NORTHAMPTON, Mass., Feb. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Winning Writers is pleased to announce the results from its sixth annual North Street Book Prize for Self-Published Books, co-sponsored by BookBaby and Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of The Frugal Book Promoter. 1,915 entries were received from around the world. Christine Mulvey of Grass Valley, California won this year’s Grand Prize across all genres for her memoir Mine to Carry, about her unplanned pregnancy as an unmarried Irish Catholic girl in 1981 and the forces that coerced her into surrendering her newborn son for adoption. She received $5,000, a marketing analysis and one-hour phone consultation with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, a $300 credit at BookBaby, and 3 free ads in the Winning Writers newsletter (a $525 value).
Jerald Pope of Swannanoa, North Carolina won First Prize in Children’s Picture Book for Fetch, a touching, wordless narrative of an old man and his shaggy dog chasing a ball for the last time. Ingrid Pierre of Roslindale, Massachusetts won First Prize in Graphic Novel & Memoir for Do Not Resuscitate, a horror story that is also a love story, about a young widow whose grief and guilt about her husband’s death inadvertently reanimates him as a zombie. Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey of Iowa City, Iowa won First Prize in Poetry for Look, Black Boy, an outspoken and animated collection about the joys and perils of Black childhood in America.
Alicia Doyle of Ventura, California won First Prize in Creative Nonfiction & Memoir for Fighting Chance, a journalist’s memoir of her unexpected and psychologically transformative career as an amateur boxing champ. Rachael A.Z. Mutabingwa of Kampala, Uganda won First Prize in Genre Fiction for Kunda, an ambitious, spiritually uplifting tale of time travel and family destiny in a fictitious African island nation. Jolie Hoang of Fonthill, Ontario won First Prize in Mainstream/Literary Fiction for Anchorless, an autobiographical novella about her Vietnamese refugee family, told in the voice of her father’s ghost, who describes how he drowned while escaping their war-torn country.
The category winners each received $1,000, a marketing analysis and one-hour phone consultation with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, a $300 credit at BookBaby, and one free ad in the Winning Writers newsletter (a $175 value).
Eight Honorable Mentions of $250 each went to Zarle Williams, Emma Sondergaard, Rashid Darden, Omaha Perez, Marian Pierce, Ying Qian, Dennis Reed, and Toni Thomas. $13,000 was awarded in all, making this one of the world’s most generous contests for self-published books.
Final judges Jendi Reiter and Ellen LaFleche were assisted by Jim DuBois and Annie Mydla. Excerpts from the winning entries and the judges’ remarks are published online.
The seventh annual contest is open now through June 30, 2021. One Grand Prize winner across all genres will receive $5,000 plus marketing support, with runner-up prizes of $1,000 and $250 in each genre. The fee is $65 per book. This year’s categories are Mainstream/Literary Fiction, Genre Fiction, Creative Nonfiction & Memoir, Poetry, Children’s Picture Book, Graphic Novel & Memoir, and (new this year) Art Book.
Winning Writers is a Partner Member of the Alliance of Independent Authors. In addition to the North Street Book Prize, Winning Writers sponsors the Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest, the Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, and the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (no fee). All these contests are recommended by Reedsy. Learn more on the Winning Writers website.
Contact:
Adam Cohen
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413-320-1847
SOURCE Winning Writers
