When Wit Meets Wisdom
The Humor & Satire Awards: Books that make us laugh and think
Humor and satire holds up a mirror to society, revealing truths that might be too uncomfortable to face in more serious genres. From clever wordplay that brightens our day to sharp social commentary that challenges our assumptions, these works prove that laughter truly is one of humanity’s most powerful tools for understanding ourselves and our world. The Humor & Satire Awards celebrate authors who master the delicate art of making readers think while they chuckle, crafting stories that entertain, enlighten, and occasionally make us squirm with recognition.
Celebrating Our Grand Prize Winner!
We’re thrilled to celebrate our 2024 Humor & Satire Division Grand Prize Winner, Alexander Boldizar for his thought-provoking novel The Man Who Saw Seconds. This ingenious work follows Preble Jefferson, an ordinary man with an extraordinary gift: he can see exactly five seconds into the future. What begins as a seemingly useful ability becomes a nightmare when Preble dodges a bullet on a New York subway, causing another man to die in his place. Suddenly, government agencies take notice, transforming a simple manhunt into a military operation as they recognize the strategic potential of Preble’s gift.
Boldizar uses this fantastical premise to craft a brilliant satirical commentary on government overreach, surveillance culture, and the way institutions transform individuals into commodities. The novel explores weighty themes about the tension between personal freedom and systemic control, all while maintaining the propulsive energy of a thriller. As Preble fights to protect his family and preserve his humanity, readers are treated to a story that questions the nature of time, free will, and the systems we create to govern ourselves. The result is what the publisher calls “an adrenaline-pumping read that will leave you contemplating love, fear and the abyss.” Boldizar will receive a Chanticleer Editorial Review and be invited to participate in an Author Interview, offering insights into his approach to blending genre elements with satirical wit.
The Humor & Satire Awards celebrate the full spectrum of comedic and satirical literature, honoring works that make us laugh, think, and sometimes do both simultaneously:
- Humor features pure comedy that delights in wordplay, absurd situations, and the lighter side of life, proving that sometimes laughter really is the best medicine.
- Satire takes aim at society’s foibles and institutions with wit as sharp as a scalpel, using humor to expose hypocrisy, challenge authority, and inspire change through clever critique.
- Parody lovingly skewers familiar genres, characters, or cultural phenomena, celebrating what it mocks while offering fresh perspectives on well-worn territory.
- Allegory/Fable uses symbolic storytelling and moral lessons wrapped in entertaining packages, proving that the most profound truths often come disguised as simple tales.
- Political Ideology tackles the absurdities of governance, power, and social structures, using humor to make complex political concepts accessible and memorable.
- Fantasy and Alternative History – Non-SciFi – prove that even imaginary worlds can offer the perfect laboratory for exploring very real human behaviors and social dynamics.
Summer of Haight
By George Petersen
In The Summer of Haight, George Petersen opens a doorway into the hallucinatory dreamscape of 1967 San Francisco, where the counterculture’s bright ideals are shadowed by something far more sinister.
Forget the peace signs and flower crowns. This isn’t a nostalgic romp through Haight-Ashbury. It’s a slow-burning gothic mystery where the air smells of something rotting just beneath the incense, and reality unravels one eerie page at a time.
The Summer of Haight centers on Longfellow, a straight-laced, impeccably dressed British lawyer living in San Francisco. He’s logical, loyal, and just rigid enough to feel like he’s constantly one step out of place in the groovy chaos of 1960s counterculture. His best friend, the brilliant and eccentric scientist Dr. Jonathan St. Amour, seems to be riding high—hosting elite parties, building a private laboratory under his Victorian mansion, and showing off his mysterious new pet cat, Zelda, who wears a custom-cut diamond in the shape of a cat’s eye.
Things start to tilt sideways when Jonathan suddenly asks Longfellow to draft a new will—one that leaves everything to a man named Dr. Asmodeus Youngblood.
Cleave The Sparrow
By Jonathan Katz
Cleave the Sparrow by Jonathan Katz blends political satire, existential philosophy, and absurd humor to immerse readers in a complex, surreal dystopian narrative.
Tom is a reluctant political candidate stuck on the blurred line between truth and power. His mentor, Crick—a controversial figure for his political views—has an ultimate goal in mind that pulls Tom into its wake. Believing in the limitation of human perception and the illusory nature of the world, Crick endeavors to destroy a ‘cosmic projector’ that he supposes fabricates this false reality.
Cleave the Sparrow charts a course where Tom, as Crick’s successor, follows his holotapes to carry out this dream, plunging into political and scientific conspiracy and moral dilemmas—opening an unexplored trail to time travel, quantum mechanics, and existential dread.
Tomorrowville
By David T. Isaak
As Tomorrowville by David Isaak opens, it is in fact yesterday. 2008 to be specific. Toby Simmons, a Gen X programmer/engineer/hacker, is in the midst of something professionally fascinating but personally stupid.
Toby uses a state-of-the-art virtual reality system to surreptitiously peek into the apartment of the woman across the street. But he’s three stories up, and loses track of where his real feet are walking as he’s too busy following his virtual eyeballs, leading him to one of Wile E. Coyote’s famous maneuvers. He discovers that there’s nothing underneath him but air and a three-story drop to the pavement.
But just like that cartoon coyote, Toby comes back from the dead. It only takes a silly prank, a forgotten gin and tonic, and 80 years, as medical science makes great strides in bringing cryogenically frozen bodies back from formerly life-ending spinal destruction. Along with a whopping bill from the U.S. government– nearly five million dollars for all the many, many costs of Toby’s revival.
It’s 2088, and Toby Simmons has unwittingly become Rip Van Winkle. The world has changed while he’s been sleeping– although not, perhaps, nearly as much as it should have.
A Good Day and Other Mostly Humorous Stories and Lists
By Radu Guiasu
Through the thirty-six diverse writing efforts of A Good Day and Other Mostly Humorous Stories and Lists, Radu Guiasu masterfully combines wit, whimsy, satire, and personal contemplation.
These vignettes cover a wide range of topics, styles, and techniques. While they often seem to be typical “slice-of-life” moments, Guiasu clearly has a knack for finding humor in even the most absurd situations.
As a native Romanian now residing and teaching in Canada, Guiasu writes from his own knowledge and experience. He often broaches serious and meaningful topics, such as the world of academia, growing up under a dictatorship, and a love of nature.
The book’s title story, written while the author was a graduate student, follows a central character who cheerfully muses on fellow graduates not pursuing careers connected to their degree. Choosing not to sell out, he furthers his education and teaches high school to troubled students rather than drive a cab. Ultimately, he loses both his job and his girlfriend, thus deciding to celebrate his newfound freedom by writing about it.
These reviews represent just a glimpse of the clever storytelling and sharp insights waiting to be discovered in today’s humor and satirical literature.
See the Chanticleer Difference for Yourself!
We’re excited about all the witty and thought-provoking works we receive every year for both the CIBAs and for our Editorial Reviews. Throughout this year’s Humor & Satire Book Awards, we had the pleasure of promoting numerous entertaining titles as they advanced through our competition tiers. The Chanticleer International Book Awards offers an incredible $30,000 in cash, prizes, and promotion across all divisions!
This is the journey from beginning to end for the CIBAs! Every list you make means more promotion for you and your work as each advancement tier is posted right here on our website, on our social media, and also out in our newsletter! Your book deserves to be discovered.
Don’t Let Your Wit Go Unwitnessed!
The humor and satire market continues to thrive as readers seek both escapist entertainment and intelligent commentary on our increasingly complex world. Whether your work delivers pure comedic gold, biting social satire, clever parody, or thoughtful allegory, the Humor & Satire Awards provide the recognition and promotional platform your wit deserves.
Humor has the unique power to unite people across differences, challenge conventional wisdom, and make even the most serious topics approachable. From lighthearted tales that offer pure joy to satirical works that inspire social change, every skillfully crafted humorous work has the potential to become a reader’s go-to comfort read or their new favorite conversation starter. Don’t let your wit remain hidden in the shadows. Submit to the Humor & Satire Awards today and join the clever authors who’ve found their appreciative audience through Chanticleer!
Submit to the Humor & Satire Awards today! Deadline: October 31st
