The Nellie Bly Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Journalistic Non-Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Dan Slepian’s book, The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice, will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Nellie Bly contest page year ’round!
The best part about being a Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Winner is the love and attention you get all year ‘round!
The 2024 Nellie Bly Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!
Join us in celebrating the 2024 First Place Nellie Bly Winners!
Carla Conti – Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir
After three years in Europe, former journalist Carla Conti* just wanted to settle her family into the suburbs of Philadelphia. But her high school friend Scott Powell, a lawyer handling a brutal prison stabbing case, needed a favor. Before she knew it, Carla became part of the defense team and mired in the terrifying world of federal prison gangs, penal abuse, and corruption.
Then, when she agreed to write a tell-all book on the violent machinations behind the court case — with Scott’s client as an inside source — the stakes turned deadly. Two different prison gangs issued “hit orders” against the prisoner she and Scott now considered a friend, and the journalist and defense attorney were imperiled by association.
Chained Birds is a true crime memoir of Carla’s 10-year journey to advocate for federal inmate Kevin Sanders and help him re-enter society after prison. But the mission came at a cost as Carla struggled to balance her own, Scott’s, and Kevin’s safety while writing an exposé on the horrific conditions that led to the shutdown of an experimental prison program in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
This thrilling, frightening book depicts a journey filled with unlikely friendships, invisible victims of prison abuse, failings in our criminal justice system, and redemption through storytelling.
*Carla Conti is a pen name used by the author to protect her real identity for fear of retribution.
Kori Reed – Men-in-the-Middle: Conversations to Gain Momentum with Gender Equity’s Silent Majority
In Men-in-the-Middle, author Kori Reed interviews men across corporate America about gender equity in the workplace. This is a topic men can influence, as they hold nearly 75 percent of C-suite positions, but they don’t talk about it at the office. As it turns out, men have a lot to say! They are aware of the issues and the impacts and, at the same time, unsure of what to do. This uncertainty renders Men-in-the-Middle, even though they may be supporters, on the silent sidelines of gender equity.
Combining interviews with insights from secondary research, Reed seeks to provide a framework to understand this “silent majority” and shine the light on new perspectives and topics that often go undiscussed.
Men-in-the-Middle: Conversations to Gain Momentum with Gender Equity’s Silent Majority invites men and women to cultivate conversations by providing an orientation on perspective-taking and laying a foundation to move gender equity forward in a new inclusive way.
Bonnie Bley – Stolen Voices: Missing and Murdered in Big Horn County
Murder may seem easy, and getting away with it even easier, particularly in Indian Country. Big Horn County, MT, where Ms. Bley grew up, bears the unfortunate distinction of having the highest rate of missing and murdered women and girls. Selena Not Afraid fell victim to this hidden epidemic on New Year’s Day 2020, disappearing without a trace under mysterious circumstances. Her body was discovered 20 days later in an open field, previously intensively searched. The county sheriff hastily labeled her death as “accidental hypothermia” before she could undergo a thorough examination by a coroner, a cause of death that appears all too common in Crow Indian country.
The lack of answers surrounding Selena’s disappearance and the questionable cause of her death sparked outrage in the community. Stolen Voices: Missing and Murdered in Big Horn County compellingly recounts the stories of several young Native American Indians who have gone missing or been brutally murdered in Big Horn County. This book not only raises awareness but also sheds light on first-hand perspectives from the family members of Crow and Cheyenne tribal members who were killed. Additionally, it highlights the efforts of those working to make a difference in Indian Country, aiming to reduce instances of violence against Native women. Stolen Voices a multi-award winning book delves into the deeper issues at the heart of this hidden epidemic, whose awareness is gaining momentum.
Bonnie Bley, a native of Wyoming, spent her formative years in the border reservation town of Hardin, MT, situated in the southeastern corner of Montana. Her educational journey took her to Aberdeen, SD, and Bloomington, MN, where she honed her skills and knowledge. In the late 1980s, she made Minnesota her home, and to this day, it remains the backdrop to her life.
Although Minnesota has become her primary residence, Bonnie remains deeply connected to her roots in Montana and Wyoming, considering them the bedrock of her identity. It is within this intricate tapestry of her experiences that Bonnie Bley has woven the compelling narrative of Stolen Voices: Missing and Murdered in Big Horn County. This poignant work sheds light on the stories of Indigenous People who have tragically gone missing or been murdered in the very county where she spent her upbringing, offering BONNIE BLEY a heartfelt exploration of a community’s struggles and losses.
Sarah Towle – Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands
It was family separation and “kids in cages” that drove Sarah Towle to the U.S. southern border. On discovering the many-headed hydra that is the U.S. immigration system—and the heroic determination of those caught under its knee—she could never look away again. Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands charts Sarah’s journey from outrage to activism to abolition as she exposes, layer by “broken” layer, the global deterrence to detention to deportation complex that is failing everyone—save the profiteers and demagogues who benefit from it.
Deftly weaving together oral storytelling, history, and memoir, Sarah illustrates how the U.S. has led the retreat from post-WWII commitments to protecting human rights. Yet within the web of normalized cruelty, she finds hope and inspiration in the extraordinary acts of ordinary people who prove, every day, there is a better way. By amplifying their voices and celebrating their efforts, Sarah reveals that we can welcome with dignity those most in need of safety and compassion. In unmasking the real root causes of the so-called “crisis” in human migration, she urges us to act before we travel much farther down our current course—one which history will not soon forgive, or forget.
Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Nellie Bly First Place Winners!
Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you submit to the Nellie Bly Awards!
Got a great Non-Fiction Book? The 2025 Nellie Bly Book Awards are open through the end of August!
The Military and Front Line Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoirs 
