The Cygnus Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, Alternative History, and Speculative Fiction. The Cygnus Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (the CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring space, time travel, life on other planets, parallel universes, alternate reality, and all the science, technology, major social or environmental changes of the future that author imaginations can dream up. Hard Science Fiction, Soft Science Fiction, Apocalyptic Fiction, Cyberpunk, Time Travel, Genetic Modification, Aliens, Super Humans, Interplanetary Travel, and Settlers on the Galactic Frontier, Dystopian, our judges from across North America and the U.K. will put them to the test and choose the best among them.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2020 CYGNUS entries to the 2020 Cygnus Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for 2020 Cygnus Shortlist. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. Semi-Finalists will be announced and recognized at the CAC20 banquet and ceremony. The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 17 CIBA divisions Semi-Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2021 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. at the 2021 Chanticleer Authors Conference–whether virtual, hybrid, or in-person.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2020 Cygnus Book Awards novel competition for Science Fiction!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
Brent Golembiewski – Flat Earth
Jonas Saul – The Immortal Gene
Tiffany Meuret – A Flood of Posies
R. Welsh – The Great Filter
Mark T. Sneed – Bully Nation
Brooke Skipstone – Some Laneys Died
B.T. Keaton – Transference
Mark D. Owen – Impact
JL Morin – Loveoid
A.P. Gessner – Morlock
Charis Himeda – CRISPR Evolution
Kononstantinos Grosomanidis – a Journey, a Message, a Tale
Bryan K. Prosek – Paradoxal
R.S. Harmon – Captain’s Covenant
Liam King – Grit
Jim and Stephanie Kroepfl – Merged
Anastasia Fox – Trout Fishing in the Cretaceous
T Alex Ratcliffe – Battle Games
Timothy S. Johnston – The Savage Deeps
Alex McIntosh – Upstream Revolt
Samuel Finn – A Voice From The Moon
Mike Meier – JoinWith.Me
Palmer Pickering – Moon Deeds
C. Hofsetz – Enemy of the Gods
Ted Neill – Reaper Moon: Race War in the Post Apocalypse
Ronald Dunham – Tower of Brahma
Dr. Anay Ayarovu – STAZR the World Of Z: The Dawn of Athir
PA Vasey – Trinity’s Fall
Rhett C. Bruno & Jaime Castle – The Luna Missile Crisis
William X. Adams – Alien Body
KeJo Black – A Kingdom in Shards
Denis Olasehinde Akinmolasire – The Mission to End Slavery
C.M. Aquavella – Transformation: The Circusity
J.T. Blossom – Lenore and the Problem With Love – When You Go to College Save the Planet
Alexander Usher – Experience Extracted
Russ Colson – The Arasmith Certainty Principle
Zach Fortier – Volk: Book one of The Overseer series
Scott Woodward – Those Inbetween
Cary Allen Stone – SEEDS: The Journey Begins
Susan Wingate – The Lesser Witness
Dennis M. Clausen – The Accountant’s Apprentice
Courtney Leigh Pahlke – Life Force Preserve
Marc Corwin – The Optical Lasso
Alan J. Steinberg – To be Enlightened
Michelle Tanmizi – Late Dawn
Good luck to all as your works move on the next rounds of judging.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2021 CYGNUS Awards writing competition. The deadline for submissions is April 30th, 2021.
In our last Somerset Hall of Fame, we discussed the origin of the contest’s name, and mentioned the success of William Somerset Maugham’s first book Liza of Lambeth, (published 1897) which propelled him to become one of the highest paid authors of his time, but not without first finding himself struggling with poverty after leaving the medical profession as a fully qualified doctor. Somerset wrote the story while working as a medical student and obstetric clerk in working class London.
W. Somerset Maugham (1897 – age 23 years)
In the publication of this book, Somerset joined an extensivebody of work in line with manyfin de siècle authors such as Wilkie Collins, Richard Marsh, Matthew “Monk” Lewis, Bram Stoker, and Charles Dickens.
In Somerset Maugham’s story, Liza, like many women in novels of this era, has her life dictated by the men who surround her, unable to break free of the desires and expectations that surround her, ultimately leading to her death. This examination of consent and the harmfulness of denying women agency can be seen reflected in the urgency of the suffrage movement, which passed its 100 year anniversary in August 18, 2020.
Women’s Suffragette Movement in the USA – more than 100 years in the making. The 19th Amendment was finally ratified on August 18, 1920 (at the end of WWI – 1914 – 1918)
It bears mentioning that women’s suffrage started out as only being accessible for white women, with Chinese-American women not being able to vote until 1943, native-American women until 1948, Japanese-American women until 1952, and African Americans until 1964—though the 19th Amendment wasn’t even ratified by all states until 1984! To this day, voting and voter suppression remains a contentious issue in the United States.Stories like Somerset’s showed the tension and the injustice taking place at the turn of the century in a way that made it real, accessible, and relevant to the literature published at the time and today.
Wells & Squire marching in 1913 For more information, please click here
Anyone who studies the right of women to vote and writing has to come across Virginia Woolf (born January 25, 1882, London England) with her book A Room of One’s Own. (Published September 1929) In this, she talks about where do we, as authors, have space to write. What do our room’s look like, and is there even a writing room in our house? I always think of Stephen King writing in his laundry room when I first think of trying to find a space to write. Naturally, like voting, this becomes more complicated when you overlay things like ender identity, race, and orientation, causing further variation in the kinds of rooms that are allowed to be called one’s own.
In A Room of One’s Own (1929), Woolf blamed women’s absence from history not on their lack of brains and talent but on their poverty. For her 1931 talk “Professions for Women,” Woolf studied the history of women’s education and employment and argued that unequal opportunities for women negatively affect all of society. Click here to read Britannica’s biography of this extraordinary author.
Virginia Woolf, photographed by Gisele Freund, 1933
In the building of literary fiction, we reflect the world as we see it. Woolf, in her book,follows the fictional Judith Shakespeare, sister of the famous William, and his equal in terms of writing and genius. Like Somerset’s Liza, Judith finds herself beset in a world where her agency is constantly overruled by the masculine presences in her life. In the end, Shakespeare’s sister dies by suicide. In both these narratives, the death of the women provides an implicit critique of the way society tries to control them.
Today, that critique and commentary still resonate. In the last ten years we have had the first Black president ever in the United States, and now we are set to inaugurate the first woman vice president who is also the first Black, south Asian, and Caribbean vice president. This doesn’t mean that discrimination and all the problems faced by Somerset’s Liza have vanished from the world, but it does run in cultural tandem with the mood of publishing seen at the end of the 19th century. It is a longstanding tradition that we continue culturally and politically in the stories we tell.
It is with great pride, in the tradition of uplifting and supporting women and the oppressed, that we award Donna LeClair’s manuscript,The Proprietor of the Theatre of Life, The Somerset Book Awards 2019 Grand Prize Award. LeClair is the first author in the Somerset Awards to have a manuscript win the Grand Prize in this highly competitive division. Huge congratulations!
Below is what our editor had to say about The Proprietor of the Theatre of Life by Donna LeClair (manuscript overview)
This is no ordinary book and the word “extraordinary” can’t begin to do it justice. It’s a gift for anyone fortunate enough to read it and libraries around the globe should add it to their collections. It should be available to everyone. Emma is a highly sympathetic character, an everywoman, in need of answers. The reader learns as much as she does about individual and universal struggles on earth, the lessons to be gleaned from suffering, and the value of sharing our stories.
Presenting these lessons in the format of a novel is ingenious; they’ll be accessible to readers who might not have had a clue how to compile, organize, and synthesize so much historical and spiritual scholarship. So many, too many, are suffering from grave, debilitating effects of PTSD; I wish this book could be gifted to them. It is literary balm. – Carrie M. Chanticleer Editorial Team
Journey as Emma does, through multiple eras, continents, and thresholds embracing the authenticity of diverse ethnicities, life conditions, and testimonies. Entrusted intuition guides storylines plaguing the world today. She encounters visionaries of faith who elevate sensibility while gifting their existence to the survival of this illusion that we call home.
Join her on an exploration of the wisdom bestowed by the existence of those who brought humankind closer to understanding one another and the sacredness of our broader story.
Donna LeClair, award-winning author, mother and grandmother, friend to the Dalai Lama, and amazing woman.
We look forward to joining LeClair on her on an exploration of the wisdom bestowed by the existence of those who brought humankind closer to understanding one another and the sacredness of our broader story. This phenomenal story is in the process of seeking representation.
Want more LeClair?
To discover more of Donna LeClair’s award-winning works, please click on the links below that will take you to our reviews:
Immunity,the latest offering by award-winning author Donna LeClair, recounts one woman’s struggles to maintain her sanity during a long nightmarish sojourn among the wealthy and powerful.
LeClair is a prodigious wordsmith who uses the writing craft to good effect. Whether it is a drug-induced temper flare-up, the destruction of a motel room, or a brief erotic interlude, the author weaves a rich tapestry. She has made fiction, it seems, of a painfully recalled set of reminiscences, changing the names to protect the innocent and avoid the wrath of the guilty. She examines the word “immunity” in its many guises: protection from penalty, entitlement of the very wealthy and well-connected, exemption from “an old love,” denial of responsibility, and “declaration protecting honorably truth.”
Very engrossing, well-written, engaging, suspenseful and honest. Waking Reality is recommended reading for anyone looking for an engrossing account of a woman’s courageous story growing up in the 1960s. You will want to see that she emerges through the dark tunnel of abuse.
Through engaging and well-written prose, LeClair relates the 1963 murder trial known as State of Ohio v. Bill Bush, a police sergeant who murdered three members of one family. Bush happened to be her uncle and the family he tore apart, hers. Due to the circumstances of the trial, LeClair and her sisters were in protective custody. Chanticleer Review
Three children, five lives, five stories, five human beings whose lives exploded with a pull of a trigger because of a little black book of secrets, lies, and destructions…
One thing I know for sure, for the safety of your own sanity, you must close the haunting of one chapter before you can open the infinite possibilities of another. –Donna LeClair
Want More Somerset Award Winning Novels?
Congratulations to all our 2019 first place category winners for Somerset. You can see some of the reviews for those books below.
…Rarely does a book about the law take you this close into the mindset of an attorney. Carney isn’t a criminal attorney but his ability to think “legal” demonstrates how a well-trained mind can work even in a foreign territory like criminal law. His familiarity becomes our familiarity. This is not a blockbuster case; no mob bosses will fall; no bombastic courtroom duels await. What is showcased here, however, is good lawyering, legal competence, and a writer’s commitment to sharing his love of the law with his readers. – Chanticleer Reviews
How well do people really know their neighbors? More importantly, or perhaps more sinisterly, how well do those neighbors know each other – and each other’s secrets?…this character-driven story is most definitely a work of exquisite literary fiction that uses the exploration of its characters to drive the narrative.
…Finegan does an excellent job of drawing us inside these seemingly tiny lives, and the deeper we go, the more significant these lives seem, and the greater the impact they have on each other as well as those who have been drawn into their well-written and extremely sticky web. – Chanticleer Reviews
Fantastic magic realism, uncaged and wild, and brilliant in every way! Highly recommended.
In this groundbreaking novel, what is real – and what isn’t – is always the heart of the matter. There are elements of reality in the fantastical, and there are elements of magic realism in the rather ordinary. After Olympus is a novel about characters who don’t just think outside the box; they are outside the box.
Intrigued? You should be. We don’t see novels like this every day, but this one will find its way into the hands of the most discerning readers. – Chanticleer Reviews
A captivating tale of Industrial Greed and Forest Conservation set against a thrilling backdrop of primeval forest, violence, and sex, international intrigue where one misstep may very well cost you your life.
With these award-winning titles, you will understand why the Somerset Book Awards is one of the most competitive divisions in the Chanticleer International Book Awards.
Look for the Chanticleer Reviews of these 2019 Somerset Book Awards Blue Ribbon Winners.
Judith Kirscht forEnd of the Race
Claire Fullerton forLittle Tea
Maggie St. Claire forMartha
Jamie Zerndt forJerkwater
But Wait! Where’s Satire?
Introducing the Mark Twain Book Awards for Satirical and Allegorical Fiction, a new (2020) fiction division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
As a well-known humorist, Mark Twain employed satire to gently rib his audience and point out inconsistencies in the world as it appeared then, such as when Huck wonders why he would go to Hell for helping his friend Jim escape slavery.
Due to the huge popularity of the Somerset Awards, we’ve had to break Satirical and Allegorical fiction off into a separate division that titled The Mark Twain Book Awards.Keep an eye out on our website for our upcoming spotlight on this new Awards category and why we chose Twain!
Also, click on the Mark Twain Book Awards for classic works in Satire and Allegorical Fiction.
The last day to submit your work is November 30, 2018. We invite you to join us, to tell us your stories, and to find out who will take home the prize at CAC21 in April.
As our deadline draws near, don’t miss this opportunity to earn the distinction your literary novel deserves! Enter today!
The winners will be announced at the CIBA Awards Ceremony on April 19, 2021, that will take place during the 2021 Chanticleer Authors Conference. All Semi-Finalists and Finalists will be recognized. The first place winners will be recognized and receive their custom ribbon, and then we will see who among them will take home the Grand Prize. It’s an exciting evening of networking and celebration!
CIBA Ribbons!
First Place category winners and Grand Prize winners will each receive an awards package. Whose works will be chosen? The excitement builds for the 2020 SOMERSET Book Awards competitions and now for the Mark Twain Book Awards.
Our Chanticleer Review Writing Contests feature more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes each year!
~$1000 Overall Grand Prize Winner ~$30,000views, prizes, and promotional opportunities awarded to Category Winners
You might say we like Samuel L. Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, just a little bit here in Bellingham. We only put a statue of him right out front of our flagship local bookstore Village Books.
Samuel Clemons writing as Mark Twain statue in front of Village Books, Fairhaven (Bellingham, Wash.)
But why? Well, Bellingham was one of the stops on his world tour to inspire himself to write and hopefully pay off some of the massive debt he had accrued from bad business investments. The tour proved to be successful: 122 shows in 71 cities around the world.
Twain came to Bellingham (aka Fairhaven currently – aka at that time as New Whatcom) in August of 1895 , and he lectured under smoky skies (they had a fire season that summer, too).
The fires caused the visit to Whatcom County to look like it wasn’t going to work out, as he arrived to see a spare audience, and unfriendly skies. Just read the description written by his manager, Major JD Pond:
Wednesday, August 14th, Seattle to Whatcom.
“Mark’s” cold is getting worse (the first cold he ever had). He worried and fretted all day; two swearing fits under his breath, with a short interval between them, they lasted from our arrival in town until he went to sleep after midnight. It was with great difficulty that he got through the lecture. The crowd, which kept stringing in at long intervals until half-past nine, made him so nervous that he left the stage for a time. I thought he was ill, and rushed back of the scenes, only to meet him in a white rage. He looked daggers at me, and remarked:
“You’ll never play a trick like this on me again. Look at that audience. It isn’t half in yet.”
I explained that many of the people came from long distances, and that the cars ran only every half hour, the entire country on fire causing delays, and that was why the last installment came so late. He cooled down and went at it again. He captured the crowd. He had a good time and an encore, and was obliged to give an additional story.
And his trip had the added effect of reinvigorating his writing and his bank account, both vital for him. Luckily, with prohibition twenty years down the line, he managed to find some liquor and cigars to round out the successful night at what is now Sycamore Square, just down the road from where he was staying.
As a well-known humorist, Mark Twain employed satire to gently rib his audience and point out inconsistencies in the world as it appeared then, such as when Huck wonders why he would go to Hell for helping his friend Jim escape slavery.
One of Twain’s more well-known sayings is “Better to remain silent and thought a fool than to open one’s mouth & remove all doubt.”
BRAND NEW FOR 2020
The Mark Twain Book Awards
for Satirical and Allegorical Fiction
With our Somerset Awards having grown beyond capacity with literary fiction and satire, we decided to name the new division for satire and allegory for Mark Twain, for both his excellence in writing and our connection to him here in Bellingham. And, of course for his excellent works in satire and allegory.
The incomparable The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
The Innocents Abroad
Modern Satire examples:
Matt Groening – The Simpsons, Futurama
David Sedaris – Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day
Chuck Palahniuk – Fight Club
Douglas Adams – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Kurt Vonnegut – Slaughterhouse-Five
Evelyn Waugh – Brideshead Revisited
Allegory examples
Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales
George Orwell – Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four
L. Frank Baum’s – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Arthur Miller – The Crucible
C.S. Lewis – The Chronicles of Narnia
If your work is literary or contemporary, but not quite satire or allegory, check out our Somerset Awards!
The last day to submit your work is November 30, 2018. We invite you to join us, to tell us your stories, and to find out who will take home the prize ribbons at CAC21 in April.
As our deadline draws near, don’t miss this opportunity to earn the distinction your literary novel deserves! Enter today!
The MARK TWAIN Book Awards for Satirical and Allegorical fiction is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards – the CIBAs.
October helps us understand why campfires are a good idea, why it’s never safe to go down into the cellar alone on certain nights of the year, and, among other things, why it’s prudent to know the history of a house before you buy it.
In October, strange things happen when these bits of wisdom are ignored.
I’ve said it before, and I am going to reaffirm it now, October is my favorite time of year. I love the goblins, ghosts, monsters of the dark as much as the next person (okay, maybe more) and so it’s no surprise that I love October because October means Halloween! I can even put it into a mathematical formula:
And this year’s a little different. In a very real sense, we all are living in a global nightmare because of a horrible virus that supposedly came from (wait for it!) BATS.
We know what it’s like to be afraid, to be brave, to yearn for companionship, and not be able to hug our loved ones. We know what it’s like to run out of hand sanitizer and toilet paper. And we wonder when things will get better.
Still, I am a BIG fan of horror. Why? Because fiction helps us here. Especially horror. Between the pages of the scariest novel, we see our own humanity, our own hopes, and our own fears. Our defeats – and also our victories. It is cathartic to dip into an imaginary world where things are falling apart and monsters are real. It gives us a sense of control. A sense that even though things are bad, they will get better (and then worse…). Yes, we’re in a major pandemic here. People are sick and things are confusing, but the vampires haven’t risen from the grave yet, and Frankenstein’s Monster is not coming to dinner. Ghost stories are simply that. Stories.
Ghostbusters
So gather around (while you’re social distancing) the campfire and tell us your favorite spooky stories. Because, I don’t know about you, but I could sure use some fictional horror in my life… Are you ready?
Welcome to the PARANORMAL Book Awards!
Send us your stories of dark places, alien abductions, magic and magical beings, the supernatural, vampires & werewolves, angels & demons, fairies & mythological beings, weird otherworldly tales… and gothic horror stories. We will put them to the test and discover the best among them for the 2018 Paranormal Book Awards, a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards – the CIBAs.
But don’t wait too long. The deadline for the Paranormal Awards is October 31, 2020. Enter here, and don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Travel with me through the Paranormal Awards Hall of Fame…
The 2019 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize for Supernatural Fiction is:
The 2018 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize for Supernatural Fiction is:
Joy Ross Davis, Paranormal Grand Prize Book Award Winner
The Madwoman of Preacher’s Cove “One man searches for the truth in the quiet hamlet of his childhood, only to uncover the terrifying reality. Thrilling and spinetingling! Joy Ross Davis knows how to keep you up at night! Highly recommended.”
Joy Ross Davis is more than an eloquent storyteller. A college professor, mother, daughter of Irish descent whose family settled in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, Joy loves all things Irish, including the Green Isle itself.
2018 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels:
The 2017 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize for Supernatural Fiction is:
Van Ops – The Lost Poweris a story in which “Alexander the Great’s obscure Egyptian weapon has been lost for eons. Can Maddy Marshall and covert agent Bear Thorenson find the ancient weapon in time to stop fragile post-Cold War peace from being forever shattered?”
Avanti Centrae is the author of the international award-winning VanOps thriller series. Her work has been compared to that of James Rollins, Steve Berry, Dan Brown, and Preston/Child’s Pendergast series.
2017 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels:
Almost Mortal “Blending the high-octane thrust of a contemporary legal thriller with the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Almost Mortal” cleaves a new, inventive niche in the legal thriller genre. This fast-paced legal thriller will leave the reader hungering for more. A terrific read!”
Christopher Leibig is a novelist and a criminal defense attorney. He thinks about Fiction like this…”Fiction, while by its definition invented, need not tell that lie. In fiction, the devil is everywhere. And everyone has their story.”
2016 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels :
The Aurora Affair(retitled asMobius) “… is a story about a skeptical heroine who discovers that her love affairs are the key to harnessing her own power to influence the world—for better if she does it right, or for worse if she fails.”
Carolyn Haley “… is a freelance writer and editor who lives in rural Vermont. I write a mix of commercial copy, articles for regional and national publications.” She writes award-winning novels in her spare time.
2015 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels :
An Ex to Grind in Deadwoodis a wickedly funny paranormal mystery romance series that takes place in its namesake city in South Dakota.
Ann Charles, USA Bestselling Author
Ann Charles“…lives in the beautiful Northern Arizona mountains with her clever husband, charming kids, and an incredibly sassy cat. After many years and several colleges, she managed to obtain her Bachelor’s Degree in English with an emphasis on creative writing from the University of Washington.”
2014 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels:
The Watcher is a story where “…ancient history is only the beginning.”
Lisa Voisin “… spent her childhood daydreaming and making up stories, but it was my love of reading and writing in her teens that drew her to Young Adult fiction.”
2013 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels:
Sacred Firesis a well written and crafted romantic paranormal novel with elements of intrigue and suspense along with a story set in a lush locale with mystic Aztec undercurrents. Greenfeder has succeeded in writing a fast-paced romantic suspense novel that is refreshingly different.
Catherine Greenfeder “… continues to pursue her dream of getting her work published. To date, she has had five novels including a western historical, two adult paranormal novels, and two young adult paranormal novels published. She anticipates a few short stories and another young adult novel published in the near future.”
Our 2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAs) feature more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes each year!
The 2020 PARANORMAL Grand Prize Winner is namedChanticleer ReviewsBest Supernatural Fiction Book of the Year and goes on to compete for the Chanticleer Overall Grand Prize Best Book of the Year
The Overall Grand Prize Winner is namedChanticleer Reviews Best Book of the Year and awarded the$1000 prize
All winners receive a Chanticleer Prize Packagewhich includes a digital badge, a ribbon, and a whole assortment of goodies detailed below (winners outside the US pay a shipping & handling fee)
That’s more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes! The Fine Print.
~$1000 for one lucky Overall Grand Prize Winner
~$30,000+ in reviews, prizes, and promotional opportunities awarded to Category Winners
Currently accepting entries. Deadline: Oct. 31st, 2020.
What are you waiting for? Enter today!Who will win the PARANORMAL Book Awards Blue Ribbons for 2020?
Submit your works today!
The last day for submissions into the 2020 Paranormal Book Awards is October 31, 2020.
Why do we love Fantasy now more than ever? With the promise of bringing new horizons, a grand new adventure, magical worlds, and perhaps even a treasure… with a flick of our finger and that which was not suddenly appears… with magical creatures and fantastical places waiting to be explored – what’s not to love?
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring magic, the supernatural, imaginary worlds, fantastical creatures, legendary beasts, mythical beings, or inventions of fancy that author imaginations dream up without a basis in science as we know it. Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Dragons, Unicorns, Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Gaslight Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, or other out of this world fiction, we will discover the best among them and award them an OZMA Book Award!
The last day to submit your work is coming up faster than you may think – October 31, 2020, is just around the corner. We invite you to join us, to tell us your stories, and to find out who will take home the prize at CAC21 on April 18th, 2021.
As our deadline draws near, don’t slip into an alternate reality and forget to enter your fantasy novel! We accept completed manuscripts and recently published works.
Michelle Rene participated in our 10 question Author Interview series and this is a bit of what she has to say about writing… “It is a powerful and equalizing force in the world. As long as you can string sentences together, you have a voice. Your story can be told. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are. Your wallet and waistline have no bearing. You don’t even have to be formally educated. Everyone’s story is possible, and stories change the world.”
The First In Category Winners for 2019 are:
Elana A. Mugdan –Dragon Blood
Michelle Rene –Manufactured Witches
Noah Lemelson – The Sightless City
KC Cowan & Sara Cole –The Hunt for Winter
Susannah Dawn –Search for the Armor of God
Dan Zangari & Robert Zangari –A Prince’s Errand
Tim Westover –The Winter Sisters: A Novel
2018 Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Winners!
The 2018 OZMA Book Awards GRAND PRIZE WINNER for Fantasy Fiction Novels:
Elana Mugdan, our Grand Prize winner, earned her title for Dragon Speaker, a story about a young girl who is charged with rescuing a dragon and, ultimately, saves her world in this wide-reaching fantasy conception of love, war, danger, and magic. Massive amounts of magic!
Congratulations to the 2018 OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction NovelsFirst in Category Winners!
T.K. Riggins has this to say about writing, “I started writing because of a dare. My friend was searching for something new to read, but instead of recommending a book, I decided to write something for her. It was a ten-page short story that was based on a farming event from my past, and I turned it into a tale of fantasy. It was a fun experience, and my friend was so impressed that she wanted to read more, so I just kept going.” Find out more in his 10 Question Author Interview, here.
Our 2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards feature more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes each year!
The 2020 Ozma Grand Prize Winner is namedChanticleer ReviewsBest Fantasy Fiction Book of the Year and goes on to compete for the Chanticleer Overall Grand Prize Best Book of the Year
The Overall Grand Prize Winner is namedChanticleer Reviews Best Book of the Year and awarded the$1000 prize
All winners receive a Chanticleer Prize Packagewhich includes a digital badge, a ribbon, and a whole assortment of goodies detailed below (winners outside the US pay a shipping & handling fee)
That’s more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes! The Fine Print.
~$1000 for one lucky Overall Grand Prize Winner
~$30,000+ in reviews, prizes, and promotional opportunities awarded to Category Winners
Currently accepting entries. Deadline: Oct. 31st, 2020.
You’re good at deadlines… cutting the right wire under pressure is nothing. You can take down dozens of bad guys with just your wit and some duct tape.
You can certainly make this deadline!
Our new deadline for the 2020 (only) in the CIBA GLOBAL THRILLER Awards is October 31, 2020, at 11:59 p.m.
(*Beware, my friends, for the Global Thriller Awards deadline next year will be one month earlier ~ September 30, 2021! …tick, tick, tick!)
Avanti Centrae pulled the trigger just in time and brought home the CIBA 2019 GRAND PRIZE in GLOBAL THRILLERS Book Awards for SOLSTICE SHADOWS – A VanOps Thriller!
The First in Category Winners for The 2019 Global Thrillers are:
We also had Cybertech Thrillers and Political Thrillers such as John Trudel’sRaven’s Resurrectionand the Raven’s Series.
Here’s your assignment, if you choose to accept it…
Submit your Thrillers in the following categories by October 31, 2020, for a chance to bring home a First in Category WIN the 2020 CIBAs in Global Thrillers – or a Grand Prize – or maybe even the Overall Grand Prize!
We are honored and excited to announce the Best Book Overall Grand Prize Winner of the 2019 Chanticleer International Book Awards – the 2019 CIBAs
Chanticleer Reviews Grand Prize Ribbons!
Who took home the coveted Overall Grand Prize Best Book Blue Ribbon?
There are 17 Grand Prize Blue Ribbons, but only one will Overall Grand Prize Blue Ribbon for Best Book. The competition is fierce and competitive. We love each one, but only one can win.
Who will be able to display and promote the gorgeous Grand Prize Badge in all book promotions for the winning title?
17 authors made it to the exclusive CIBA Grand Prize Levels
Which title will receive the Chanticleer Reviews Package and be featured in the Chanticleer Reviews magazine winter quarter’s edition?
There were 17 CIBA Grand Prize Division Winners!
Who will be interviewed and featured in our well-trafficked website?
All of the CIBA Grand Prize Division Award Winners will be featured!
Who will receive the Overall Best Book Grand Prize Book Award Winner’s $1,000 USD?
There is only one $1,000 USD check at this time for the one CIBA OVERALL BEST BOOK.
CONGRATULATIONS to
James Conroyd Martin,
author of the 2019 CIBA Overall Best Book Fortune’s Child: A Novel of Empress Theodora
The journey of Fortune’s Child: A Novel of Empress Theodora by James Conroyd Martin in the 2019 Chanticleer International Book Awards.
James Conroyd Martin, author of the Overall Best Book of the Chanticleer International Book Awards selection: FORTUNE’S CHILD: a novel of Empress Theodora
Fortune’s Child: a Novel of Empress Theodora authored by James Conroyd Martin advanced from the entry level of all submissions into the 2019 Chaucer Book Awards for Pre-1750s Historical Fiction to the division’s Long List. From there, it advanced to the Chaucer Book Award’s Shortlist. Then it advanced in the next rounds to the Semi-Finals. More than half of all the 2019 Chaucer entries have fallen off the list and did not advance to the Semi-Final rounds. For works to advance to the Premier FINALIST rounds in each division, they must have been entirely read, rated, and then ranked by the CIBA judges for an overall average score of at least 8 out 10. From that point, the competition becomes fierce. Each judge evaluates the works competing for the limited first place category positions for each division. And then the judging continues as the selections are made for the CIBA Grand Prize Winners.
Each year, we find the quality of the entries and the competitiveness of the division competitions increasing exponentially. We added a new level to the judging rounds in 2019—the premier Level of FINALIST per each CIBA Division. The CIBA judges wanted to add the Finalist Level of Achievement as a way to recognize and validate the entries that had outstanding merit but were not selected for the very few First Place Award positions within each genre division.
We want to thank each and every one of the 2019 CIBA judges.
Without your passion and labor of love for books, the Chanticleer International Book Awards would not exist and we could not fulfill our mandate: Discovering Today’s Best Books!
THANK YOU JUDGES!
The Chanticleer International Book Awards Discovers Today’s Best Books!
We want to thank all who have entered and participated in the prestigious CIBAs.
We invite you to click on the links below that honor and recognize all 17 Divisions of the CIBAs First Place Award Winners and Division Grand Prize Winners.
Additionally, there are links on the Chanticleer Reviews website recognizing and announcing the works that advanced to the Premier Finalist Level of the 2019 CIBAs.
Be sure to register early for the 2021 Chanticleer Authors Conference that will start on April 16th, 2021 with the 2020 CIBA banquet and ceremony scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 17th, 2021 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. If we cannot move forward with CAC21 due to the coronavirus, we will host another LIVE and HYBRID Chanticleer Authors Conference and 2020 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards ceremony.
Pivot and Oscillate are the Words for Today’s Challenging Times as We All Learn Together!
An email will go out to all 2019 CIBA award winners prior to October 31, 2020, with instructions, links, and more information about the awards packages. We appreciate your patience. As stated many times before “One does not need to be present at the CIBA ceremony and banquet to win. But it sure is a lot more fun!” –even if it is virtual!
As always, please contact us at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!
We are deeply honored and excited to announce the 2019 Winners of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs). Part Three of Three – 2019 CIBA Winner Announcements
CIBA Grand Prize Ribbons! You know that you want one!
The winners were recognized at the Virtual Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Ceremonies that were held on during VCAC September 8 – 13, 2020 by ZOOM webinars based at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether, Bellingham, Wash.
We want to thank each and everyone of the CIBA judges who read each and every entry and then comment, rate, and rank within each of the 17 CIBA Divisions. Without your passion and labor of love for books, the Chanticleer International Book Awards would not exist and we could not fulfill our mandate: Discovering Today’s Best Books!
THANK YOU JUDGES!
Each year, we find the quality of the entries and the competitiveness of the division competitions increasing exponentially. We added a new level to the judging rounds in 2019—the premier Level of FINALIST per each CIBA Division. The CIBA judges wanted to add the Finalist Level of Achievement as a way to recognize and validate the entries that had outstanding merit but were not selected for the very few First Place Award positions within each genre division.
We are honored to present the
2019 Chanticleer International Book Awards
Grand Prize Winners
The 2019 CIBA Winners!
The CHATELAINE Book Awards for
Romantic Fiction and Women’s Fiction
Grand Prize Winner is
The SKEPTICAL PHYSCICK
by Gail Avery Halverson
T.K. Conklin – Threads of Passion
Jule Selbo – Find Me in Florence
Michelle Cox – A Veil Removed
Heather Novak – Headlights, Dipsticks, & My Ex’s Brother
James Conroyd Martin will also be awarded $1,000 USD in recognition of his 2019 BEST BOOK of the YEAR – Chanticleer International Book Awards – Sponsored by Chanticleer Reviews & Media.
A Chanticleer Review of Fortune’s Child will be featured in the in the SPRING 2021 quarterly edition of the Chanticleer Reviews Magazine (print and epub) along with other promotional and marketing opportunities.
Thank you James Conroyd Martin for participating in the 2019 Chanticleer International Book Awards. We look forward to receiving the sequel to Fortune’s Child in the 2021 Chaucer Book Awards, a division of the CIBAs.
We look forward to toasting James in person at our next gathering–hopefully in 2021. We are so happy that he joined us virtually for the CIBA announcements at VCAC20.
CONGRATULATIONS JAMES CONROYD MARTIN!
From all of us at Chanticleer International Book Awards and Chanticleer Reviews.
Be sure to register early for the 2021 Chanticleer Authors Conference that will start on April 16th, 2021 with the 2020 CIBA banquet and ceremony scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 17th, 2021 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. If we cannot move forward with CAC21 due to the coronavirus, we will host another LIVE and HYBRID Chanticleer Authors Conference and 2020 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards ceremony.
Pivot and Oscillate are the Words for Today’s Challenging Times.
An email will go out to all 2019 CIBA award winners prior to October 30, 2020, with instructions, links, and more information about the awards packages. We appreciate your patience. As stated many times before “One does not need to be present at the CIBA ceremony and banquet to win. But it sure is a lot more fun!” –even if it is virtual!
As always, please contact us at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!
We are deeply honored and excited to continue to announce the 2019 Winners of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
The winners were recognized at the Virtual Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Ceremonies that were held on during VCAC September 8 – 13, 2020 by ZOOM webinars based at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether, Bellingham, Wash.
We cheered on the CIBA Premier Finalists with our bubbly of choice from wherever we were Zooming!
The CIBA announcements were made LIVE with Chanticleerians participating and interacting from around the globe and North America. A virtual happy hour was held following each evening’s announcements.
We want to thank all of the CIBA judges who read each and every entry and then comment, rate, and rank within each of the 17 CIBA Divisions. Without your labors of love for books, the Chanticleer International Book Awards would not exist. THANK YOU!
We want to thank all of the authors and publishers who participated in the 2019 Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs). Each year, we find the quality of the entries and the competitiveness of the division competitions increasing exponentially. We added a new level to the judging rounds in 2019—the premier Level of FINALIST per each CIBA Division. The CIBA judges wanted to add the Finalist Level of Achievement as a way to recognize and validate the entries that had outstanding merit but were not selected for the very few First Place Award positions within each genre division.
Grand Prize Ribbons!
We are honored to present the
2019 Chanticleer International Book Awards
Grand Prize Winners
The 2019 CIBA Winners!
The LARAMIE Book Awards for American, Western, Pioneer, Civil War, and First Nation Novels
The Grand Prize Winner is
SEVEN APRILS by Eileen Charbonneau
E. Alan Fleischauer – Rescued
Lynwood Kelly – The Gamble: Lost Treasures
David Fitz-Gerald– Wanders Far-An Unlikely Hero’s Journey
Juliette Douglas – Bed of Conspiracy
John Hansen –Hard Times
J. R. Collins – Spirit of the Rabbit Place
The CHAUCER Book Awards for
Pre-1750s Historical Fiction
Grand Prize Winner is
FORTUNE’S CHILD: A Novel of Empress Theodora
by James Conroyd Martin
Gail Avery Halverson for The Skeptical Physick
Linda Cardillo for Love That Moves the Sun: Vittoria Colonna and Michelangelo Buonarotti
June Hall McCash for Eleanor’s Daughter: A Novel of Marie de Champagne
James Hutson-Wiley for The Sugar Merchant
Catherine Mathis for Death in Coimbra
Patricia J. Boomsma for The Way of Glory
A.L. Cleven for 26.2
The GOETHE Book Awards for
Post-1750’s Historical Fiction
Grand Prize Winner is
PECCADILLO at the PALACE by Kari Bovee
Vanda Writer for Paris, Adrift
PJ Devlin for Wissahickon Souls
Mary Adler forShadowed by Death: An Oliver Wright WWII Mystery
Mike Jordan forThe Runner
J.G. Schwartz forThe Pearl Harbor Conspiracy
LITTLE PEEPS Book Awards for
Early Readers and Picture Books
Grand Prize Winner is
GALDO’S GIFT: The Boovie
by Trevor Young & Eleanor Long
Sylva Fae and Katie Weaver forElfabet
Lauren Mosback forMy Sister’s Super Skills
Norma Lewis for Totem Pole
Kizzie Jones for A Tall Tale About Dachshunds in Costumes: How MORE Dogs Came to Be
Justine Avery forWhat Wonders Do You See… When You Dream?
Kasey J. Claytor for Pinky and The Magical Secret He Kept Inside
Robert Wright Jr forMummy in the Museum
GERTRUDE WARNER Book Awards for
Middle-Grade Books
Grand Prize is
The VALLEY of DEATH, Book 5 by Alex Paul
Amber L. Wyss – Phoenix Rising
M.J. Evans – PINTO!
Beth Stickley – Tarnation’s Gate
Rey Clark – Legends of the Vale
Laura M. Kemp – Burnt Feathers
Alex Paul – The Valley of Death, Book 5, Arken Freeth and the Adventure of the Neanderthals
C.R. Stewart – Britfield and the Lost Crown
Trayner Bane – Windhollow and the Axe Breaker (Windhollows, Book 3)
Carolyn Watkins – The Knock…a collection of childhood memories
The DANTE ROSSETTI Book Awards
for Young Adult Fiction
Grand Prize Winner is
BUT NOT FOREVER by Jan Von Schleh
Michelle Rene–Manufactured Witches
Nancy Thorne–Victorian Town
Susan Brown–Twelve
Sandra L Rostirolla–Cecilia
David Patneaude–Fast Backward
John Middleton–Dillion & The Curse of Arminius
Congratulations to ALL!
We will email each winner with more information about their prize packages and more information.
Be sure to FOLLOW and LIKE us Facebook and on Twitter @ChantiReviews
Please standby for our next posts that will honor:
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please email us at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com We will try to respond within 3 business days.
Thank you for joining us in celebrating the 2019 CIBA Winners! – The Chanticleer Team
We are deeply honored and excited to announce the 2019 Winners of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs). The winners were recognized at the Virtual Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Ceremonies that were held on during VCAC September 8 – 13, 2020 by ZOOM webinars based at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether, Bellingham, Wash.
2018 Chanticleer International Book Awards Grand Prize Winners
The 2020 Chanticleer Authors Conference and the 2019 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards Banquet and Ceremony was originally scheduled for April 17 – 19, 2020. Each year, Chanticleerians from around the globe come together to celebrate and cheer each other on at the annual CIBA banquet and awards evening at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether that is situated on beautiful Bellingham Bay, Washington State.
However, because of the global coronavirus pandemic the conference was officially postponed on March 11, 2020. We had hoped to have our beloved and celebrated CIBA banquet and ceremony during the 2020 summer months perhaps even over Labor Day weekend. However, it became apparent in July, with the USA having spikes in the coronavirus, that it would not be prudent to host a live in-person conference in 2020.
So, we pivoted. We held our first ever virtual Chanticleer Authors Conference in September known as VCAC20! The conference proper was six days, September 9 – 13, 2020 with 2019 CIBA 14 Fiction and 3 Non-Fiction Divisions Official Announcements were made each evening. Additionally to the six days of VCAC sessions, we also held four more days of workshops and master writing classes the week immediately following.
First of all, we want to thank all of the CIBA judges who read each and every entry and then comment, rate, and rank within each of the 17 CIBA Divisions. Without your labors of love for books, the Chanticleer International Book Awards would not exist. THANK YOU!
We want to thank all of the authors and publishers who participated in the 2019 Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs). Each year, we find the quality of the entries and the competitiveness of the division competitions increasing exponentially. We added a new level to the judging rounds in 2019—the premier Level of FINALIST per each CIBA Division. The CIBA judges wanted to add the Finalist Level of Achievement as a way to recognize and validate the entries that had outstanding merit but were not selected for the very few First Place Award positions within each genre division.
A Recap of the CIBA Selection Process
The 2019 CIBAs have 14 Fiction Divisions and 3 Non-fiction Divisions.
First Place Category award winners were selected for each one of the 17 divisions from an overall field of titles that progressed to the Premier FINALIST Division Level from the Division Semi-Finalists positions from the Shortlists, the Long List, and the infamous beginning slush pile rounds.
One Grand Prize award winner was selected from the First Place Category Award Winners for each of the 17 CIBA divisions.
One Overall Grand Prize award winner was selected from the 17 divisions of Grand Prize Award Winners
All 2019 CIBA FINALISTS were recognized with their respective division at the CIBA awards ceremony that was held each evening of VCAC20.
THANK YOU to VCAC20 SPONSORS and FRIENDS
Robert Dugoni-one of our most popular speakers & Amazon #1 Selling AuthorScott Steindorff – A-List Film Producer – who shares his expertise & knowledge of the film industry and its future.JD Barker – Master of Suspense shares his experiences from Indie author to 7 figure contractsCIBA Grand Prize Ribbons!
We are honored to present the
2019 Chanticleer International Book Awards
Grand Prize Winners
The 2019 CIBA Winners!
The CYGNUS Book Awards for Science Fiction Novels
Grand Prize Winner is
INSYNNIUM by Tim Cole
J. I. Rogers – The Korpes Agenda
Jacques St-Malo – Cognition
Shami Stovall –Star Marque Rising
Rey Clark– Titan Code Series: Dawn of Genesis
Paul Werner –Mustang Bettie
Robert M. Kerns –It Ain’t Over…
The OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction
Grand Prize Winner is
Manufactured Witches by Michelle Rene
Elana A. Mugdan –Dragon Blood
Noah Lemelson – The Sightless City
KC Cowan & Sara Cole –The Hunt for Winter
Susannah Dawn –Search for the Armor of God
Dan Zangari & Robert Zangari –A Prince’s Errand
Tim Westover –The Winter Sisters: A Novel
The Paranormal Book Awards for Supernatural Fiction
Grand Prize Winner is
ABIGAIL’S WINDOW by Susan Lynn Solomon
Ryan J. Lyons –Drums and Dragons
Linda Watkins –The Tao of the Viper
Kaylin McFarren –High Flying
Palmer Pickering –Moon Deeds
Jack Cullen –Runes of Steel
Joy Ross Davis –The Witch of Blacklion
D. J. Adamson –At The Edge of No Return
The GLOBAL THRILLER Book Awards for High Stakes Thrillers,
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please email us at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com We will try to respond within 3 business days.
Thank you for joining us in celebrating the 2019 CIBA Winners! – The Chanticleer Team
invented, need not tell that lie. In fiction, the devil is everywhere. And everyone has their story
The Watcher is a story where “…ancient history is only the beginning.”
Catherine Greenfeder
young girl who is charged with rescuing a dragon and, ultimately, saves her world in this wide-reaching fantasy conception of love, war, danger, and magic. Massive amounts of magic!
Congratulations to the 2018 OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction Novels First in Category Winners!
It’s come down to this…
