The Mind and Spirit Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Enlightenment and Well-Being Non-Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Marijke McCandless’s book, Naked in the Now, will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Mind and Spirit contest page year ’round!
The best part about being a Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Winner is the love and attention you get all year ‘round!
The 2024 Mind and Spirit Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!
Join us in celebrating the 2024 First Place Mind and Spirit Winners!
Shari Biery – It’s Your Turn: How to Rediscover Yourself, Prioritize Your Well-Being, & Thrive with Purpose
Also a Chanticleer 2024 Military and Front Lines First Place Winner!
Are you feeling buried under the demands of supporting your spouse, family, and the chaos of daily life while your own needs fall to the bottom of the list?
As a midlife woman, it’s easy to always put others first, leaving little time or energy for yourself. But now, It’s YOUR Turn to break free from the overwhelm and reclaim your life.
In It’s Your Turn, Shari Biery—a National Board Certified Purpose and Well-Being Coach and former military spouse—shares her personal journey from self-neglect to self-empowerment.
The moment she received the American Flag at her husband’s retirement ceremony marked not just the end of his career but the start of her own new chapter. After years of putting everyone else first, Shari made a powerful shift, and now she’s here to guide you in doing the same.
Through relatable stories and actionable steps, Shari shows how common it is for midlife women, especially those supporting a spouse and family, to feel overwhelmed and disconnected—and how to overcome these challenges.
From Chanticleer:
The detailed and actionable guide, It’s Your Turn by Shari Biery, encourages women to reclaim the time and space they deserve in life from the slow creep of demands like home, childcare, and supporting a spouse’s career.
To help women take “their turn,” much of this book is devoted to slowing down: why, how, and when to do it. Even its conversational writing style is an invitation to do so. It’s Your Turn leads readers to reflect, assess, and make effective changes in their lives. This isn’t a quick-hit self-help book, but a meditation for navigating midlife flux amid marriage and family responsibilities.
Biery draws on her own experiences living through many challenges frequently encountered by modern women. She struggled most with balancing personal needs and family responsibilities. Biery’s own needs and dreams long fell by the wayside in favor of managing her household and supporting her husband with his career in the military. With It’s Your Turn, she hopes to share her process of reclaiming those needs and dreams and reclaiming her well-being.
It’s Your Turn is loosely organized around Biery’s “C.A.L.M. method.” Through Clarity, Awareness, Learning, and Mindset, she teaches women how to carve out necessary space for themselves.
Damien Fozard- Disbelief
Manuscript
Eileen Marlowe – The Call to Connect with Spirit
Author and artist Eileen Marlowe is an Indigenous Chipewyan from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. She invites readers to learn from her journey of spiritual identity, to forge connections with spirit and leverage them to transform your life. Through the symbology of dreams and the vibrant colours of her abstract art, Eileen shares her experience of dialoguing with her spiritual guides. Her practices of daily meditation and her efforts of becoming the director and architect of her own life are embodied in the themes of the artwork throughout.
Anne Kiehl Friedman – Higher Love: A Psychedelic Travel Memoir of Heartbreak and Healing
Her entire life, Anne Friedman chased everything that society told her she should want: Marriage. Professional achievement. Thighs that didn’t touch. But all that got her was depression, anxiety, and disordered eating. Little did she know, her world was about to be turned upside down.
When her fiancé dumps her without explanation, she buys a one-way ticket to Costa Rica in search of answers. But what she finds there is beyond anything she could have imagined.
Through a spontaneous psychedelic experience in the jungle, Anne discovers three simple words that bring her peace. And in Amsterdam, on magic mushrooms with her dad, she has a series of visions that allow her to let go of the self-blame for her broken engagement.
But this is just the beginning of her journey. In Higher Love, Anne takes readers on a globe-trotting search for healing through psilocybin, ayahuasca, LSD, and cannabis. As she travels through the Netherlands, Morocco, Turkey, Spain, and other richly sensuous locations, Anne shares the life-changing wisdom she gains from each psychedelic experience.
For fans of Eat, Pray, Love and Untamed, Higher Love is a guide for self-discovery with a delightful psychedelic twist. But be warned, this is not your average love story. With powerful emotions and a captivating setting, this book will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.
Jane Kim Yu – Journey of Awakening and Higher Consciousness
Discover the journey of awakening in a new light never seen before. Read about our universal journey of discovery, of awakening to the greatest truth of the land, the truth that reverberates in our very hands, the hands of heart, the very heart of our being, that – you are love.
Through a profoundly rare experience that left the author’s mind silent for nearly half a year, it awakened her own desire to find her fire. The very fire that lit the night sky. The very fire that lives in all our hearts nigh. The very fire, to come alive.
Jane’s debut book Journey of Awakening and Higher Consciousness, is an offering of love that crystalizes her 3 passions: eloquent writing, creative expression, and the exploration of our divine humanity. These combine into an unforgettable experience that will awaken your inner fire and bring passion and purpose back into your life.
Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Mind & Spirit First Place Winners!
Watch for our Spotlight and Hall of Fame Articles that will feature incredible books, including Marijke McCandless’ Grand Prize Award-winning Naked in the Now
Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you enter the Mind & Spirit Awards!
Got a great Self-Help or Enlightenment Book?
The 2025 Mind & Spirit Book Awards are open through the end of September!
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