINISM by Omise’eke Tinsley

Winner: 

REGISTERS OF ILLUMINATED VILLAGES: POEMS by Tarfia Faizullah 

Finalists: 

WITH THE DOGSTAR AS MY WITNESS by John Fry 

SKY THE OAR by Stacy R. Nigliazzo 

GIRLDOM by Megan Peak 

ARSONIST by Joaquin Zihuatanejo 

Discovery Prize Winner: 

GIRL PAPER STONE by Laurie Filipelli

Winner: 

THE PARKER INHERITANCE by Varian Johnson 

Finalists: 

I’M NOT MISSING by Carrie Fountain 

ALL THE STARS DENIED by Guadalupe García McCall 

THE HOUSE IN POPLAR WOOD by K.E. Ormsbee 

THE PROPHET CALLS by Melanie Sumrow 

Discovery Prize Winner: 

SECRETS OF THE CASA ROSADA by Alex Temblador

Winner: 

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A VOICE LIKE THAT? THE STORY OF EXTRAORDINARY CONGRESSWOMAN BARBARA JORDAN by Chris Barton 

Finalists: 

PENGUIN & TINY SHRIMP DON’T DO BEDTIME! by Cate Berry

ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S DUELING WORDS by Donna Janell Bowman 

ALABAMA SPITFIRE: THE STORY OF HARPER LEE AND TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Bethany Hegedus 

LUCY AND THE STRING by Vanessa Roeder 

Discovery Prize Winner: 

THE BOOK THAT JAKE BORROWED by Susan Holt Kralovansky

2017 Writers' League Book Award Winners

Winner:

SPOILS by Brian Van Reet

 

Finalists:

DISASTERS IN THE FIRST WORLD by Olivia Clare

HOLLOW by Owen Egerton

WHITE FUR by Jardine Libaire 

BLUEBIRD, BLUEBIRD by Attica Locke 

WAIT TILL YOU SEE ME DANCE by Deb Olin Unferth

 

Discovery Prize Winner:

FIGHT LIKE A MAN & OTHER STORIES WE TELL OUR CHILDREN by Christine Granados

Winner: 

THE ROAD TO JONESTOWN by Jeff Guinn

 

Finalists:

SPINELESS by Juli Berwald

AMERICAN WOLF by Nate Blakeslee

THE BOY WHO LOVED TOO MUCH by Jennifer Latson 

NO APPARENT DISTRESS by Rachel Pearson, MD

TOO FAT, TOO SLUTTY, TOO LOUD by Anne Helen Petersen

 

Discovery Prize Winner:

HOUSE BUILT ON ASHES by José Antonio Rodríguez

Winner:

WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO BE A LIST OF FURTHER POSSIBILITIES by Chen Chen

 

Finalists:

AMERICAN PURGATORY by Rebecca Gayle Howell 

FOR WANT OF WATER by Sasha Pimentel

MADNESS by Sam Sax 

WOLFE AND OTHER POEMS by Donald Mace Williams

 

Discovery Prize Winner:

THE LANGUAGE WE CRY IN by Delicia Daniels

Winner:

THE LOVE LETTERS OF ABELARD AND LILY by Laura Creedle

 

Finalists:

ROAR by Cora Carmack

WAIT FOR ME by Caroline Leech

FAULT LINES IN THE CONSTITUTION by Cynthia Levinson & Sanford Levinson

ALL THE WIND IN THE WORLD by Samantha Mabry

 

Discovery Prize Winner:

BROKEN CIRCLE by J.L. Powers & M.A. Powers

Winner:

DAZZLE SHIPS by Chris Barton

 

Finalists:

WHOBERT WHOVER, OWL DETECTIVE by Jason Gallaher 

THE CLOUD ARTIST by Sherri Maret

THE SURVIVOR TREE by Gaye Sanders

ANOTHER WAY TO CLIMB A TREE by Liz Garton Scanlon

STRONG AS SANDOW by Don Tate

 

Discovery Prize Winner:

DREAM BIG by Kat Kronenberg

2016 Writers' League Book Award Winners

Winner: 

News of the World by Paulette Jiles  

 

Finalists: 

The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales

Pull Me Under by Kelly Luce 

The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith

 

Discovery Prize Winner: 

The Tombstone Race by José Skinner

Winner: 

The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America’s First Serial Killer by Skip Hollandsworth

 

Finalists:

Eccentric Orbits: The Iridium Story by John Bloom

The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War by H.W. Brands

The Glamour of Strangeness: Artists and the Last Age of the Exotic by Jamie James

Who Killed These Girls? Cold Case: The Yogurt Shop Murders by Beverly Lowry

 

Discovery Prize Winner: 

Amado Muro and Me: A Tale of Honesty and Deception by Robert L. Seltzer

Hammer Is the Prayer by Christian Wiman

 

Finalists: 

Ultra-Cabin by Kimberly Lambright

Plenty by Corinne Lee

Her, Infinite by Sawnie Morris

 

Discovery Prize Winner: 

Take to the Highway: Arabesques for Travelers by Bryce Milligan

Winner: 

Somewhere Among by Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu

 

Finalists: 

Maybe a Fox by Kathi Appelt and Alison McGhee

Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Woman Living History by Karen Blumenthal

The Radiant Road by Katherine Catmull

Time Zero by Carolyn Cohagan

A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry



Discovery Prize Winner: 

Bloodline by Joe Jiménez

Winner: 

Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World About Kindness by Donna Janell Bowman

 

Finalists: 

Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton

Lucy by Randy Cecil

Be the Change: A Grandfather Gandhi Story by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus

Bears Make the Best Reading Buddies by Carmen Oliver

 

Discovery Prize Winner: 

The Tale of Lucky the Dog by Lynn G. Abrams

2015 Writers' League Book Award Winners

Winner:

Migratory Animals by Mary Helen Specht

Finalists:

See How Small by Scott Blackwood

Barefoot Dogs by Antonio Ruiz-Camacho

The Burned Bridges of Ward, Nebraska by Eileen Curtright

Eight Minutes by Lori Reisenbichler

Discovery Prize Winner:

Rules for Werewolves by Kirk Lynn

Winner: 

The Outskirts of Hope: A Memoir of the 1960s Deep South by Jo Ivester

Finalists:

A Field Philosopher’s Guide to Fracking: How One Texas Town Stood Up to Big Oil and Gas by Adam Briggle

Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola

The Burma Spring: Aung San Suu Kyi and the New Struggle for the Soul of a Nation by Rena Pederson

The Train to Crystal City: FDR’s Secret Prisoner Exchange Program and America’s Only Family Internment Camp During World War II by Jan Jarboe Russell

Joe, the Slave Who Became an Alamo Legend by Ron J. Jackson, Jr. and Lee Spencer White

Discovery Prize Winner: 

Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home by Leah Lax

Winner:

Our House Was on Fire by Laura Van Prooyen

Finalists:

One Blackbird at a Time by Wendy Barker

Requiem for Used Ignition Cap by J. Scott Brownlee

Salt Moon by Noel Crook

As If Light Actually Matters by Larry D. Thomas

Discovery Prize Winner:

Rant. Chant. Chisme. by Amalia Ortiz

Winner:

The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

Finalists:

House Arrest by K.A. Holt

Randoms by David Liss

Wish Girl by Nikki Loftin

Kissing in America by Margo Rabb

Utopia, Iowa by Brian Yansky

Discovery Prize Winner:

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez

Winner:

Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton by Don Tate

Finalists:

Counting Crows by Kathi Appelt

The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch by Chris Barton

In the Canyon by Liz Garton Scanlon

What This Story Needs is a Pig in a Wig by Emma J. Virjan

Discovery Prize Winner:

A Penguin Named Patience by Suzanne Lewis

Rules & guidelines

What you need to know

The 2019 Book Awards Contest is open to Texas authors of books published in 2019. Authors are NOT required to be members of the Writers’ League.

Open to submissions from October 15, 2019 – March 10, 2020.

Winners in each of the five categories will receive a $1000 cash prize, a commemorative award, and public recognition at the 2020 Texas Book Festival in Austin, TX.

In addition, five Discovery Prize Winners will receive a $250 cash prize.

Entry form (online) + 3 copies of book (printed)

To enter this contest, you must be a Texas author. “Texas author” is defined as anyone who (whether currently a resident or not) has lived in Texas for a period of 3 or more years. This contest is open to indie or self-published authors as well as traditionally-published authors.

  • Fiction
  • Nonfiction
  • Poetry
  • Picture books
  • Middle grade/Young adult books
  1. Fill out the online entry form and follow the steps to submit your payment online via credit card or PayPal account. Once payment is complete, you will receive an automated email confirmation letting you know that your entry form has been received.

  2. Within 7 days, please mail three (3) copies of the published book to: The Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards Contest, 611 S. Congress Ave, Suite 200A-3, Austin, TX 78704.  
  • Please clearly mark the outside of the package with the words “BOOK AWARDS”.
  • Please do NOT require a signature upon delivery. Requiring a signature upon delivery may cause your materials to be returned to you. We are not responsible for materials that never reach us.
  • All materials must be postmarked by March 10, 2020. Materials that arrive after the deadline with a postmark date of later than March 10, 2020 will be disqualified. 
  • Please do NOT call the WLT office to inquire about whether your books arrived safely. We will expect your books to arrive within approximately 10 days of your online entry form, and we will contact you if your package has still not arrived after 14 days. If you do not hear from us, rest assured that your entry is complete and that we have received everything we need.  

PLEASE NOTE: If you are an agent or publisher submitting on behalf of an author, please check with the author to make sure he/she did not already submit. Duplicate entries will not be refunded.

Authors submitting directly: $60 per title / $40 per title for Writers’ League of Texas members

Publishers/agents submitting on behalf of authors: $70 per title

Authors submitting on their own behalf must pay the entry fee by credit card upon submitting the online entry form. Publishers and agents submitting on behalf of authors may elect instead to pay by company-issued check. Checks should be made payable to “Writers’ League of Texas” and mailed to: Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards Contest, 611 S. Congress Ave, Suite 200A-3, Austin, TX 78704. Checks must be post-marked on or before March 10, 2020. Please include the words “BOOK AWARDS” as well as the author’s name on the check or in the notes field. 

  • Each category will be reviewed by two preliminary judges and two final judges.
  • Incomplete or ineligible entries will not be forwarded for judging; entry fees and books for those entries will not be returned.
  • Works may be submitted by authors, publishers, or agents. Anyone submitting multiple titles should submit one entry form per title and separate payment for each submission. If a particular title is submitted more than once by multiple parties we will not be able to issue a refund for the additional entries so please make sure you communicate with all parties before submitting.
  • All books become property of the Writers’ League of Texas and will not be returned.  
  • In response to the high quality of work submitted by small/indie presses, university presses, and self-published authors, the Writers’ League introduced a new award in 2014—the “Discovery Prize”—to recognize one outstanding book in each category. Eligible books will be considered for the Discovery Prize in addition to, not instead of, the primary award. To be eligible for the Discovery Prize, your entry must be either self-published, published by a small/independent press, or published by a university press. You don’t have to be a debut author to qualify for the Discovery Prize.
  • Each Discovery Prize Winner will receive a cash prize of $250.

If your book is available ONLY as an e-book, you are welcome to enter the contest provided that you print the book and submit 3 spiral bound copies. (We will not accept papers bound with staples, binder clips, etc.) If your book is available as an e-book AND in print, you must submit the physical book.

Finalists, Winners, and Discovery Prize Winners in each category will be announced simultaneously and will be notified individually by email, announced in our e-newsletter, and posted on this web page around July 2020. 

Questions about the contest?