The Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Inspiring and Uplifting Non-Fiction and Memoirs. The Hearten Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2025 Hearten Non-Fiction Long List to the 2025 Hearten Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2025 Hearten Semi-Finalists. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC26).
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 28 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.
We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2026 in beautiful Bellingham, WA sponsored by the 2026Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2025 Hearten Book Awards novel competition for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction!
Join us in celebrating the Short List authors and their works in the 2025 CIBAs.
Alia Luria – Geri O Shimasu: Adventures of a Baka Gaijin
Andy Becker – Grandy Let’s Play: Reflections on the Joy Blessings and Wonder of Grandparenting
Barb Drummond – I Finally Have the Smoking Hot Body I Have Always Wanted Having Been Cremated
Brent Larsen – You Make My Heart Giggle Dad-isms the Wisdom and Wit of Dad
Candace Macphie – Finding Color
Cerridwen Fallingstar – Rocket in My Pocket: Defying Gravity with Levity, From the Frontiers of Space… To the Frontiers of Consciousness
Charlene Pell – In This Altered Body: A Survivor’s Story of Resilience and Love
Christine Amoroso – Bare Naked in Public: A Memoir
Cynthia Waine Brandt – Song of the Cardinal: A True Story of Miracles and Magic After Heartbreaking Loss
Doug Cameron – My Tarzan Tree and Other Farm Boy Memories
Dr. Deb Miller – Forget the Fairy Tale and Find Your Happiness
Jeff Richards – Nothing Left To Lose: Or How Not To Start a Commune
Jennifer Celeste Briggs – Watching Sarah Rise: a Journey of Thriving with Autism
Julie Ryan Mcgue – Twice the Family: a Memoir of Love Loss and Sisterhood
Kate Grant – No Woman Left Behind: a Journey of Hope To Heal Every Woman Injured in Childbirth
Kathy Sechrist – Sara’s Redemption: a Journey of Courage Resilience and Hope
Kay Brooks – Behind the White Beard Dale Ballew’s Story
Kee Kee Buckley – Seeking Shama: Me, My Dog, and the Road To Inner Peace
Maggie Enriquez – The Rebirth of a Phoenix
Margie Crowe Wildblood – Because He Loved Me
Marti Tote – Up Grief Creek Without a Paddle
Patricia Eagle – Dog Love Stories the Canines Who Changed Me
Rabei A. Wazzeh – The Masterpiece of Nature
Rhona Morrison – From Crime Scenes to Cruise Ships: Navigating life’s troubled waters with resilience and hope
Ricardo Jose Gonzalez-Rothi – The Mango Chronicle
Robert Macauley – Because I Knew You: How Some Remarkable Sick Kids Healed a Doctor’s Soul
Stacey Hettes – Dispatches From the Couch
Sue Vana – Shaken by God’s Love From Fear To Favor in Grief’s Upside-Down World
Tammy Dietz – Falling From Disgrace
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.
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 Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Inspiring and Uplifting Non-Fiction and Memoirs. The Hearten Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2025 Hearten Non-Fiction entries to the 2025 Hearten Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2025 Hearten Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC26).
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 28 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.
We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2026 in beautiful Bellingham, WA sponsored by the 2026Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2025 Hearten Book Awards novel competition for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction!
Join us in celebrating the Long List authors and their works in the 2025 CIBAs.
Alia Luria – Geri O Shimasu: Adventures of a Baka Gaijin
Andy Becker – Grandy Let’s Play: Reflections on the Joy Blessings and Wonder of Grandparenting
Barb Drummond – I Finally Have the Smoking Hot Body I Have Always Wanted Having Been Cremated
Brent Larsen – You Make My Heart Giggle Dad-isms the Wisdom and Wit of Dad
Candace Macphie – Finding Color
Cerridwen Fallingstar – Rocket in My Pocket: Defying Gravity with Levity, From the Frontiers of Space… To the Frontiers of Consciousness
Charlene Pell – In This Altered Body: A Survivor’s Story of Resilience and Love
Cheryl Lynn – Washing the Inside of the Cup: My Journey of Walking in the Spirit
Christine Amoroso – Bare Naked in Public: A Memoir
Cynthia Waine Brandt – Song of the Cardinal: A True Story of Miracles and Magic After Heartbreaking Loss
Dianne Ebertt Beeaff – Infinite Paradise Witnessing the Wild
Doug Cameron – My Tarzan Tree and Other Farm Boy Memories
Dr. Deb Miller – Forget the Fairy Tale and Find Your Happiness
Dr. Michael James – America’s Nightmare Surviving the Black Holocaust the Message Continues
Jeff Richards – Nothing Left To Lose: Or How Not To Start a Commune
Jennifer Celeste Briggs – Watching Sarah Rise: a Journey of Thriving with Autism
Jerome Puryear – The Art of Thinking Critically with Clarity for Optimal Health
Julie Ryan Mcgue – Twice the Family: a Memoir of Love Loss and Sisterhood
Kate Grant – No Woman Left Behind: a Journey of Hope To Heal Every Woman Injured in Childbirth
Kathy Sechrist – Sara’s Redemption: a Journey of Courage Resilience and Hope
Kay Brooks – Behind the White Beard Dale Ballew’s Story
Kee Kee Buckley – Seeking Shama: Me, My Dog, and the Road To Inner Peace
Laurie Benson – Resilient Activism Igniting Wild Hope in Uncertain Times
Lucie Frost – How the Hell Did I Not Know That: My Midlife Year From Couch To Curiosity
Maggie Enriquez – The Rebirth of a Phoenix
Margie Crowe Wildblood – Because He Loved Me
Marti Tote – Up Grief Creek Without a Paddle
Mary Olson-Menzel – What Lights You Up Illuminate Your Path and Take the Next Big Step in Your Career
Patricia Eagle – Dog Love Stories the Canines Who Changed Me
Rabei A. Wazzeh – The Masterpiece of Nature
Rhona Morrison – From Crime Scenes to Cruise Ships: Navigating life’s troubled waters with resilience and hope
Ricardo Jose Gonzalez-Rothi – The Mango Chronicle
Robert Macauley – Because I Knew You: How Some Remarkable Sick Kids Healed a Doctor’s Soul
Stacey Hettes – Dispatches From the Couch
Sue Vana – Shaken by God’s Love From Fear To Favor in Grief’s Upside-Down World
Tammy Dietz – Falling From Disgrace
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.
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.
Only 10 days left 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 Journey, Hearten, Military and Front Line and The Nellie Bly Awards are still open!
Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Journey Awards for Overcoming Adversity!
Kirsten Throneberry –Guided: Lost Love, Hidden Realms, and the Open Road
Jennifer Gasner –My Unexpected Life: Finding Balance Beyond My Diagnosis
Anne Gately –Sunburnt: A Memoir of Sun, Surf and Skin Cancer
Rachael Siddoway and Sonja Wasden –An Impossible Life: A True Story of Hope and Mental Illness
Lindsey Henke –When Skies Are Gray
Claudia Marseille –But You Look So Normal: Lost and Found in a Hearing World
And a huge round of applause to our 2024 Journey Grand Prize Winner:
Unfollow Me
By Kathryn Caraway
Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Hearten Award for Uplifting Non-Fiction!
Genét Simone –Teaching in the Dark
David Hutton –Drums of a Distant Tribe
Etsuko Diamond Miyagi –Diamond: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan
Rachael Siddoway and Sonja Wasden –An Impossible Life: A True Story of Hope and Mental Illness
Susan Cole –Holding Fast: A Memoir of Sailing, Love, and Loss
Tony Jeton Selimi –The Unfakeable Code®
And a huge round of applause for our 2024 Hearten Grand Prize Winner:
Elk Love: A Montana Memoir
By Lynne Spriggs O’Connor
Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Nellie Bly Award for Long Form Journalism!
Carla Conti – Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir
Kori Reed – Men-in-the-Middle Conversations to Gain Momentum with Gender Equity’s Silent Majority
Bonnie Bley – Stolen Voices: Missing and Murdered in Big Horn County
Sarah Towle – Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands
And a huge round of applause to our 2024 Nellie Bly Grand Prize Winner:
The Sing Sing Files:
One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice
By Dan Slepian
Congratulations to our 2024 Winners of the Military and Front Line Award for Service to Others!
Roderick S. Haynes – Unauthorized Disclosures a Navy Memoir of the 1980s
David Huntley – The B-17 Tomahawk Warrior: a WWII Final Honor
Patrick Hogan – Coincidence, You Say?
Shari Biery – It’s Your Turn How To Rediscover Yourself Prioritize Your Well-Being Thrive with Purpose
Max Lauker & Antonio Garcia – Number 788: My Experiences in Swedish Special Operations – Preparing for NATO and the War on Terror
Bibi LeBlanc – Wings of Freedom – The Story of the Berlin Airlift | Flugel der Freiheit – Die Geschichte der Berliner Luftbrucke
And a huge round of applause to the 2024 Military and Front Line Grand Prize Winner!
Memoirs From The Front Lines:
Four states, Two years, One pandemic
By Kim Sloan
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.
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 25 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.
Uplifting and heartwarming work is a vanishingly rare thing these days, and we love having an Awards Division that can inspire readers and writers alike. The Hearten Awards seeks true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more.
Join us in celebrating the Hall of Fame for Grand Prize Winners of the Hearten Awards!
Elk Love: A Montana Memoir
By Lynne Spriggs O’Connor
Our review for the newest Hearten Grand Prize Winner is still upcoming. In the meantime, here is what some GoodReads readers have to say:
“This is a must-read for everyone who loves nature and farm life. The author adequately describes her feelings, and I felt like I was right there, hearing, seeing, and feeling everything she was talking about. A memoir not to forget.” -Ineke
“If you’re looking for an action-packed thriller, this is not it, but if you seek a slow, mind-soothing antidote to the craziness of the world, try this memoir. It’s simply beautiful in every way, the language, the setting, the message, and yes, the love. The author, then single and in her early forties, comes to Great Falls, Montana to build a museum exhibit. She meets Harrison, a widowed cattle rancher who is often rude and closed off. They slowly bond over a shared love of the land and all the beings that live there. If you have ever marveled at the colors and patterns on the feathers of a wild bird or felt blessed to see a herd of wild elk, this book is for you. If you have no experience with nature, it will reveal a new world, even if you’re reading it on your Kindle in a crowded city coffee shop. Give your brain a spa day and read this book.” -Sue
“OMG! I was so taken with this book that I had trouble putting it down. I didn’t look at it as a memoir, but I love story. The way Lynne describes life in Montana, I felt I was walking beside her. I really hope you keep writing, although it seems life is pretty busy on the ranch. I have never thought much about visiting Montana, but after reading your story, I would love to see it for myself, but only if I could experience the gift through nature and not guided tours. Thank you so much for sharing your fears and joys with me!” -Jeanie
Debut author Nove Meyers breathes life into the big tent of human aspirations and desperations, from his birth into a raucous circus atmosphere to his diligent study for Catholic priesthood.
Running Away from the Circus is a vibrant chronicle that opens with a vignette of his grandmother, clad in sequins and flying on a trapeze. She spun like a top to enthusiastic applause under the circus tent, until the fateful day when she included her young child in the act, dropping her thirty feet to the sawdust-covered floor below. But this did not prevent Nove Meyers from being born and having a story to tell.
The boyhood described was as wild as the circus acts. He was encouraged to smoke cigarettes like his father and watched in astonishment as his mother burned up paper money, possibly to protect his uncle, a counterfeiter. Yet despite his unusual upbringing as one of the family’s third generation of circus owners, Meyers was taken regularly to Catholic church services. There, he discovered God, an entity as mysterious as the traveling circus and carnie crowds he was raised among.
INNER TREK – a reluctant pilgrim to the Himalayas By Mohan Ranga Rao
A disinclined traveler journeys into the heartland of the revered Mount Kalash Parikarma in Tibet. Inner Trek by Mohan Ranga Rao follows a voyage that culminates in self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment.
Mohan Ranga Rao, a retired Indian businessman, finds himself between a rock and a hard place when a ruthless Bangalore mob boss threatens him to sell his land at a throwaway price. The situation escalates when he discovers that his trusted lawyer has joined forces with the enemy. He can only turn to his wife for solace.
With nothing for him to do about his land, Rao vows to trek around Mount Kailash, a holy Tibetan Mountain. This travel memoir traces his and his wife’s journey to the deified Himalayas, the land of Lord Shiva. Rao shares intimate details of his experience, including the spiritual transformation that he went through during his challenging high-altitude trek.
DAWGS: A True Story of Lost Animals and the Kids Who Rescued Them by Diane Trull & Meredith Wargo
We love our dogs. We love our cats. But what do we do when people no longer want them, use them for cruel purposes, or release them into the streets with no thought for what will happen to them? Diane Trull’s memoir with Meredith Wargo, DAWGS, shines a light on these questions.
Trull begins the story as a fourth-grade teacher in Dalhart, Texas. One of her young students asks about an article in a local paper showing photos of adorable dogs at a shelter who were up for adoption, wondering what happened to those who weren’t adopted.
Instead of dodging the question, and with great trepidation, she answered it with the truth: those who weren’t adopted would be put to sleep. Her tiny students were understandably shocked. Then one of them said, “I don’t want any of those dogs to die. Isn’t there something we can do to save them?”
Award-winning author, motivational speaker, and podcast host Judy Gaman befriends a fun-loving and feisty centenarian in her CIBA Grand Prize-winning novel, Love, Life, and Lucille.
The list of titles and accolades Judy Gaman has accrued begin to pale when she encounters Lucille Fleming for the very first time. The whole reason for the meet-up with the centenarian was specifically to get her opinions on “aging gracefully,” the featured topic of a new book Judy planned to write. What was scheduled as an hour-long interview turned into an absolutely delightful, near three-hour visit. Lucille turned the tables and began asking questions about Judy’s life with compelling earnestness—something Judy rarely experienced. She was unprepared yet exhilarated.
Judy couldn’t stop thinking about this “dressed to the nines” woman with an ear-to-ear smile and a sturdy, affectionate hug. Her contact with this larger-than-life woman was so infectious, Judy made up an excuse—so that she could see her again. During that second meeting, the two became fast friends as they set Fridays aside as their day to get together. Before their next planned meeting, Judy learned that Lucille had gone into cardiac arrest. She was dead for three minutes before she came back full of vim and vigor as if nothing had happened. Five months later, Lucille was more than ready for TV interviews. With that, Judy made plans to write a second book about Lucille and their relationship.
The Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Lynne Spriggs O’Connor’s book, Elk Love will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Hearten 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!
Also the 2024 Chanticleer Cover Design Grand Prize Winner for Non-Fiction!
A young teacher buys a one-way ticket to Shishmaref, Alaska. Within minutes of landing, she finds herself dealing with unexpected, rustic accommodations, and the culture shock of living in a remote Iñuit community. She relies on her courage, resilience, and wit while enduring freezing temperatures, power outages, loneliness, and first-year teacher anxieties and missteps, but eventually realizes that those challenges pale in comparison to the life lessons she learns about the heart of teaching—lessons from her students, their culture, and their community, on the vast, windy landscape at the edge of the Chukchi Sea.
From Chanticleer:
How does place shape who we are—and who we’ll become? In this memoir, Teaching in the Dark, Genét Simone puts that question to the test by recounting her first year as a teacher.
The initial year of teaching is never an easy feat, but for Simone it was especially challenging, and transformative. She spent it with Native students in the remote island village of Shishmaref, on the Arctic edge of Alaska—no small wonder the school year became an unforgettable one.
Today, Simone has decades of teaching experience to draw upon. Yet, in this memoir she rarely employs her present voice to reflect on the past. Instead, the narrator remains in the moment: a young and inexperienced Simone, who only knows that she feels destined to be a teacher. When she signs up for the Shishmaref teaching job, she doesn’t even realize that it’s on an island.
Equipped with snow boots and passion, she arrives on the island only to realize just how unprepared she is.
This is a true-life story of a crusader for peace amid the backdrop of war and personal loss. You will be captivated as you experience the poetry of life and discover an amazing intervention revealing the Afterlife.
Walk slowly lest you miss your turn in the forest.
DIAMOND: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan tells the tale of a small girl orphaned in a hostile foreign country, who must live by her wits and courage until fate decides to favor her many years later.
Told in the thrilling voice of an expert storyteller, this memoir reads like page-turner fiction yet is factual down to the letter. It is a compassionate look into human hearts under the worst of conditions, and at what a gentle soul will do to protect the people she loves.
Set in the Philippines near the end of the Second World War, DIAMOND rolls back the curtain on a time and place about which little has been written. It is history. It is drama. It is a story of personal triumph.
From Chanticleer:
In a world ravaged by conflict and loss, Etsuko Diamond Miyagi’s memoir,Diamond: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japanis a shining testament to the beauty of love and the human spirit’s ability to overcome adversity.
Etsuko enjoys a peaceful childhood on the Philippine island of Mindanao, where her father owns an abacá plantation. But they are not safe when guerilla forces destroy her village murdering everyone and leaving her as the sole survivor. This deeply personal narrative of grief chronicles Etsuko’s harrowing journey to find solace and joy after the death of her parents.
At first, passed from house to house, Etsuko is forced to work as a domestic servant until a kind family takes her in. However, her safety and survival is once again in danger when she’s forced to leave her adopted family and take a position at Chief Doming Apostol’s estate in Magpet. It is there Etsuko receives the name ‘Diamond.’
Diamond works for years in the Apostol household where not all is terrible. She forms a loving bond as the caretaker for the youngest of the children. When their father is imprisoned, the household falls apart, but Diamond stays.
An award-winning and best-selling memoir, An Impossible Life, tells the powerful true account of one woman’s descent into depressive and manic episodes and how she found lifesaving therapy and medication to overcome and triumph. When thirty-five-year-old Sonja Wasden is involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital by her husband and father, she is sure it is a mistake. Wife of a CEO, mother of three, and living in a beautiful suburb, Sonja’s life appears ideal. How did she get here?
In this gripping and breathtaking narrative that makes the reader feel as though they are listening in on a private conversation, Sonja reveals her delusions and battles with mental illness, motherhood, and marriage. When all hope seems lost, this true story of perseverance is inspiring and unforgettable.
An Impossible Life is a lighthouse of hope for those facing an all-consuming mental illness, either for themselves or for someone they love.
HOLDING FAST: A Memoir of Sailing, Love, and Loss is the story of leaving everything behind to follow her husband’s lifelong dream of sailing away. Many people dream of escaping reality but few actually go.
Blond, blue-eyed, irreverent John bursts into Susan’s life in her twenties with a dream of sailing off. Susan dreams of settling down and doesn’t want to go. A three-year voyage with their young daughter profoundly changes their lives. A gripping adventure story and an inspirational memoir of finding our power in the unlikeliest of places.
The Unfakeable Code(R) Take Back Control, Lead Authentically and Live Freely on Your Terms.
Meticulously researched and written by Tony Jeton Selimi, The Unfakeable Code(R) explores the fierce scientific, psychological, leadership and business impact of wearing ‘masks’, feeling stuck, powerless, out of control, and being a people pleaser, disengaged and unproductive at home and work – a growing problem in a fast-paced world full of expectations, information overload, fake news and uncertainty, which will leave behind a cosmic trail of mental health issues, acute social confusion and a significant rise in unemployment.
Empowering readers to redefine themselves and overcome the adversity, anxiety and stagnancy likely blighting their lives, Selimi truly breaks new ground in a volume that gives you the clarity, the hope, and the code to own your power and continue to evolve into the authentic, unfakeable leader you were born to be. The Unfakeable Code(R) offers a fresh and robust five-step methodology for business, personal or professional transformation. It assists in upgrading your psychology and harmonising body-mind-heart intelligence so it can deal with any form of anxiety, conflict, and stress.
Throughout the book, Tony J. Selimi shares inspiring actual client stories who have used the five principles to successfully liberate themselves from the emotional baggage and distress by fully completing the five-step method. It’s also been a hit among critics, too, with one recently writing, “The worldview developed here transcends science, dogma, and belief, giving readers a new code to reconnect with their true, authentic individual and the Divine within that knows how to take back control, lead authentically and live freely on your terms.” Foreword written by Dr John Demartini, a World Renown Human Behavioural Specialist.
In a world that often feels overwhelming, there’s profound power in stories that remind us of human goodness, resilience, and the possibility of transformation. The Hearten Awards—a wonderful offshoot of our Journey Awards—celebrate the uplifting and inspiring non-fiction narratives that restore faith, spark hope, and illuminate the bright threads woven through even the most challenging experiences.
While our Journey Awards honor the courage to transform pain into purpose, the Hearten Awards recognize stories that already shine with light—memoirs of healing, guides to personal growth, family chronicles that celebrate love, and adventures that remind us why life is worth living fully. These are the books that leave readers feeling more hopeful about the world and their place in it.
The Healing Power of Hopeful Stories
Inspirational non-fiction serves a vital role in our literary landscape, offering readers not just entertainment but genuine nourishment for the spirit. These stories matter because they show us what’s possible when we choose hope over despair, connection over isolation, and growth over stagnation.
Whether it’s a memoir of someone finding love later in life, a humorous look at family dynamics that celebrates rather than criticizes, or practical wisdom delivered with warmth and encouragement, Hearten Award submissions share a common thread: they make the world feel a little brighter. In times when positive news feels rare, these stories become beacons of possibility.
The best uplifting non-fiction doesn’t ignore life’s challenges—it shows how those challenges can become catalysts for joy, connection, and personal transformation. These authors understand that hope is not naive optimism, but rather the hard-won wisdom that comes from choosing to see possibility even in difficult circumstances.
Celebrating Our 2024 Grand Prize Winner!
We’re delighted to honor Lynne Spriggs O’Connor, whose beautiful memoir Elk Love: A Montana Memoir claimed the 2024 Hearten Grand Prize with a story that perfectly embodies the transformative power of following your heart toward healing. At forty-two, Lynne left her East Coast life behind to pursue her dream of deeper connection with nature in Montana’s Big Sky Country, finding unexpected love with Harrison, a rancher thirteen years her senior.
Elk Love chronicles how loneliness can give way to wonder when we’re brave enough to listen—to nature, to others, and to our own hearts. With her dog Willow as companion, Lynne discovers “a wild language that moves beyond words” in the seasonal rhythms of ranch life. In addition to ongoing promotional features, Elk Love will be regularly promoted throughout the year and for the next five years in our upcoming Hall of Fame posts. Lynne Spriggs O’Connor will also be invited to participate in a Chanticleer 10-Question Interview, and Elk Love will receive a coveted Chanticleer Editorial Review.
Categories That Celebrate Every Path to Inspiration
The Hearten Awards welcome uplifting stories across a diverse range of approaches and themes:
Humorous – Stories that find joy and laughter in life’s absurdities, proving that humor can be profoundly healing
Motivational – Narratives that inspire readers to pursue their dreams, overcome obstacles, and believe in their potential
Advice/Inspiration – Wisdom-filled works that offer practical guidance delivered with warmth and encouragement
Family and Chosen Family – Celebrations of the relationships that sustain us, whether biological or built through choice and love
Self-Discovery/Coming-of-Age – Journeys of personal growth that inspire readers to embrace their own transformation
Each category represents a different pathway to inspiration, united by the belief that our stories have the power to encourage, heal, and uplift others.
Other August Non-Fiction Opportunities
The Hearten Awards are part of Chanticleer’s comprehensive celebration of narrative non-fiction, all closing at the end of August:
Journey Awards – Courageous stories of overcoming adversity and transforming trauma into purpose
Nellie Bly Awards – Investigative journalism and exposé works that uncover important truths
Check out some of these uplifting works we’ve celebrated recently that showcase the power of hopeful storytelling!
A Path to Excellence
By Tony Jeton Selimi
A Hearten First Place Winner!
On the belief that life isn’t just the random cards one is dealt,A Path to Excellenceby Tony Jeton Selimi offers a blueprint—the octagon of excellence—to succeed personally, professionally, and spiritually.
Transcending the pitfalls and spontaneous stumbling blocks along the path of life can open the door to self-actualization and progression. As someone who experienced bullying, sexual abuse, early disability, and homelessness, Selimi sets on to become a beacon of light to the hopeless and marginalized.
Within each soul lies a bud of genius waiting to blossom. This book focuses on purpose, vision, and persistence to clear the way to that fullest potential. Affirming challenges as immutable truths of life, Selimi employs Buddhist teaching and personal anecdotes to encourage a head-on confrontation with one’s struggles and promotes a feeling of gratitude. As a blend of philosophical wisdom and practical experience, the initial chapters help readers acknowledge their current life situation, perceiving challenges as epochs of potential.
Debut author Nove Meyers breathes life into the big tent of human aspirations and desperations, from his birth into a raucous circus atmosphere to his diligent study for Catholic priesthood.
Running Away from the Circus is avibrant chronicle that opens with a vignette of his grandmother, clad in sequins and flying on a trapeze. She spun like a top to enthusiastic applause under the circus tent, until the fateful day when she included her young child in the act, dropping her thirty feet to the sawdust-covered floor below. But this did not prevent Nove Meyers from being born and having a story to tell.
The boyhood described was as wild as the circus acts. He was encouraged to smoke cigarettes like his father and watched in astonishment as his mother burned up paper money, possibly to protect his uncle, a counterfeiter. Yet despite his unusual upbringing as one of the family’s third generation of circus owners, Meyers was taken regularly to Catholic church services. There, he discovered God, an entity as mysterious as the traveling circus and carnie crowds he was raised among.
Cheryl Landes’sThe Best I Can Do: A True Story of Navigating the Complexities of Mental Illness and Homelessness, follows the devastation of a happy marriage as mental illness slowly takes over the mind of her husband. Landes must then make the journey back to peace.
Cheryl and her husband, Tom, had known each other since their college days. A classic love story, Landes does a beautiful job with the set up, and then delivers the tragedy of Tom’s spiral into paranoia as their plans for the future begin to fall apart.
The Best I Can Dotells the story of what happens when Tom insists someone is trailing him, believing a car passes by his and Cheryl’s home every day even though no one else sees it. He claims someone installed listening devices in their house and refuses to speak unless his white-noise devices are on. As his paranoia increases he locks the refrigerator with a chain and a padlock to protect himself from the certainty someone—perhaps Cheryl—wants to poison him.
A Hearten First Place Winner and Cover Design Grand Prize Winner!
How does place shape who we are—and who we’ll become? In this memoir,Teaching in the Dark, Genét Simone puts that question to the test by recounting her first year as a teacher.
The initial year of teaching is never an easy feat, but for Simone it was especially challenging, and transformative. She spent it with Native students in the remote island village of Shishmaref, on the Arctic edge of Alaska—no small wonder the school year became an unforgettable one.
Today, Simone has decades of teaching experience to draw upon. Yet, in this memoir she rarely employs her present voice to reflect on the past. Instead, the narrator remains in the moment: a young and inexperienced Simone, who only knows that she feels destined to be a teacher. When she signs up for the Shishmaref teaching job, she doesn’t even realize that it’s on an island.
Equipped with snow boots and passion, she arrives on the island only to realize just how unprepared she is.
Theresa Mathews’ memoir,Fishing with Hyenas, is filled with adventure, love, and the spirit of an explorer, all on the high seas. In the audio version, the author herself tells this gripping story of love and death, grief and recovery.
Mathews begins the book in a place most difficult for her. She takes us through her emotional devastation at the news of her husband’s death. We see all the stages of her grief from the initial call: denial, disbelief, bargaining, and finally acceptance. Readers will be hooked in the first chapter.
She then deftly fills in the gaps with the backstory of how she met her husband Bart, their first date, their decision to commit to one another,and her first time she went for a ride on his Harley. These are often hilarious recaps of her anger and frustration, and her examination of what this relationship with a man who loved the sea would mean for her city-girl life.
Mathews alternates between the present and past with perfect pacing, giving readers a balance between the immersion in and relief from the intense emotion of her husband’s unexpected death.
These stories demonstrate how the best inspirational non-fiction creates genuine connection between author and reader, offering both comfort and motivation for life’s journey.
See the Chanticleer Difference for Yourself!
We’re honored to receive the hopeful stories that authors trust us with each year. The Chanticleer International Book Awards offers an incredible $30,000 in cash, prizes, and promotion across all divisions!
The Hearten Awards provide recognition for the often-undervalued but deeply important work of creating hope through storytelling. Whether you’re sharing your own journey of transformation, offering wisdom gained through experience, or simply celebrating the beauty you’ve found in life, these awards honor the courage it takes to choose optimism and share light with the world.
Your Story of Hope Matters
In a time when the world needs more hope, your uplifting story could be exactly what someone needs to hear. Whether it’s a memoir of healing, a humorous look at family life, or practical wisdom delivered with warmth, your positive narrative has the power to encourage, inspire, and heal.
The Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Uplifting & Inspiring Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Hearten Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.
1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Linda Brugger on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 at the Bellingham Yacht Club in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
This is the OFFICIAL 2024 LIST of the HEARTEN BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the HEARTEN Grand Prize Winner.
Join us in celebrating the following authors and their award-winning works in the 2024 CIBAs.
Genét Simone – Teaching in the Dark
David Hutton – Drums of a Distant Tribe
Etsuko Diamond Miyagi – Diamond: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan
Lynne Spriggs O’Connor – Elk Love: A Montana Memoir
Rachael Siddoway and Sonja Wasden – An Impossible Life: A True Story of Hope and Mental Illness
Susan Cole – Holding Fast: A Memoir of Sailing, Love, and Loss
Tony Jeton Selimi – The Unfakeable Code®
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 HEARTEN Awards is:
Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!
This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.
Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.
A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting inMay. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.
We will post at least two 2024 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 14, 2025. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2024 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program.
Grand Prize Division Winners will receive a customized digital badge. When we receive it from our graphic artist, we will also post here and in the Grand Prize Division Winners Official Posting.
Thank you for participating in the 2024 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.
The Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Inspiring and Uplifting Non-Fiction and Memoirs. The Hearten Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.
These titles have moved forward from the 2024 Hearten Non-Fiction SEMI-FINALISTS to the 2024 Hearten Book Awards FINALISTS LIST. All FINALISTS will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC25).
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.
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 sponsored by the 2025Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the FIRST PLACE & GRAND PRIZE WINNERS of the 2024 Hearten Book Awards novel competition for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction!
Join us in celebrating the Finalists List authors and their works in the 2024 CIBAs.
Elizabeth Fulgaro – Learning to Love (Not Loathe) Me
Linda M. Lockwood – Sky Ranch: Reared in the High Country
Genét Simone – Teaching in the Dark
Jenell M. Jones M.Ed. – Shattered
David Hutton – Drums of a Distant Tribe
Douglas Green – The Teachings of Shirelle: Life Lessons from a Divine Knucklehead
Dr George Ackerman – A Son’s Journey from Parkinson’s Disease Caregiver to Advocate
Kasey Claytor – Finding the Light
Olivia Goodreau – But She Looks Fine
Etsuko Diamond Miyagi – DIAMOND: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan
Lynne Spriggs O’Connor – Elk Love: A Montana Memoir
L.A. Witt – I Changed My Mind: My Journey from Infertile to Childfree
Mimi Zieman – Tap Dancing on Everest
Liz Alterman – Sad Sacked
Rachael Siddoway and Sonja Wasden – An Impossible Life: A True Story of Hope and Mental Illness
Ginelle Testa – Make a Home Out of You
Susan Bloch – Travels with my Grief
Mark Steven Porro – A Cup of Tea on the Commode: My Multi-Tasking Adventures of Caring for Mom. And How I Survived to Tell the Tale
Susan Cole – Holding Fast: A Memoir of Sailing, Love, and Loss
Tony Jeton Selimi – The Unfakeable Code®
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 Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Inspiring and Uplifting Non-Fiction and Memoirs. The Hearten Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.
These titles have moved forward from the 2024 Hearten Non-Fiction SHORT LIST to the 2024 Hearten Book Awards SEMI-FINALISTS LIST. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC25).
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.
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 sponsored by the 2025Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the FINALISTS of the 2024 Hearten Book Awards novel competition for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction!
Join us in celebrating the Semi-Finalists List authors and their works in the 2024 CIBAs.
Elizabeth Fulgaro – Learning to Love (Not Loathe) Me
Linda M. Lockwood – Sky Ranch: Reared in the High Country
Genét Simone – Teaching in the Dark
Jenell M. Jones M.Ed. – Shattered
David Hutton – Drums of a Distant Tribe
Douglas Green – The Teachings of Shirelle: Life Lessons from a Divine Knucklehead
Dr George Ackerman – A Son’s Journey from Parkinson’s Disease Caregiver to Advocate
Ingrid McCarthy – I Stood Among the Ruins and Cried
Kasey Claytor – Finding the Light
Jia Apple – The Tell
Olivia Goodreau – But She Looks Fine
Etsuko Diamond Miyagi – DIAMOND: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan
Lynne Spriggs O’Connor – Elk Love: A Montana Memoir
Jane Kim Yu – Journey of Awakening and Higher Consciousness
L.A. Witt – I Changed My Mind: My Journey from Infertile to Childfree
Mimi Zieman – Tap Dancing on Everest
Liz Alterman – Sad Sacked
Rachael Siddoway and Sonja Wasden – An Impossible Life: A True Story of Hope and Mental Illness
Christina Ford – In Search of Mr Darcy: Lessons Learnt In The Pursuit of Happily Ever After
Glenda Goodrich – Solo Passage: 13 Quests, 13 Questions
Ginelle Testa – Make a Home Out of You
Jennifer Cramer-Miller – Incurable Optimist: Living with Illness and Chronic Hope
Susan Bloch – Travels with my Grief
Mark Steven Porro – A Cup of Tea on the Commode: My Multi-Tasking Adventures of Caring for Mom. And How I Survived to Tell the Tale
Susan Cole – Holding Fast: A Memoir of Sailing, Love, and Loss
Tony Jeton Selimi – The Unfakeable Code®
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 Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Inspiring and Uplifting Non-Fiction and Memoirs. The Hearten Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.
These titles have moved forward from the 2024 Hearten Non-Fiction LONG LIST to the 2024 Hearten Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2024 Hearten Semi-Finalists. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC25).
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.
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 sponsored by the 2025Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2024 Hearten Book Awards novel competition for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction!
Join us in celebrating the Short List authors and their works in the 2024 CIBAs.
Elizabeth Fulgaro – Learning to Love (Not Loathe) Me
Linda M. Lockwood – Sky Ranch: Reared in the High Country
Genét Simone – Teaching in the Dark
Wendy B. Correa – My Pretty Baby: A Memoir of Seeking Truth and Finding Healing
Jenell M. Jones M.Ed. – Shattered
David Hutton – Drums of a Distant Tribe
Douglas Green – The Teachings of Shirelle: Life Lessons from a Divine Knucklehead
Dr George Ackerman – A Son’s Journey from Parkinson’s Disease Caregiver to Advocate
Ingrid McCarthy – I Stood Among the Ruins and Cried
Kasey Claytor – Finding the Light
Jia Apple – The Tell
Olivia Goodreau – But She Looks Fine
Etsuko Diamond Miyagi – DIAMOND: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan
Lynne Spriggs O’Connor – Elk Love: A Montana Memoir
Jane Kim Yu – Journey of Awakening and Higher Consciousness
L.A. Witt – I Changed My Mind: My Journey from Infertile to Childfree
Mimi Zieman – Tap Dancing on Everest
Liz Alterman – Sad Sacked
Rachael Siddoway and Sonja Wasden – An Impossible Life: A True Story of Hope and Mental Illness
Christina Ford – In Search of Mr Darcy: Lessons Learnt In The Pursuit of Happily Ever After
Glenda Goodrich – Solo Passage: 13 Quests, 13 Questions
Ginelle Testa – Make a Home Out of You
Jennifer Cramer-Miller – Incurable Optimist: Living with Illness and Chronic Hope
Susan Bloch – Travels with my Grief
Mark Steven Porro – A Cup of Tea on the Commode: My Multi-Tasking Adventures of Caring for Mom. And How I Survived to Tell the Tale
Laura Hall – Affliction: Growing Up With A Closeted Gay Dad
Susan Cole – Holding Fast: A Memoir of Sailing, Love, and Loss
Louise Privette and Tristan Peigné – Dancing Through Life: A Memoir
Ben LeBoutillier – Practical Advice for a Better World
Kathleen Watt – REARRANGED: An Opera Singer’s Facial Cancer and Life Transposed
Tony Jeton Selimi – The Unfakeable Code®
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 Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Inspiring and Uplifting Non-Fiction and Memoirs. The Hearten Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).
