Take a deep breath and smile
The Hearten Awards are here to bring you joy, and maybe a few tears with some of these excellent books
**Your Story is Worth Sharing**
You have until August 31st to share your uplifting memoir with us and enter the 2025 CIBAs!
Uplifting and heartwarming work is a vanishingly rare thing these days, and we love having an Awards Division that can inspire readers and writers alike. The Hearten Awards seeks true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more.
Join us in celebrating the Hall of Fame for Grand Prize Winners of the Hearten Awards!
Elk Love: A Montana Memoir
By Lynne Spriggs O’Connor
Our review for the newest Hearten Grand Prize Winner is still upcoming. In the meantime, here is what some GoodReads readers have to say:
“This is a must-read for everyone who loves nature and farm life. The author adequately describes her feelings, and I felt like I was right there, hearing, seeing, and feeling everything she was talking about. A memoir not to forget.” -Ineke
“If you’re looking for an action-packed thriller, this is not it, but if you seek a slow, mind-soothing antidote to the craziness of the world, try this memoir. It’s simply beautiful in every way, the language, the setting, the message, and yes, the love. The author, then single and in her early forties, comes to Great Falls, Montana to build a museum exhibit. She meets Harrison, a widowed cattle rancher who is often rude and closed off. They slowly bond over a shared love of the land and all the beings that live there. If you have ever marveled at the colors and patterns on the feathers of a wild bird or felt blessed to see a herd of wild elk, this book is for you. If you have no experience with nature, it will reveal a new world, even if you’re reading it on your Kindle in a crowded city coffee shop. Give your brain a spa day and read this book.” -Sue
“OMG! I was so taken with this book that I had trouble putting it down. I didn’t look at it as a memoir, but I love story. The way Lynne describes life in Montana, I felt I was walking beside her. I really hope you keep writing, although it seems life is pretty busy on the ranch. I have never thought much about visiting Montana, but after reading your story, I would love to see it for myself, but only if I could experience the gift through nature and not guided tours. Thank you so much for sharing your fears and joys with me!” -Jeanie
Running Away from the Circus
By Nove Meyers
Debut author Nove Meyers breathes life into the big tent of human aspirations and desperations, from his birth into a raucous circus atmosphere to his diligent study for Catholic priesthood.
Running Away from the Circus is a vibrant chronicle that opens with a vignette of his grandmother, clad in sequins and flying on a trapeze. She spun like a top to enthusiastic applause under the circus tent, until the fateful day when she included her young child in the act, dropping her thirty feet to the sawdust-covered floor below. But this did not prevent Nove Meyers from being born and having a story to tell.
The boyhood described was as wild as the circus acts. He was encouraged to smoke cigarettes like his father and watched in astonishment as his mother burned up paper money, possibly to protect his uncle, a counterfeiter. Yet despite his unusual upbringing as one of the family’s third generation of circus owners, Meyers was taken regularly to Catholic church services. There, he discovered God, an entity as mysterious as the traveling circus and carnie crowds he was raised among.
INNER TREK – a reluctant pilgrim to the Himalayas
By Mohan Ranga Rao
A disinclined traveler journeys into the heartland of the revered Mount Kalash Parikarma in Tibet. Inner Trek by Mohan Ranga Rao follows a voyage that culminates in self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment.
Mohan Ranga Rao, a retired Indian businessman, finds himself between a rock and a hard place when a ruthless Bangalore mob boss threatens him to sell his land at a throwaway price. The situation escalates when he discovers that his trusted lawyer has joined forces with the enemy. He can only turn to his wife for solace.
With nothing for him to do about his land, Rao vows to trek around Mount Kailash, a holy Tibetan Mountain. This travel memoir traces his and his wife’s journey to the deified Himalayas, the land of Lord Shiva. Rao shares intimate details of his experience, including the spiritual transformation that he went through during his challenging high-altitude trek.
DAWGS: A True Story of Lost Animals and the Kids Who Rescued Them
by Diane Trull & Meredith Wargo
We love our dogs. We love our cats. But what do we do when people no longer want them, use them for cruel purposes, or release them into the streets with no thought for what will happen to them? Diane Trull’s memoir with Meredith Wargo, DAWGS, shines a light on these questions.
Trull begins the story as a fourth-grade teacher in Dalhart, Texas. One of her young students asks about an article in a local paper showing photos of adorable dogs at a shelter who were up for adoption, wondering what happened to those who weren’t adopted.
Instead of dodging the question, and with great trepidation, she answered it with the truth: those who weren’t adopted would be put to sleep. Her tiny students were understandably shocked. Then one of them said, “I don’t want any of those dogs to die. Isn’t there something we can do to save them?”
Love, Life, and Lucille
By Judy Gaman
Award-winning author, motivational speaker, and podcast host Judy Gaman befriends a fun-loving and feisty centenarian in her CIBA Grand Prize-winning novel, Love, Life, and Lucille.
The list of titles and accolades Judy Gaman has accrued begin to pale when she encounters Lucille Fleming for the very first time. The whole reason for the meet-up with the centenarian was specifically to get her opinions on “aging gracefully,” the featured topic of a new book Judy planned to write. What was scheduled as an hour-long interview turned into an absolutely delightful, near three-hour visit. Lucille turned the tables and began asking questions about Judy’s life with compelling earnestness—something Judy rarely experienced. She was unprepared yet exhilarated.
Judy couldn’t stop thinking about this “dressed to the nines” woman with an ear-to-ear smile and a sturdy, affectionate hug. Her contact with this larger-than-life woman was so infectious, Judy made up an excuse—so that she could see her again. During that second meeting, the two became fast friends as they set Fridays aside as their day to get together. Before their next planned meeting, Judy learned that Lucille had gone into cardiac arrest. She was dead for three minutes before she came back full of vim and vigor as if nothing had happened. Five months later, Lucille was more than ready for TV interviews. With that, Judy made plans to write a second book about Lucille and their relationship.
Now that you’re set on your next reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Hearten Winners is to enter today!
Those who submit and advance will have the chance to win the Overall Grand Prize of the CIBAs and $1000!
Meredith Wargo, multi-award-winning author is smart – and exceptionally passionate about animals, especially those in need of rescue. In fact, Meredith sent the book into our 
There exists a bond between sisters, and often that bond becomes a connection so strong that time cannot erase the love and the longing for the other. Andrea Wilson Woods defines such a bond in Better Off Bald: A Life in 147 Days.
