The Somerset Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Contemporary and Literary 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 contemporary stories, literary themes, adventure, magical realism, or women and family themes. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

These titles have moved forward in the first look rounds from all 2024 SOMERSET Contemporary Fiction entries to the 2024 Somerset Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2024 Somerset Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC25.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 in beautiful Bellingham, WA at the Bellingham Yacht Club sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference. 

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2024 Somerset Book Awards novel competition for Contemporary and Literary Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!

• Conon Parks – Down and Out in Omaha
• Samantha Schinder – Loud Voices
• Rachel Valencourt – Twilight’s Brightest Star
• Deonna Kay – The Measure of Enough
• Torres & Firsht – Tell Me Your Plans
• Robert Steven Goldstein – Golda’s Hutch
• Natalie Musgrave Dossett – Sarita
• Robert Gwaltney – Sing Down the Moon
• Ann Bancroft – Almost Family
• Kat Caldwell – Bended Loyalty
• Christina Boyd – Woman in the Painting
• Lisa Gruwell Spicer – Radio Smokva a Croatian American Story
• David B. Seaburn – Until It Was Gone
• Maryann Clarke – Secrets at the Aviary Inn
• Craig Allen Heath – Killing Buddhas
• Wesley J. Wildman – The Winding Way Home
• Leslie Wibberley – The Unraveling of Emma Hill
• Leslie Kain – What Lies Buried
• Melissa Connelly – What Was Lost
• Abbe Rolnick – The Underpainting
• Alissa Butterworth – To Die Is Different Than Supposed
• Jonna Lyons Johnson – Tapping Light
• Neroli Lacey – The Perfumer’s Secret
• Rupert Taylor – Please Let Me Destroy You
• Zelly Ruskin – Not Yours to Keep
• Donna Norman-Carbone – Of Lies and Honey
• Julie Weary – Never, Ever, Always
• D. L. Whipple – The Outcast
• John W. Feist – Edged in Purple
• Graydon Dee Hubbard – Network Apprentice, Behind the Scenes in Talk Television
• William Robert Reeves – The In-House Politician
• Judith Krummeck – The Deceived Ones
• Leilana Rae – The Meaning Between Us
• Tamara Hart Heiner – Of Life, Love, and Other Noble Pursuits
• Ruth F. Stevens – The Unexpected Guests
• Reenita M. Hora – Vermilion Harvest – Playtime at the Bagh
• Allan Ishac – The Mystic In The Mews
• Keith McWalter – Lifers
• Ben Gonshor – The Book of Izzy
• J. Drew – On the Surface of the Sun
• Joy Ross Davis – The Goddess of Weaver Street
• Dianne C. Braley – The Summer Before
• Phyllis Gobbell – Prodigal
• Stephanie Alexander – Mean Low Water
• S.M. Stevens – Beautiful and Terrible Things
• Natia Khaduri – A Soldier’s Burden
• Kay Smith-Blum – Tangles
• Jeff Hartman – How To Win The Nobel Peace Prize
• Rich Miller – It Rhymes With Truth
• Anthony Horton – Unpaved
• Anne Heinrich – God Bless The Child
• Tamar Anolic – Like Water and Ice
• Patricia Averbach – Dreams of Drowning
• Antonia Gavrihel – Back to One: Take 4 Slating Magic Hour
• John David Graham – Running As Fast As I Can
• Meredith Walters – This Animal Body
• Woody Woodburn – The Butterfly Tree: An Extraordinary Saga of Seven Generations
• Cheryl Grey Bostrom – Leaning on Air
• Erika Shepard – Abomination Child
• Leslie DeBrock – The Frog-Eyed Gospel, A Texas Exodus
• Mary Behan – Finding Isobel
• Linda A Lavid – Quigley Tree: A Novel
• Chris Chan – She Ruined Our Lives
• Ann Bancroft – Almost Family
• Jeffrey Blount – Mr. Jimmy From Around the Way
• R.w. Meek – The Dream Collector: Sabrine & Sigmund Freud
• Mary Elizabeth Gillilan – Confluence
• Holly C LaBarbera – All I Know

Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, it is easier for us to tag authors when they have Liked and Followed us on Facebook.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

We will also be promoting this list in our Newsletter, which you can sign up for here!

Congratulations once more to the 2023 Somerset Grand Prize Winner

You Can’t Fool A Mermaid

By Judy Keeslar Santamaria

Click here to see the full list of 2023 SOMERSET Book Award Winners for Contemporary Fiction.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2025 SOMERSET Book Awards for Contemporary Fiction.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2024 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 3 – 6, 2025! Save the Date for Registration!

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887)  has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our annual conference as we enter our second decade and discover why!