Only 10 days left to submit your books to these CIBA Divisions and embark on a journey to discovery.
The Chanticleer International Book Awards provide ongoing recognition that amplifies authors’ digital footprints through high-traffic website features, social media promotion, newsletter spotlights, and long-tail marketing that continues promoting winners throughout the year and beyond!
Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Chatelaine Awards for Romantic Fiction!
Reenita M. Hora – Vermilion Harvest – Playtime at the Bagh
John W. Feist – Edged in Purple
Gail Noble-Sanderson – A Cup of Revenge
Nancy Herkness – Royal Caleva: Luis
George T. Arnold – The Heart Beneath the Badge
Sonja N. Griffing – Chasing Noelle
Deborah Swenson – Till My Last Day, Book Two in the Desert Hills Trilogy
And a huge round of applause to our 2024 Chatelaine Grand Prize Winner:
The Key
By Jo Morgan Sloan
Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Humor and Satire Awards for Satirical and Allegorical Fiction!
Bill Burkland –The Misconceived Conception of a Baby Named Jesus
Julie L. Brown –No One Will Save Us: A novel
Dan Kopcow –Madcap Serenade
Marco Ocram –The Awful Truth About The Name Of The Rose
And a huge round of applause to our 2024 Humor and Satire Grand Prize Winner:
The Man Who Saw Seconds
By Alexander Boldizar
Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Somerset Awards for Literary and Contemporary Fiction!
Robert Gwaltney –Sing Down the Moon
Ann Bancroft –Almost Family
Christina Boyd –Woman in the Painting
Kay Smith-Blum –Tangles
Anthony Horton –Unpaved
Erika Shepard –Abomination Child
Leslie DeBrock –The Frog-Eyed Gospel, A Texas Exodus
And a huge round of applause to our 2024 Somerset and Overall Grand Prize Winner:
Vermilion Harvest- Playtime at the Bagh
By Reenita Malhotra Hora
The CIBAs provide a ladder to success with a range of achievement tiers and expert long tail marketing strategies. From the anticipated Long List to the prestigious Overall Grand Prize Winner, the CIBA lists energize both authors and readers, maximizing your digital footprint and expanding your fan base.
We are always eager to support the Best Books through the CIBAs. Join the ranks of celebrated authors who have already taken this step in their publishing.
Your book deserves to be discovered, celebrated, and shared with the world. Don’t miss the chance to showcase your talent and gain valuable exposure at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (April 17-19, 2025) where Winners from all 28 Book Award Divisions will be announced and honored.
In a world hungry for good books, your story deserves to be heard. Submit now and leave a lasting impression.
It is a truth Universally acknowledged that a Reader in search of a book, must be in want of a good Romance.
Other Divisions may have categories for Romantic themes, but if you want purely Romance, look no further! Historical to Modern, Steamy to Clean, even throw in some adventure, We’ve got it all!
Join us in celebrating These recent Grand Prize Winners of the Chatelaine Award!
The Key
By Jo Morgan Sloan
Our Review of the newest Grand Prize Winner is still upcoming. In the meantime, here is what some Goodreads readers have been saying:
“It’s an adorable read that had me feeling like this: 🥰🥰🥰 basically from the moment I read the dedication until I got to the end (though there were a couple dark moments), and I loved the queer rep, from the members of the DnD group to Tabby and Jax themselves.
I really liked that Tabby’s experience as a trans man was mostly positive. He’s happy with who he is and reading about his feelings brought me a lot of joy. His anxiety over whether or not to tell Jax the truth was so real, I felt it too. And the way Jax feels about his friendship with Tabby is so sweet… ahhhh! The writing just sucked me in and made it so easy to feel all the feels.
Tabby’s relationship with Rob, who is also a trans man, was very interesting. It made me consider some possible advantages and challenges in trans relationships that I never thought about before, and of course it’s great when books give us something new to think about.” – El
“Amazing. This book was described to me as “the gayest book I’ve ever read” and I could not agree more. Right from the start, Sloan’s writing drew me in. With a surprising depth of maturity in their writing for a debut author I quickly found myself swept away. Tabby and Jax stole my heart and keep my giggling and kicking my feet along the way. A truly binge-worthy holiday romance.” -Mandie
“What happens when you and your first love separate on good terms due to distance and you take that chance to become the real version of yourself? And then what happens if years later you really get that second chance? The Key is a beautiful second chance, trans romance with a lot of nerdy flare. Jaxon and Tabby are beautifully complex and well-rounded characters who made me want nothing more than to see them get their happily ever after. The complexities of young love, the incredible vastness and scope of the trans journey and what it means to different people, being bisexual but straight passing, each character brings something new and unique and heart breaking to the story that just made the story that much more touching. Fun read, beautiful story.” -Samantha
In this rich, absorbing tale, Gail Avery Halverson continues the remarkable saga of Lady Catherine Abbott and Simon McKensie that began with the multiple award-winning novels, The Boundary Stone and The Skeptical Physick. Sweeping us from a quaint village in England to Colonial Boston and to the beautiful evils of 17th century Barbados, Gail Avery Halverson has once again written a truly compelling and unforgettable novel.
After a heartbreaking tragedy, Catherine yearns for the safety and familiarity England, but when a free, black woman attempts to accomplish the unthinkable, Catherine is forced to decide where her future lies.
When a daring investment in the lucrative 17th century Barbados sugar trade takes a horrifying turn, Simon must at last set his dedication for medicine and scientific discovery aside and face the true ugliness of slavery.
Joining the multitude of courageous souls in the first waves of the Great Migration from England to America, Simon and Catherine McKensie lay witness to the forging of a new country, the first seeds of violent rebellion against the Crown, and the bitter tentacles of a slave trade just beginning to take root.
Operation Mom: My Plan to Get My Mom a Life and a Man By Reenita Malhotra Hora
Master storyteller Reenita Malhotra Hora’s YA romance Operation Mom: My Plan to Get My Mom a Life and a Man takes us on a charming journey through the life of one teen, Ila Isham.
Hora introduces Ila and her best friend Deepali, two boy-crazy teens on a summer quest. Readers will fall in love with the smart, sassy, angst-filled, rebellious Ila. A typical teenage girl, Ila lives in Mumbai with her mom and Sakkubai, their house manager. Ila’s mother calls her obsessed, but that seems unfair. Is she obsessed just because her every waking minute is spent thinking of Ali Zafar, famous pop icon, singer, and heartthrob? Or is she obsessed with fellow classmate Dev?
No, Ila couldn’t be taken with Dev because he’s one of three young men that her best friend Deepali is juggling in her summer experiment of exploring her “feminine mystique.” This turn of phrase becomes just one of many opportunities for Hora’s humor to shine as Ila remarks, “That’s a book by Gloria Steinem . . . no Betty Friedan.” Deepali’s response? “Yaar. Don’t be so literal.” The delightful balance between Ila’s book smarts versus Deepali’s street smarts carries us through Hora’s expertly crafted story.
Alex Sirotkin’s debut novel, The Long Desert Road, navigates the emotional arcs of life in contrast with the greater expanse of the cosmos. Here a young woman must face her addictions while the people around her try to move beyond her backlash.
We meet Henry Spinoza, a 44-year-old quirky science writer. He ponders his life as half over, looks for the right woman, and wonders if there isn’t more to existence.
For twenty years, Henry, a science writer, has been researching a non-fiction book on the universe that he intends to write. Henry’s feeling “bored, boring, and budget-conscious…the trifecta of gloom,” as he puts it. But in the middle of this ennui, his sister-in-law invites him to dinner, along with her divorced friend, Isabel Dalton, an attorney, and “the setup is afoot.”
In When the Wind Chimes by international best-selling author Mary Ting, Kate Summers wants to make this Christmas extra-special for her older sister, Abby, and four-year-old nephew.
A year ago, she’d given up Christmas with her family to spend the holiday with her boyfriend, Jayden, whom she had caught cheating on her the next day. Not only is she hoping to erase that memory, but she also has another even more important reason to make this Christmas special. A few months after her disastrous break-up with Jayden, her brother-in-law, Steve, passed away from cancer, so Abby and Tyler will be spending their first Christmas alone.
After taking a leave from her job as a graphic designer in LA, Kate flies to Poipu, Kauai, determined to make this an amazing holiday, but on her way to her sister’s house, she meets a mysterious man, who gives up his cab for her. Kate can’t get the handsome stranger out of her head, and when she sees him again in her sister’s art gallery–and destroys his expensive shirt with paint–she is both mortified and excited.
Remember to add your next reads to your StoryGraph or Goodreads account! Now that you’re set on your next five reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Chatelaine Winners is to submit today!
Those who submit and advance will have the chance to win the Overall Grand Prize of the CIBAs and $1000!
The Chatelaine Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Romantic Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Jo Morgan Sloan’s book, The Key will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Chatelaine 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!
In a politically tense Amritsar, India, Aruna, an Anglo-Indian schoolteacher, and Ayaz, a feisty Muslim law student, fall in love only to discover that courting openly is easier said than done. Not only are they from different communities, but his political activism during the tumultuous year of 1919 comes at the cost of their romance.
Against the deadline of a military order, Aruna, who is only nineteen, must find her lover and warn him about Colonel Dyer’s impending attack on Jallianwala Bagh. An attack that is eventually heard around the world.
Playtime at the Bagh during Baishakhi is a metaphor for Colonel Dyer’s rain of bullets released upon thousands on the one fateful day of April 13th, 1919.
Love, hate, denial, and betrayal are wrapped inside a single love story capturing today’s hope with yesterday’s despair.
Heir to a crumbling Bronze Age kingdom, where power and conquest define a man’s worth, a young man struggles to forge his own path against the grim destiny scripted for him. A girl born in jail, but raised in a world where tranquility and duty reign, hesitates to abandon her sheltered life for a future filled with uncertainty.
Bound by expectations they did not choose, these two unlikely lovers—drawn from the pages of ancient myth and timeless drama—dare to challenge the fate assigned to them. Together, they must navigate the perilous world of royal ambition, rigid hierarchies, and a collapsing empire that leaves no room for rebellion.
Their journey into second chances is a daring dance between love and duty, fate and free will, survival and sacrifice. To be together, they must confront the full force of tradition and power—and decide whether love alone is enough to change the story history demands they follow.
From Chanticleer:
Edged in Purpleby John W. Feist welcomes readers to a place outside of time and space, a liminal space where characters of myth wait to return to their fated stories.
The Fold is a beautiful land, a near-utopia shepherded– literally– by Thetis and Peleus of Greek mythology. They raise the heroine of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Perdita, after her father had accused her mother of betraying him with another, the whole sad story a product of his own paranoia.
Perdita’s story is proceeding as it was written. She has already met Florizel, the man who should be the hero of her romance– when her story is intersected by another. Just as The Winter’s Tale features royal courts, doomed relationships, mistaken identities, and family murder, so too does an ancient Greek drama: the Oresteia of Aeschylus, the story of Agamemnon after the Trojan War.
Orestes, the hero of that ancient tale, joins Perdita in the fold, pulling both of them from the paved road of fate.
Swansea Station – 1947 The war is over, and with hopes of reconstruction beginning, rationing ending, and lives starting over, Drew awaits the decision regarding a new position with the railway. But mystery and mayhem arrive aboard an afternoon train carrying the new vicar, Liam O’Neill, and a cadre of visitors from Ireland. Drew’s attention is once again focused on unraveling the threads of revenge and solving another murder. The unfolding of an unexpected relationship with the young vicar proves another mystery for Drew to unravel. This is the second book in the award-winning Drew Davies Railway Mystery Series.
A second chance romance, Cinderella story…but for the king, not the prince.
Luis, king of the exotic island country of Caleva, is stunned to discover that he has a daughter he never knew existed. He is determined to bring his newfound child into his life and that of the royal family. To do that, he knows he must win over her adoptive mother.
Eve, single-mom vet tech in the heartland of Iowa, is concerned when a mysterious stranger sets up a secret meeting. The shocking truth that is revealed upends her life, as she and her adopted daughter are swept off to Caleva and wrapped in the luxurious, privileged world of royalty.
But there’s an unexpected complication: passion flares between Eve and Luis.
She isn’t queen material, and he has sworn never to wed again, so their affair can have no happily-ever-after…or can it?
If you were rooting for Queen Clarisse to find her true love in The Princess Diaries, you’ll love Eve and Luis’s story. Read Royal Caleva: Luis to feel all the feels of two single parents trying to protect their shared daughter, while struggling to find their own happiness with each other.
When Sheriff Heath Royal seeks relief for his tormented conscience by attending church services for the first time since his youth, he is beckoned to an empty seat by the wealthy, recently widowed Rebekka Korhenen Brando, and both are immediately, although unwittingly, stirred by an unintentional rekindling of the feelings that almost led to a marriage between them twenty-five years earlier.
Gossipy church members and malicious tongue waggers from the small community of Shady Spring, Texas, watch in amusement and sometimes in horror as the former lovers struggle through a series of challenges and near-death experiences to determine whether the forces of evil or the roundabout intervention of God Himself will allow them a life together.
Standing in their way is a demented ranch foreman convinced that he and Rebekka are destined for each other. Heath’s dubious future as a lawman, and grudge-bearing outlaws who want to put the sheriff into his grave. The solutions may be divined under the sheltering limbs of a magnificent old oak tree where Heath and Rebekka seek solace and open their hearts to each other.
What would you do to get back to the person you love?
Noelle Montgomery is used to battle. As a kindergarten teacher, she fights germs, intrusive questions, and ‘the wiggles’ on a daily basis. She’s not afraid of anything…except asking her boyfriend, Griffin, what comes next.
When a visit to a friend forces the issue, Noelle takes a walk to clear her head and stumbles onto a gruesome scene. She’s the only person who can help convict rising drug lord, Luis Duque, of murder, and escaping his wrath is the one battle she knows she can’t win. When offered witness protection, Noelle gives up on her unknown future with Griffin and starts over with a brand-new life.
Griffin Daniels has a ring in his pocket the night he’s told his girlfriend is killed. After years of careful preparation, his dreams, and the woman he loves are gone in an instant. He forces a confrontation with Duque’s gang and learns that Noelle may still be alive. Using his tech savvy and the help of his best friend, Griffin finds Noelle as she races across the country to testify by Christmas. But…Duque’s been looking for her, too.
Reunited and still in danger, Noelle and Griffin must work together to survive Duque and find their way back to love.
Chasing Noelle is an emotionally-driven contemporary romance with elements of suspense and a touch of Christmas magic.
Rebecca Young Ackerman was raised to be a prominent lady in Boston society in the late 1800s. Being the dutiful daughter, albeit young and naive, she always did as her father said. When he marries her off to a man of his choosing, she realizes how fast dreams of marital bliss can fall apart. Fearing for her life, an unexpected telegram regarding her brother gives her the opportunity she needs to take her boys and flee from her narcissistic husband. Always looking over her shoulder, her fear is real. Traveling across the country, a chance encounter with a certain gentleman finds herself wishing for a better life.
Nathaniel ‘Nate’ Burns In 2016, Nathaniel Burns, a well-respected police officer serving the tough neighborhood of Roxbury in Boston, finds his partner and himself answering a domestic violence call one airless summer night. Events unfold quickly, and he suddenly finds life as he once knew it, coming to a tragic end. Due to his mother’s ‘Celtic Gift,’ Nathaniel is transported back to 1875 to begin life anew. What he didn’t expect was to fall in love with a lady in peril in the Yuma desert of 1880. Both long for a new life, but can they leave their past behind to find love?
Romance and women’s fiction have the remarkable ability to capture the full spectrum of human emotion, from the exhilarating rush of first love to the complex dynamics of family relationships and personal growth. These genres celebrate the stories that matter most to readers seeking authentic representation, emotional depth, and the affirming power of love conquering obstacles. The Chatelaine Awards for Romance and Women’s Fiction honor authors who craft narratives that reflect the beautiful diversity of love stories, recognizing voices that speak to hearts across all backgrounds and experiences.
Celebrating Our Grand Prize Winner!
We’re delighted to celebrate our 2024 Chatelaine Division Grand Prize Winner, Jo Morgan Sloan for their compelling novel The Key. This extraordinary work explores a unique second-chance romance between two men who were high school sweethearts, who are separated at a young age. Years later, as adults in San Francisco, they reconnect through Tabby’s LGBT D&D group, but Jax doesn’t recognize Tabby due to his transition.
What makes The Key exceptional is its sensitive exploration of identity, love, and the courage required for authentic relationships. Sloan masterfully navigates the emotional complexity of Tabby’s situation as he becomes Jax’s confidant while hiding the truth that he is Jax’s missing first love. The novel addresses contemporary issues of LGBTQ+ representation with nuance and heart, showing how love can transcend identity while acknowledging the real fears and challenges faced by transgender individuals. This powerful story demonstrates the strength found in chosen family, authentic friendships, and the possibility of love finding a way back to itself. Sloan will receive a Chanticleer Editorial Review and be invited to participate in an Author Interview, offering deeper insights into their approach to inclusive romance storytelling.
The Chatelaine Awards celebrate the rich tapestry of romance and women’s fiction, honoring stories that speak to every heart:
Contemporary Romance features modern love stories that navigate today’s world, from workplace romances to online dating adventures, capturing how love flourishes in our current cultural moment.
Historical Romance transports readers to bygone eras where period details and historical context add richness to timeless love stories, from Regency ballrooms to Victorian drawing rooms and beyond.
Romantic Adventure & Suspense proves that love and danger make an irresistible combination, featuring couples who fall in love while solving mysteries, escaping peril, or embarking on thrilling journeys together.
Inspirational/Restorative/Clean showcases love stories that uplift and inspire, focusing on emotional intimacy, personal growth, and relationships that heal and transform without explicit content.
Romantic Steamy/Sensual celebrates passion and desire, featuring love stories that embrace the full physical and emotional intensity of romantic relationships with heat and authenticity.
Broken Faces
By Chris Karlsen and Jennifer Conner
A towering achievement, Broken Faces: Historical Romance Based on True WWI Events by Chris Karlsen and Jennifer A Conner follows two young people who, for different reasons, embark on a journey to restore the self-esteem torn from wounded soldiers by bloody conflict.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 plunged Europe into one of the most horrific wars in history. Daily British papers featured articles about a bleak future. London quickly felt the effects of the war, with stores closing and basic goods in limited supply.
Abigail Belorman, a young American woman and talented sculptor, had relocated to Britain with her newlywed husband Theo, the US ambassador to England. Pained by Theo’s emotional neglect, Abigail finds comfort in visiting injured soldiers who had returned from the front to a nearby hospital. Each of the young men there has a story to tell and wounds to recover from. Some, however, suffered irreparable damage to their faces, along with any chance at a normal life taken from them, and they will be forced into isolation.
The citizens of the three fairy kingdoms clash, forced to live shoulder-to-shoulder alongside ungoverned Outliers. In Summer Cyclone, fourth book of Alan B. Gibson’s Magic at Myers Beach series, unassuming tea-shop manager Stefán tries to find love while keeping all of fairy society from fracturing.
The three fairy kings, Theos, Zsombor, and Christophe, evacuate their people to Myers Beach. It’s only here that they have any chance of recreating fairy dust after their old sources had been poisoned, and saving every fairy life. They take in the Outliers, remnants of a fallen kingdom, and at first find good will between the groups. But with thousands of fairies moving in, they have to keep everyone on a short leash or else risk humans catching wind of their new neighbors. Resentment of these strange Outliers builds.
Stefán, a close confidant to Theos, struggles to keep anti-Outlier sentiment at bay with the help of some enigmatic and knowledgeable new friends. Rumors of him giving the Outliers special treatment grow stronger as some fairies begin to suspect that he’s actually one of them.
In Loving Beth, a Christian historical romance by Bonnie Rose Ward, a young woman finds herself in dire straits when her widowed mother dies unexpectedly.
Beth’s father had taken out loans to improve their property, but he was killed in the Civil War, leaving his wife and daughter to struggle to keep up with the payments. Now, Beth is alone without any means to keep her home—finding and taking in two young, abandoned children certainly doesn’t help. But even amidst her troubles, Beth’s thoughts keep going back to the mysterious and handsome stranger who found and brought home the body of her mother.
Life is not easy in her tiny settlement in West Virginia, and young, pretty Beth finds that it is not about to get any easier. The new banker holds a grudge toward her for having rejected his advances, and the man’s snobbish wife is determined to make Beth’s life even more miserable. The loans that Beth and her mother worked to pay each month are suddenly due in full— but the banker’s unwanted and ugly advances are foiled with the appearance of the mysterious stranger.
If you’re looking for a beach read with supernatural intrigue, A Circle of Stars by Erin Lark Maples will draw you in from page one. Ember “EJ” James, a newly-arrived stranger in the strange land of Prescott, AZ, immediately begins navigating unfamiliar territory, both physically and metaphysically.
Forty-something EJ doesn’t know it yet, but when she agreed to take over her deceased uncle Hollis’s shop in Prescott, she stumbled into a world of magical realism. The plant shop, as it turns out, is more than just that—it hides secret access to other realms, which supernatural beings will go to great lengths to access. Much like the plants in the shop, this tale is dark, tangled, and intriguing beyond belief.
Anyone else may have felt helpless. But EJ remains upbeat, charmingly self-deprecating, and resourceful to the end. There’s a great joy in seeing how she works through her new surroundings, unfazed by (almost) everything they throw her way.
The 2022 Laramie Grand Prize Winner and a Chatelaine First Place Winner!
Guarded Heartsby T K Conklin is a sensual romance in the Wild West, with all the passion and excitement natural to the setting.
Sparks fly between a man with an outlaw past and a woman with a terrifying gift to heal or harm. Strykes is a man haunted both by a violent childhood and his time in an outlaw gang. But he has found a place in Rimrock, where he met LaRisa, an auburn-haired woman whom the townspeople have labeled a “witch” due to her healing herbs and rumors of her “powers”.
LaRisa has kept her distance from people, afraid of her gift of healing touch that can turn dangerous, even deadly. But, when she comes to town to deliver her medicinal herbs, she makes her way to the livery with tasks for Strykes such as shoeing her horse or fixing a spring in her wagon. He is only too happy to oblige the auburn-haired beauty. The attraction between them is instantaneous, yet they both are hesitant to act on it, fearing they would hurt the other– he from his violent past, and she from her “witch” power.
These reviews represent just a glimpse of the passionate storytelling and emotional depth waiting to be discovered in today’s romance and women’s fiction.
See the Chanticleer Difference for Yourself!
We’re excited about all the exceptional romance and women’s fiction we receive every year for both the CIBAs and for our Editorial Reviews. Throughout this year’s Chatelaine Book Awards, we had the pleasure of promoting numerous heartwarming stories 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 Love Story Go Untold!
The romance and women’s fiction market continues to flourish as readers seek authentic, diverse love stories that reflect their own experiences and dreams. Whether your work features contemporary couples navigating modern relationships, historical lovers defying social conventions, adventurous partners facing danger together, or any other expression of love’s infinite possibilities, the Chatelaine Awards provide the recognition and promotional platform your storytelling deserves.
Romance has the unique power to affirm hope, celebrate diversity, and remind us that love truly can conquer all. From sweet, inspirational stories that warm the heart to passionate tales that ignite the imagination, every thoughtfully crafted romance has the potential to become a reader’s new favorite escape. Don’t let your love story remain untold. Submit to the Chatelaine Awards today and join the celebrated authors who’ve found their devoted readership through Chanticleer!
The Chatelaine Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Romantic Fiction. The Chatelaine Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best new books featuring romantic themes and adventures of the heart, historical love affairs, perhaps a little steamy romance, and stories that appeal especially to fans of affairs of the heart to compete in the Chatelaine Book Awards (the CIBAs). We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.
These titles have moved forward from the 2024 CHATELAINE Romantic Fiction Semi-Finalists to the 2024 Chatelaine Book Awards FINALISTS. FINALISTS will be 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 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the FIRST PLACE & GRAND PRIZE WINNERS of the 2024 Chatelaine Book Awards novel competition for Romantic Fiction!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
Reenita M. Hora – Vermilion Harvest – Playtime at the Bagh
Jenn Bouchard – Considering Us
John W. Feist – Edged in Purple
Kim Gottlieb-Walker – Lenswoman in Love
Gail Noble-Sanderson – A Cup of Revenge
Davalynn Spencer – Covering Grace
Nancy Herkness – Royal Caleva: Luis
Deborah Swenson – Till My Last Day, Book Two in the Desert Hills Trilogy
Jo Morgan Sloan – The Key
Laurel Osterkamp – The Side Project
George T. Arnold – The Heart Beneath the Badge
Sonja N. Griffing – Chasing Noelle
Linda Broday – Winning Maura’s Heart
Melissa Collings – The False Flat
Karen Janowsky – Her Name Was Lola
S.G. Blaise – Meddling Mages
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.
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.
The Chatelaine Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Romantic Fiction. The Chatelaine Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best new books featuring romantic themes and adventures of the heart, historical love affairs, perhaps a little steamy romance, and stories that appeal especially to fans of affairs of the heart to compete in the Chatelaine Book Awards (the CIBAs). We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.
These titles have moved forward from the 2024 CHATELAINE Romantic Fiction Short List to the 2024 Chatelaine Book Awards SEMI-FINALISTS. 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 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the FINALISTS of the 2024 Chatelaine Book Awards novel competition for Romantic Fiction!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
Reenita M. Hora – Vermilion Harvest – Playtime at the Bagh
Leslie Wibberley – The Unraveling of Emma Hill
Jenn Bouchard – Considering Us
John W. Feist – Edged in Purple
Kim Gottlieb-Walker – Lenswoman in Love
Gail Noble-Sanderson – A Cup of Revenge
Davalynn Spencer – Covering Grace
Nancy Herkness – Royal Caleva: Luis
Jo Morgan Sloan – The Key
Laurel Osterkamp – The Side Project
George T. Arnold – The Heart Beneath the Badge
Sonja N. Griffing – Chasing Noelle
Linda Broday – Winning Maura’s Heart
Melissa Collings – The False Flat
Eve M. Riley – The Secret
Deborah Swenson – Till My Last Day, Book Two in the Desert Hills Trilogy
Karen Janowsky – Her Name Was Lola
S.G. Blaise – Meddling Mages
Karen Janowsky – Dear Prudence
CK Van Dam – Lone Tree Claim: On the Dakota Frontier
Amanda Sue Creasey – An Expected End
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.
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.
The Chatelaine Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Romantic Fiction. The Chatelaine Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best new books featuring romantic themes and adventures of the heart, historical love affairs, perhaps a little steamy romance, and stories that appeal especially to fans of affairs of the heart to compete in the Chatelaine Book Awards (the CIBAs). We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.
These titles have moved forward from the 2024 CHATELAINE Romantic Fiction Long List to the 2024 Chatelaine Book Awards SHORT LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2024 Chatelaine Semi-Finalists. 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 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2024 Chatelaine Book Awards novel competition for Romantic Fiction!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
Reenita M. Hora – Vermilion Harvest – Playtime at the Bagh
Leslie Wibberley – The Unraveling of Emma Hill
Olivia North – Sharp Edges
MaryAnn Clarke – Secrets at the Aviary Inn
Jenn Bouchard – Considering Us
John W. Feist – Edged in Purple
Kim Gottlieb-Walker – Lenswoman in Love
Gail Noble-Sanderson – A Cup of Revenge
Davalynn Spencer – Covering Grace
Margaret Porter – A Change of Location
Nancy Herkness – Royal Caleva: Luis
CK Van Dam – Medicine Creek Claim: On the Dakota Frontier
Phillip Vega – Fury in her Eyes
Jo Morgan Sloan – The Key
Laurel Osterkamp – The Side Project
Omayra Velez – The General’s Gift
Susan Bagby – Home for Love
David A. Stone – Spruce Harbor Possibilities
George T. Arnold – The Heart Beneath the Badge
Sonja N. Griffing – Chasing Noelle
Linda Broday – Winning Maura’s Heart
Melissa Collings – The False Flat
Eve M. Riley – The Secret
Deborah Swenson – Till My Last Day, Book Two in the Desert Hills Trilogy
Karen Janowsky – Her Name Was Lola
S.G. Blaise – Meddling Mages
Karen Janowsky – Dear Prudence
CK Van Dam – Lone Tree Claim: On the Dakota Frontier
Amanda Sue Creasey – An Expected End
Jerry Madden – Steel Valley: Coming of Age in the Ohio Valley in the 1960s: A Love Story
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.
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.
The Chaucer Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Early Historical Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, James Hutson-Wiley’s book, The Merchant from Sepharad will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Chaucer 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!
Marie de France was a 12th Century poet, considered to be the earliest known female poet writing in French. Her work is still read and was also an influence on the genre of Chivalric Romance. One of her works is a series of 102 fables, some translated from Aesop, the ones in the series she wrote have a focus on Female characters. Fable 51 is considered an early version of the Raynard the Fox tale, which was an inspiration for Chaucer while writing the Canterbury Tales, specifically the Nun’s Priest’s Tale, the tale also starring a certain rooster named Chanticleer.
Venice in 1509 is on the brink of war. The displeasure of Pope Julius II is a continuing threat to the republic, as is the barely contained fighting in the countryside. Amid this turmoil, noblewoman Justina Soranzo, just sixteen, hopes to make a rare love marriage with her sweetheart, Luca Cicogna. Her hopes are dashed when her father decides her younger sister, Rosa, will marry in a strategic alliance and Justina will be sent to the San Zaccaria convent, in the tradition of aristocratic daughters. Lord Soranzo is not acting only to protect his family. It’s well known that he is in debt to both his trading partners and the most infamous courtesan in the city, La Diamante, and the pressure is closing in.
After arriving at the convent, Justina takes solace in her aunt Livia, one of the nuns, and in the growing knowledge that all is not strictly devout at San Zaccaria. Justina is shocked to discover how the women of the convent find their own freedom in what seems to her like a prison. But secrets and scandals breach the convent walls, and Justina learns there may be even worse fates for her than the veil, if La Diamante makes good on her threats.
Desperate to protect herself and the ones she loves, Justina turns to Luca for help. She finds she must trust her own heart to make the impossible decisions that may save or ruin them all.
A duty he believes in. A general he idolizes. But when doubts surface, will he stay true to honor or the chance to return to the woman he loves?
Poland, 1620. Jacek Dąbrowski scents war in the air. Away from the battlefield for five years, the renowned fighter yields to a growing itch and answers the general’s request to help lead the army against the Ottomans. But he’s torn between duty and family when the perils of combat force him to leave his defenseless wife behind.
Attending war councils and taking command of problematic noblemen, Jacek starts to doubt the mission and the sacrifice of being far from his loved ones. But his loyalty to his commander could put him on an irreversible path to disaster…
Will Jacek’s call to arms prove to be his death song?
Set in the late 4th century CE, Elodia’s Knife tells the gripping tale of a young Gothic girl who kills her abusive husband and flees his family’s retribution by rafting across the Danube River into Roman territory. Against the backdrop of a crumbling empire and the looming threat of Gothic invasion, Elodia must use her wits and her strength to rise to power in a world that seeks to crush her. With unforgettable characters, pulse-pounding action, and a vivid sense of historical detail, this is a must-read for anyone who loves adventure, romance, and history.
From Chanticleer:
Elodia is a young woman driven by dreadful circumstances to act with deadly force in the Robert S. Phillips novel Elodia’s Knife.
What Elodia hoped would be her leap away from danger instead left her surrounded by perilous threats that now threaten to consume her. Armed with her courage, determination, instincts, and a trusty knife, Elodia faces a hostile world in foreign territory.
Not all are against her though. Allies– even a friend– can be found, if Elodia can summon the bravery to listen to her feelings and own deep wishes.
Young Elodia is unhappily married to an abusive husband. But when he tries to attack her again, she strikes back and kills him.
Margaret of Austria was the most significant political negotiator of early 16th-century Europe. About as Austrian as French fries are French, she was born in Brussels in 1480, raised in France, married and widowed in Spain, then married and widowed again in Savoy by age twenty-four.
In 1506 Margaret’s life turned upside down when her brother Philip of Burgundy unexpectedly died in Spain. With their mother Juana of Castile insane, four children, heirs to the Habsburg empire, were left behind in the Burgundian-Habsburg Netherlands.
Margaret stepped in and took the reins.
Appointed by her father, Maximilian I, Margaret became governor of the Netherlands, then widened her role to broker the 1508 Treaty of Cambrai where Europe’s princes united against Venice.
Ferdinand of Spain, Henry Tudor then Henry VIII of England, Louis XII of France, and Louise of Savoy for Francis I all came to Margaret’s negotiation table. Under her deft diplomacy princes saw reason and wars were averted.
Enjoying political power, Margaret avoided remarriage. Then Henry VIII’s right-hand man Charles Brandon turned her world upside down.
Margaret’s court attracted Europe’s brightest, including the young Anne Boleyn. Yet halfway through her rule Margaret was ousted by enemies. She won back her position with a comeback strategy as astute today as it was in 1517.
Journey to the Renaissance with Margaret of Austria, who shot the fortunes of the House of Habsburg to the stars while setting a winning precedent for female rule in the Netherlands.
Now nearly seventeen, Megge and Brighida must endure another brutal loss.
As they perform the rites of transition that precede a burial, Megge accepts a daunting new charge that carries consequences not even her cousin the seer can predict. It brings visions. Dreams. And voices that come to her as she goes about her work.
A silken voice beckons her back to the cliffs of Kernow, which she has seen only in dreams.
A commanding voice orders her back.
And the menacing voice she’s heard since she was a girl is now ever at her ear, bringing a haunting new meaning to her grandmother’s words, “You’re never alone.”
But only when the tales of an old woman, a stranger to Bury Down, echo those voices and conjure those cliffs does Megge embark on a journey that leads to a secluded cove they call The Sorrows and a destiny none of the women of Bury Down could have foreseen.
From Chanticleer:
In The Lady of the Cliffs, an ambitious sequel in the Bury Down Chronicles by Rebecca Kightlinger, a teenager embarks on a journey that will bring her face to face with unexpected destiny.
The year is 1286 CE in Cornwall, England. At the turn of her seventeenth year, Megge and her cousin Brighida find themselves dealing with a new loss, one that breaks both their hearts. As heirs to the Book of Seasons and Book of Times respectively, they have to protect the books from sinister hands as they hold knowledge and wisdom that must one day be united. The power of these two books calls for a duty that is far greater than any woman of Bury Down has ever borne.
As they take part in a final right of passage that the women of Bury Down perform for their dead, Megge, an apprentice weaver, takes on new challenges that Brighida, an apprentice seer, cannot foretell. Megge begins having dreams and visions. In one of her dreams, she sees a rolling sea drive itself into a cove at the foot of a cliff, and a silken voice asking her to return to the cliffs of Kernow, a place that she has only seen in her slumber.
1461, Isle of Jersey. Disillusioned by war, Sir Philippe de Carteret returns home to hang up his sword and embrace his duties as seigneur of the island’s most powerful manor. Desiring to raise his son in peace and safety, he is dismayed when news arrives that the impregnable fortress of Mont Orgueil Castle has been breached.
He seeks assistance from England to expel the invaders. But amid the chaos of the Wars of the Roses, his pleas go unheeded. To safeguard his son and preserve the family legacy, de Carteret pledges fealty to the new lord. Hopeful that the French will rule benevolently, his illusions are quickly shattered when their tactics turn brutal.
With spies everywhere and unsure of whom to trust, can de Carteret build a rebel force and lead them on a quest to liberate the homeland he loves?
The Chaucer Awards are named after Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of The Canterbury Tales. But Chaucer was hardly the only writer of past ages. Female writers of the past are often overlooked, so during this Award cycle, we’re going to highlight some of them in Chaucer posts.
The Disk of Enheduanna, discovered in 1927 by Leonard Wooley, now in the Penn Museum
The oldest known writer in history is Enheduanna
She was High Priestess of the Sumerian Moon Goddess Nanna, and Daughter of Sargon the Great, the first King of the Akkadian empire. Living in approximately 2300 BCE, she composed 42 temple hymns and 3 stand-alone poems. While her Father was uniting Mesopotamia and creating one of the worlds first empires, she was uniting their religions, her hymns being used to combine the worship of Inanna and Ishtar. One of her poems, Inanna and Ebih, even has the distinction of being the first text to have illustrations.
Another female writer, Murasaki Shikibu, wrote Genji Monogatari, also known as The Tale of Genji in about 1000- 1012 CE in Japan.
The Tale of Genji is considered to be one of the worlds first Novels, directly inspired by her life as a Lady-in-waiting in the Royal court. What’s interesting about her novel is how much of it centers on the female perspective, of the women in Genji’s life and how they shaped his fate. While the book is an amazing example and look into Japanese Culture at that time, it also still has points that are still able to be seen in Modern Japanese society. It is however thought that the last 10 chapters may have been written by her daughter, poet Daini no Sanmi.
However, the Chaucer Awards focus on work written in the last 3 years.
Pre-Historical Fiction- Anything before written history. Neolithic and Neanderthal type stories. The Clan of The Cave Bear by Jean Auel or The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle are good examples.
Ancient Historical Fiction- Greek, Roman, Egyptian; Classical History
Dark Ages, Medieval, Renaissance
Elizabethan/Tudor
1600s
World/International History Pre-1750s
Americas- Historical Fiction Pre-1750s
Legend Based Pre-1750s Historical Fiction (Arthurian, Beowulf, Chaucer)
Rebecca Kightlinger – The Lady of the Cliffs: The Bury Down Chronicles, Book Two
C.V. Lee – Token of Betrayal
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CHAUCER Awards is:
The Merchant from Sepharad
By James Hutson-Wiley
Now it is our pleasure to celebrate some of the Early Historical Fiction that’s come to us lately!
EDGED In PURPLE
By John W. Feist
Edged in Purple by John W. Feist welcomes readers to a place outside of time and space, a liminal space where characters of myth wait to return to their fated stories.
The Fold is a beautiful land, a near-utopia shepherded– literally– by Thetis and Peleus of Greek mythology. They raise the heroine of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Perdita, after her father had accused her mother of betraying him with another, the whole sad story a product of his own paranoia.
Perdita’s story is proceeding as it was written. She has already met Florizel, the man who should be the hero of her romance– when her story is intersected by another. Just as The Winter’s Tale features royal courts, doomed relationships, mistaken identities, and family murder, so too does an ancient Greek drama: the Oresteia of Aeschylus, the story of Agamemnon after the Trojan War.
Mack Little’s historical fiction novel Daughter of Hades explores the lives of slaves during the age of pirates.
Little’s research shines in her thoughtful presentation of the Caribbean islands, the escaped slaves who found freedom amongst them, the lives of buccaneers and maroons, and their daring and dangerous exploits.
On the first page, Little introduces us to Geraldine, or “Dinny”, running for her life from her owner, Owen Craig, who has just raped her.
THE SHERIFF: Book Three of The Druid Chronicles
By A.M. Linden
The Sheriff, the third installment of A.M. Linden’s Druid Chronicles series about 9th-century life in Anglo-Saxon England, fully immerses readers in that distant era with all of its joys, conflicts, and hardships.
Trained from his youngest years in the military, Stefan has learned both battle skills and leadership, with the ability to approach a situation without causing it to get out of hand. He is fiercely loyal, but continually denied a larger role in the kingdom’s army. His latest indignity came with the king assigning him as sheriff of Codswallow, a paltry village. With a retinue of less than 10 people including his slave, he has to collect taxes and keep the peace.
The novel shows two major episodes. The first follows his Codswallow days, including his relationship with Jonathan, owner of the Three Dragons Inn. Stefan learns that Jonathan is paying protection money to keep bandits away from the inn, and carries out a series of plans to discover who is, what we could call, the crime boss.
Elodia is a young woman driven by dreadful circumstances to act with deadly force in the Robert S. Phillips novel Elodia’s Knife.
What Elodia hoped would be her leap away from danger instead left her surrounded by perilous threats that now threaten to consume her. Armed with her courage, determination, instincts, and a trusty knife, Elodia faces a hostile world in foreign territory.
Not all are against her though. Allies– even a friend– can be found, if Elodia can summon the bravery to listen to her feelings and own deep wishes.
This is the journey from beginning to end for the CIBAs Levels of Achievement is so worthwhile! Every list you make means more promotion for you and your work as each list is posted right here on our website, on our social media, and also out in our newsletter!
“What’s a Chatelaine?” A Chatelaine is a small belted chain used to hold on to useful objects. The image we used for the Awards is a painting of Jane Morris, drawn by Dante Rossetti with whom she had a passionate love affair. Her life was the inspiration of Pygmalion which became My Fair Lady.
The Shorts Awards accepts Fiction and Non-Fiction!
The Shorts Awards are fairly self-explanatory. Individual works are $45 and collections are $99. We do accept collections and anthologies, and you can even sneak poetry into the mix! Some incredible creative work has come through the Shorts Awards, and we’re delighted to have it as the fastest growing new Book Award Division!
Named for the Author of The Boxcar Children Series. While Gertrude Warner wrote the original 19 books, books in the series are still being written, 100 years after the first (the first book was published in 1924), with over 200 Boxcar children books now published by other writers. Warner (1890-1979) was a Sunday School teacher until 1918, when the male teachers in her community of Putnam, Connecticut were being called to serve in WW1. She continued to be a grade school teacher until 1950. She started writing the Boxcar Children while home sick, and many of the aspects of her books have inspiration in her life.
The Categories of The Gertrude Warner Awards are:
Contemporary Middle Grade
Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Paranormal Middle Grade
Mystery Middle Grade
Historical Middle Grade
Adventure Middle Grade
Graphic Novels for Middle Grade
First-Third Grade Readers
Long time submitters to the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards know that there’s the official date, and then the date where the change over happens. Until the year has been updated to 2025, your work will still be considered for the 2024 Awards. Reach out to info@ChantiReviews.com with any questions!
Only days remain to submit your books to these prestigious CIBA Divisions and embark on an extraordinary journey to success. With over $30,000 in prizes awarded annually, now is the time to make your mark!
The Chatelaine Awards for Romantic Fiction, the Shorts Awards, and the Gertrude Warner Awards for Middle Grade Fiction are still open! Will your book make the cut?
The CIBAs offer more than just recognition — they provide a ladder to success with a range of achievement tiers and expert long tail marketing strategies. From the highly anticipated Long List to the prestigious Overall Grand Prize Winner, the CIBA lists energize both authors and readers, maximizing your digital footprint and expanding your fan base.
Let’s dive into the Tiers of Achievement!
The Long List
At the Long List looks to celebrate work that has some sort of gem that pulled it forward and speaks to our first readers. There is no limit for us on how many people can make a Long List, though that’s no guarantee of making it through!
The Short List
The Short List offers all the benefits of the Long List: Promotion on our high traffic website, featured social media posts, and in our wide-reaching newsletter. Additionally, authors are now eligible for the first of our digital badges!
The Semi-Finalists
The Semi-finals repeats all the benefits of before, bringing the number of times your book has been promoted up to three times in three different places across the web! We do this to maximize your digital footprint and honor our commitment to long-tail digital marketing for our incredible authors!
The Finalists
There’s a definite change in tone when we reach the Finalist stage. At this point, the competition boils down to who will be the First Place Category Winner! Finalists receive discounts for the Chanticleer Authors Conference and even on our Editorial Book Reviews. And, of course, their badge and stickers are updated for their new status, as well as receiving a fourth round of promotion.
The First Place Winners
One of the most coveted positions. The First Place Winners receive an even better discount on reviews, a huge discount on our membership program, and our Blue Ribbon Winners package! They’re promoted again in our annual Round Up articles celebrating winners for each division as they close, and are linked to in each list the following year.
The Grand Prize Winner
There can only be one (per division)! The Grand Prize Winners receive everything above as well as being featured on the Book Award page for the entire year, an Awarded Editorial Review, and an Author Interview to help promote their work! Then they’re featured in our annual Hall of Fame posts for the next five years. We also ask Grand Prize Winners to share any of their success stories with us for us to promote and share on our website!
You know you want it…
The Overall Grand Prize Winner
Truly, only one. The Overall Grand Prize Winner receives all the promotion above as well as a $1000 cash prize and invitation to present at the following Chanticleer Authors Conference.
After all is said and done, we give away over $30,000 in prizes to the incredible authors who submit to the CIBAs! We can’t wait to have you join them!
Congratulations again to the 2023 Overall Grand Prize Winner
Tim Facciola for A Vengeful Realm
We are always eager to support the Best Books through the CIBAs. Join the ranks of celebrated authors who have already taken this critical step in their publishing.
Your book deserves to be discovered, celebrated, and shared with the world. Don’t miss the chance to showcase your talent and gain valuable exposure at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (April 3-6, 2025) where Winners from all Book Award Divisions will be announced and honored.
In a world hungry for good books, your story deserves to be heard. Submit now and leave a lasting impression.
