The Journey Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Journey Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here. 

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2025 Journey Non-Fiction entries to the 2025 Journey Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2025 Journey Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC26).

The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 28 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2026 in beautiful Bellingham, WA sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference. 

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2025 Journey Book Awards novel competition for Overcoming Adversity in Non-Fiction!

Join us in celebrating the Long List authors and their works in the 2025 CIBAs.

• Amanda Carrasco – Becoming the Brave One
• Amy Mackin – Henry’s Classroom: a Special Education in American Motherhood
• Ana Hebra Flaster – Property of the Revolution: From a Cuban Barrio To a New Hampshire Mill Town
• Ann Michelle Mracek – Unpacking the Attic
• Ann Van Hine – Pieces Falling: Navigating 9/11 with Faith Family and the FDNY
• Anne Abel – High Hopes
• Anselm Ezemson – Chasing Closure: a Life on the Edge of Belonging
• Baldur Einarsson – Ice and Fire: Thawing a Murderer’s Heart
• Barbara Jenkins – So Long As It’s Wild
• Beth Granger – Born and Razed: Surviving the Cult Was Only Half the Battle
• Brandi Dredge – Girl Uncoded: a Memoir of Passion Betrayal and Eventual Blessings
• Brian J. Quattlebaum – A Mad Box of Rain
• Carl Gorham – My Life in a Garden: Love, Loss, and Mulch: a Single Dad Seeks Answers in Nature
• Carol Odell, LICSW – Girl Groomed: a Therapist’s Memoir of Trauma
• Carolyn Saletto – One Hazel Green Eye
• Casey Mulligan Walsh – The Full Catastrophe: All I Ever Wanted Everything I Feared
• Celia LaVon Belt – My ValHalla: Angels Are No Strangers To Chains
• Chanchal Garg – Unearthed: the Lies We Carry & the Truths They Bury
• Cheryl Landes – The Best I Can Do: A True Story of Navigating the Complexities of Mental Illness and Homelessness
• Cheryl Lynn – Washing the Inside of the Cup: My Journey of Walking in the Spirit
• Christine Amoroso – Bare Naked in Public: a Memoir
• Cynthia Moore – Dancing on Coals: a Memoir of an Overperformer
• Cynthia Waine Brandt – Song of the Cardinal: a True Story of Miracles and Magic After Heartbreaking Loss
• Damien Thompson – And Then I Would Fly
• Dan Gold – Game Changers Inspirational Sports Stories
• Debbie Hartung – The Factory of Maladies: Seven Days on a San Francisco Psych Ward
• Deborah M. Foster – What’s So Bad About Being Poor: Our Lives in the Shadows of the Poverty Experts
• Diane C Pomerantz Ph.D. – Lost in the Reflecting Pool: Surviving Narcissistic Emotional Abuse
• Dr. Deb Miller – Forget the Fairy Tale and Find Your Happiness
• Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison and Sean/a Smith – I, Sean/a: the Story of a Homeless Intersex Woman Who Inspired a Community
• Dylan Nigh – Fool’s Gear: a Completely Devastating Thing I’ll Probably Do Again
• Elizabeth Fulgaro – Learning to Love (Not Loathe) Me
• Emily Sayre Smith – Smartass: Memoir of a Mouthy Girl
• Franke James – Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me
• Gavin O’Donnell – Father’s Day
• Heidi Yewman – Dumb Girl
• Hendrika De Vries – Open Turns
• Jacquelyn Dickey – The Dash
• James B. Wells – Because: A CIA Coverup & A Son’s Odyssey To Find the Father He Never Knew
• Jane Cafarella – Cleaved: a Story of Loss, Legs, and Finding Family
• Janine Kovac – The Nutcracker Chronicles
• Jennifer Celeste Briggs – Watching Sarah Rise a Journey of Thriving with Autism
• Jia Apple – The Tell
• Joshua Storment – MENtal: My Entropic Nuances Towards Another Life
• Julie Randall – Patient 71: an Inspiring True Story of a Mother’s Love That Fueled Her Fight To Stay Alive
• Kathy Sechrist – Sara’s Redemption: A Journey of Courage Resilience and Hope
• Kelly-Anne Kerley – Breaking Up with My Wheelchair
• Lucie Frost – How the Hell Did I Not Know That: My Midlife Year From Couch To Curiosity
• Maggie Enriquez – The Rebirth of a Phoenix
• Marti Tote – Can You Ride a Raindrop To the Ocean
• Mary Garden – My Father’s Suitcase
• Mary Jumbelic M.D. – Speak Her Name
• Mia Bolton – As We Bloom: Wisdom From Extraordinary Everyday Women & Gender Nonconforming People
• Mitchell Raff – Little Boy I Know Your Name
• Nin Mok – Suddenly Silent and Still
• Peter Flom – Twice as Weird: A Memoir about Twice Exceptionality
• PJ Hamilton – From the Piney Woods 2nd Edition
• Robert Carney – Unscarred
• Robert Macauley – Because I Knew You: How Some Remarkable Sick Kids Healed a Doctor’s Soul
• Ryan Mcdermott – Downriver: Memoir of a Warrior Poet
• Sondra R. Brooks – Not Good Enough Girl: A Memoir of an Inconvenient Daughter
• Stacey Hettes – Dispatches From the Couch
• Steven Simmons Shelton, Ma, Jd – Memoir of a Mangled Mind: How Concealing My Dissociative Identity Disorder Unleashed Multiple Personalities
• Valerie Foster – The Risk of Sorrow: Intimate Conversations with a Holocaust Survivor
• W. Hector Rivera – An Island I Don’t Want To Be on: Surviving the Riptide of Bipolar Disorder
• Wendy Crockett and Ian McPhee – Pushing Miles: A chronicle of Motorcycles, Mayhem, and Mettle
• Wilma Macliver – Life Behind the Masks

Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

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We will also be promoting this list in our Newsletter, which you can sign up for here!

Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 JOURNEY Awards is:

Unfollow Me

By Kathryn Caraway

See the full list of 2024 First Place Journey Winners here!

We are now accepting submissions into the 2026 Journey Book Awards for Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2025 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 17 – 19, 2026! Save the Date for Registration!

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our annual conference and discover why!