The Nellie Bly Book Awards is a new division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards for Non-Fiction Works. The Nellie Bly Book Awards recognizes journalistic works and investigative pieces.

Nellie Bly is the the pseudonym of Elizabeth Cochran. She was born May 5, 1864 at the end of the American Civil War and the beginning of the cross-country railway systems. She died January 27, 1922. She was an American journalist who was known for her ingenuity and concern for others. She was instrumental in the Suffragist Movement in the U.S.A. reporting on the events and the vagaries that women suffered in their struggle for the right to vote.

Women were finally granted the right to vote after decades of protest, civil disobedience, marches, lectures, and lobbying on August 18, 1920—only one hundred years ago.  And Bly was there to report on it and interview prominent individuals who lead the movement such as Susan B. Anthony and others.

Nellie Bly began her career by responding to a newspaper article titled ” What Girls Are Good For” (apparently not much from the article). The editor was impressed by her angry rebuttal that he gave her her first job at a newspaper.

Bly then began writing articles exposing the working girls of Pittsburgh, the living conditions of slums, sweatshops, the immigrant experience, and more stories on the human condition in the US during the “Robber Baron” era of the late 1800s. She also traveled to Mexico in 1886-1887 where she reported on the corruption of the Mexican government and the horrible conditions of the poor. Her sharply critical articles of Mexican officials caused her expulsion from the country.

What Nellie Bly is most famous for is her expose on the deplorable conditions and the horrific treatment of patients at an insane asylum by feigning insanity and having herself committed. This 23-year-old was institutionalized for 10 days. It took quite a posse of layers from the New York World paper to have her released. Her exposé lead to vast improvements in the asylums. An added note, is that many of the “patients” were there because they were immigrants and could not understand what was being said and could not communicate.

However, we should not forget how incredibly difficult it was for Bly to find work. She had to rely on her wits and had to take chances with her very life and limb and her reputation to pursue a journalistic career. Bly is known to be a pioneer in her field and she is credited with launching what is  now known as investigative journalism and undercover journalism.

So without further ado, please join us in cheering on the following authors whose works comprise the first contenders in the first Nellie Bly Book Awards for Journalistic Non-Fiction.

This new division is in response to the request from the Chanticleer International Book Awards judges to acknowledge the many outstanding works that were entered into the Instruction & Insight Book Awards and the Journey Book Awards for Narrative Non-fiction. After reviewing the comments from the judges along with their suggestions, we decided to recognize these works and create a more fitting division in the CIBAs.

The following works are now Semi-Finalists in the 2019 Nellie Bly Book Awards for investigative and journalistic non-fiction.

• T.S. Lewis – The Why of War: An Unorthodox Soldier’s Memoirs
• Susan Murphy – Toppled World
• Maya Castro – The Bubble: Everything I Learned as a Target of the Political, and Often Corrupt, World of Youth Sports
• Judy Bebelaar and Ron Cabral – And Then They Were Gone: Teenagers of Peoples Temple from High School to Jonestown
• Ted Neill – Two Years of Wonder
• Anthony Suarez – Politically Indicted: The Real Story Behind the Jersey Sting
• Laureen Pittman – The Lies That Bind: An Adoptee’s Journey Through Rejection, Redirection, DNA, and Discovery
• Chris Register – Conversations With US – Great Lakes States
• Janice S. Ellis, Ph.D.  – Shaping Public Opinion: How Real Advocacy Journalism Should Be Practiced
• John Egenes – Man & Horse: The Long Ride Across America
• Patrick Hogan – Silent Spring – Deadly Autumn of the Vietnam War
• Brent Willock – The Wrongful Conviction of Oscar Pistorius: Science Transforms our Comprehension of Reeva Steenkamp’s Shocking Death
• Gordon Cross, Robert Fowler, Ted Neill – Finding St. Lo: A Memoir of War & Family
• John Hoyte – Persistence of Light

These entries are now in competition for the 2019 Nellie Bly Book Awards Finalists positions. Good Luck to all!

The coveted First Place Category Winners of the 2019 Nellie Bly Book Awards will be selected from the Finalists in the final rounds of judging. The First Place Category Winners will be announced at the Chanticleer Awards Banquet and Ceremony, which is hosted by the Chanticleer Authors Conference.