The Chanticleer Cover Design Awards (The CCDAs) for Fiction recognizes artistic excellence across genre in great cover design. The CCDAs are a new Award Division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).
Our design is inspired by books designed by the incomparable Coraline Bickford-Smith. Her simple, beautiful, and evocative designs do so much to make the book work as a visual ambassador, capturing the essence of story and compelling potential readers to pick it up, click on it, or share it with others. A well-designed cover signals professionalism, sets expectations for your genre, and serves as a powerful marketing tool to stand out in both digital and physical spaces.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring clear genres, audience, time periods, typography, and longevity across genres of Historical Fiction, Romance, Literary, Satire, Speculative Fiction, and Youth Reads.
These titles have moved forward in the Long List of the 2025 CCDA Fiction entries to the 2025 CCDA Fiction SHORT LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2025 CCDA Fiction Semi-Finalists. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC26.
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 Chanticleer Cover Design Awards novel competition for Fiction Books!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works:
AJ Humphreys – Trip a Psychological Horror Novel
Andrew D.H. Moore – Children of Solo
Anne Polli – Mason the Magnificent
Catherine M Mathis – Ines the Queens of Portugal Trilogy
Charlie Robinson Cover by Ruth Noble – Bow Tie Sex
Christine Knapp – Murder on the Green
Debbie Black Cover by Kelly Black – Deetjen’s Closet a Quest for Magic
Deborah Swenson – Till My Last Day Book Two in the Desert Hills Trilogy
Ellis K. Popa – Dawn To Dusk
Erika Lynn Adams – Allie’s Adventure on the Wonder
George Petersen – The Summer of Haight
Glen Dahlgren – The Wrath of Order
Gregg Brandalise – The Death of Us All
JL Spears – Daemon Protocol
Julie Lomax – A Pawn’s Game
KD Straus – To Be True
Leslie Liautaud- Butterfly Pinned
Margaret Porter – Sequins and Starlight
Maria Giuseppa – R&R a Feast of Words
Mark A. Gibson – Roses in December
McKinley Aspen – Cogitatio Shadows in the Wind Book Two
Michael Bailey – Sweet Hunger
Miki Taylor – Bentley Makes a Dump Cake
Once Upon a Dance – A Tail of Twirls
Richard G Nixon – The Legend of Fingerless Will Nixon the Scottish Borderlands 1508-1509
Sarah V Barnes – She Who Rides Horses a Saga of the Ancient Steppe Book One
Sarah V. Barnes – A Clan Chief’s Daughter
Sean Hagerty – Cabal
Sue C. Dugan – Forever Ever Always
Susan Rogers – Warrior Pose
Sydney Roubian – Scarecrow Finds a Heart
Tamar Anolic – The Keepers
Theresa Janson – Reservations a Samantha Wright Crime Series
T.O. Paine – The Crisis
Travis Davis – War on the Porch
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 Chanticleer Cover Design Awards (The CCDAs) for Fiction recognizes artistic excellence across genre in great cover design. The CCDAs are a new Award Division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).
Our design is inspired by books designed by the incomparable Coraline Bickford-Smith. Her simple, beautiful, and evocative designs do so much to make the book work as a visual ambassador, capturing the essence of story and compelling potential readers to pick it up, click on it, or share it with others. A well-designed cover signals professionalism, sets expectations for your genre, and serves as a powerful marketing tool to stand out in both digital and physical spaces.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring clear genres, audience, time periods, typography, and longevity across genres of Historical Fiction, Romance, Literary, Satire, Speculative Fiction, and Youth Reads.
These titles have moved forward in the first look rounds from all 2025 CCDA Fiction entries to the 2025 CCDA Fiction LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2025 CCDA Fiction Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC26.
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 Chanticleer Cover Design Awards novel competition for Fiction Books!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works:
AJ Humphreys – Trip a Psychological Horror Novel
Andrew D.H. Moore – Children of Solo
Anne Polli – Mason the Magnificent
McKinley Aspen – Cogitatio Shadows in the Wind Book Two
Catherine M Mathis – Ines the Queens of Portugal Trilogy
Charlie Robinson Cover by Ruth Noble – Bow Tie Sex
Christine Knapp – Murder on the Green
Debbie Black Cover by Kelly Black – Deetjen’s Closet a Quest for Magic
Deborah Swenson – Till My Last Day Book Two in the Desert Hills Trilogy
Ellis K. Popa – Dawn To Dusk
Erika Lynn Adams – Allie’s Adventure on the Wonder
Gary Gabel – The Constitution Kids
George Petersen – The Summer of Haight
Glen Dahlgren – The Wrath of Order
Gregg Brandalise – The Death of Us All
JL Spears – Daemon Protocol
Julie Lomax – A Pawn’s Game
KD Straus – To Be True
Leslie Liautaud- Butterfly Pinned
Margaret Porter – Sequins and Starlight
Maria Giuseppa – R&R a Feast of Words
Mark A. Gibson – Roses in December
Michael Bailey – Sweet Hunger
Michele Sayre – Darke Realms One Tough Temporary She Alpha Arcana 2
Miki Taylor – Bentley Makes a Dump Cake
Once Upon a Dance – A Tail of Twirls
Richard G Nixon – The Legend of Fingerless Will Nixon the Scottish Borderlands 1508-1509
Sarah V Barnes – She Who Rides Horses a Saga of the Ancient Steppe Book One
Sarah V. Barnes – A Clan Chief’s Daughter
Sean Hagerty – Cabal
Sue C. Dugan – Cat-Atonic
Sue C. Dugan – Forever Ever Always
Susan Rogers – Warrior Pose
Sydney Roubian – Scarecrow Finds a Heart
Tamar Anolic – The Keepers
Theresa Janson – Reservations a Samantha Wright Crime Series
T.O. Paine – The Crisis
Travis Davis – War on the Porch
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.
Only 2 weeks 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 Cover Design Awards are still open!
Congratulations to the Winners of the 2024 Cover Design Award for Fiction!
Ann Phillipp –Grand Theft Death
C.L. Olsen –Old Crabby Turtle
Deborah Swenson –Till My Last Breath
Laura C. Rader –Hatfield 1677
Gail Noble-Sanderson–The Book of Rules
Margaret Porter –A Change of Location
Mark A. Gibson –A Song That Never Ends
Travis Davis- One of Four
R.W. Meek- The Dream Collector Book 1; Sabine and Sigmund Freud
And a huge round of applause for the 2024 Cover Design Fiction Grand Prize Winner:
Luna, Rhone and Stone Book 2 by Strider S.R. Klusman
Congratulations to the Winners of the 2024 Cover Design Awards for Non-Fiction!
Anne Gately – Sunburnt: A Memoir of Sun, Surf and Skin Cancer
Kasey J. Claytor–Finding The Light: Navigating Dementia with My Son
Kathryn Caraway –Unfollow Me
Linda M. Lockwood –Sky Ranch: Reared in the High Country
Marianna Marlowe –Portrait of a Feminist: A Memoir in Essays
And a huge round of applause for the 2024 Cover Design Awards Non-Fiction Grand Prize Winner:
Teaching in the Dark by Genet Simone
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 2026) 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.
The Cover Design Awards recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in every genre. The Grand Prize Winner, Strider Klusman’s book, Luna will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Cover Design 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!
Hannah Ballard’s most successful relationship: her career.
Her superpower is an uncanny ability to discover perfect movie settings while avoiding the limelight herself. She’s involved in pre-production for a film based on a bestselling historical novel when a chance meeting with an aristocratic landowner leads her to Somerset and his estate in picturesque Milver Vale—the ideal backdrop for a period drama. Martin Latimer, Marquess of Milverston, believes the release of a high-profile motion picture can increase tourism and bolster the local economy. And he hopes to spend more time with its intriguing location manager.
After Hannah suffers a professional setback, proximity and mutual passion propel the couple into an exhilarating affair. But Martin soon becomes a magnet for the scandal-hungry media, forcing Hannah into a painful and damaging decision.
Powering through heartbreak is hard. Especially when coping with unemployment—and dealing with members of her fractured family. For their protection, she must part from the nobleman asking her to stay with him. Who makes her believe that, at long last, she actually could be falling in love.
From New York Harbor to the battlefields of France, relive World War I through the eyes of an unknown soldier, as told through his diary. See how the 100-year-old diary brings a father and his estranged son back together by retracing his experiences fighting in the battlefields of France in 1917 – 1918 to his final resting place—the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
His diary was found next to his lifeless body by a young French girl who witnessed his death and bravery as he tried to protect his fellow soldiers. How the unknown soldier felt and what he experienced fighting on the Western Front in World War One —his day-to-day struggles and life as a private and then as an NCO. As he led his men into combat. The pride and fear he felt and the overwhelming stress he encountered, sometimes frozen with fear from the sheer brutality of modern warfare from all sides. His bravery in combat and leadership in training and on the battlefield. How he coped as he watched his fellow soldiers, battle buddies, and friends die one after another. Some from battlefield injuries from conventional weapons and gas attacks, but also diseases from the unsanitary conditions of trench warfare and influenza. His only wish was to come out alive, a wish that would never come true.
But return home, he did.
From Chanticleer:
One of Four: World War One Through the Eyes of an Unknown Soldier by Travis Davis is a compassionate and intimate portrait of the tenuous and unforgiving First World War, as shown through the eyes of an American soldier on France’s front lines. Based on real people and events in 1918 France, One of Four begins with a young French girl, Camille, who stumbles upon a diary lying next to an unknown American soldier. He was killed among his comrades in a German ambush near the banks of the Aire River, as he tried to protect his fellow soldiers. When Camille comes of age, she leaves her hometown to seek a better life in Paris. There, she is killed after joining a German resistance group. But before her death, she tucked the soldier’s diary in her Bible and hid it in a local bookstore.
Decades later, a man by the name of Walter travels to France with his son, Alex, to whom he’d become estranged after the painful divorce from Alex’s mother. He hopes this will be a journey of healing and exploration and that their time together will revive their shaky relationship. While there, Alex purchases the Bible left by Camille many years ago. By reading the hidden diary entries of the soldier together, Alex and Walter’s relationships takes an unexpected turn.
Patricia Schuster acquires both independence and furniture polish after inheriting her grandmother’s house and antique business. Her new life in the Northern California town of Lakeville is in jeopardy, however, when she is falsely arrested for stealing a rare 1950’s Cadillac and is blackmailed by Jimmy, a toothpick-wielding used-car salesman. When the real car thief ends up dead, she turns to her grandmother’s friends—four women in their golden years who play fast and loose with the law. But how far over the line will Patricia have to go to find a killer and clear her name?
From Chanticleer:
Grand Theft Death is best read when you need a break from reality. Don’t read it if your two feet are firmly placed in all things serious. In fact, don’t read it if you areeven thinking of going to the serious side of life. This book is as realistic as a Saturday morning cartoon – and twice the fun.
The characters are delightfully quirky, the situation fun and surprising, and the action as snappy as popping corn. The heroine, Patty Schuster, is kind, sincere, wry, and unique, at the same time so easygoing that she can roll with the endless punches the plot throws at her and carry on with a good heart.
Good thing, since the plot treats Patty like a punching bag.
She starts out in jail, falsely arrested for car theft, then gets tangled up with thieves, spies, forgers, smugglers, bad cops, good cops, sleazy hoteliers, double-crossing gangsters, nosy neighbors, felonious grannies, and divorcing parents—not to mention murder of the friend in trouble she tried to help, which led to her arrest.
Colonist Benjamin Waite, a devoted husband, father, and skilled military scout in King Philip’s War, reluctantly obeys orders to guide a brutal attack against a camp of Algonquian Natives.
After the catastrophic event, Benjamin is burdened with guilt and longs for peace. But the Algonquians, led by the revered sachem Ashpelon, retaliate with vengeance upon Ben’s Massachusetts town of Hatfield, capturing over a dozen colonists, including his pregnant wife Martha and their three young daughters.
Hatfield 1677 is a tale of three interwoven yet diverging journeys of strength and survival. Benjamin is driven by love and remorse to rescue his family; Martha is forced into captivity and desperately striving to protect her children; and Ashpelon is willing to risk everything to ensure the safety and freedom of his people.
Based on the lives of the author’s ancestors, this riveting and unforgettable novel gives voice to three vastly different experiences in North America during a time before the creation of the Declaration of Independence. Then, the land was but a wilderness and a battleground; equality was not yet perceived as self-evident; and liberty and happiness were nothing more than dangerous pursuits.
For over three hundred years, that’s what the Hamilton family has called a shrinking swath of farmland in the Appalachian foothills of South Carolina.
Home.
That’s the failing tobacco farm where Walter and Maggie Hamilton choose to raise their three children. Walter has big plans to make the farm more profitable, but his plans are interrupted by World War II and family heartbreak. Walter returns from the war a changed man and finds Maggie, too, has changed, neither of them for the better. But at least their family is together again at…
Home.
More than anything, that’s where their eight-year-old son, Jimmy Hamilton, wants to be. However, after an unspeakable tragedy, he’s sent away from the only life he’s ever known to live with a kindly uncle in North Carolina.
Home.
That’s where Jimmy is finally going to be, unless fate has plans of its own…
A Song that Never Endsis the first installment of the Hamilton Place series, an epic family saga extending from the Great Depression to present day. Through war and peace, love and loss, triumph and tragedy, follow the Hamilton family on their journey from a run-down farm in South Carolina, through the jungles of Vietnam, to the top of the world in New York City, and beyond the gardens of stone at Arlington.
From Chanticleer:
A Song That Never Ends, the first volume of a two-part series by Mark A. Gibson, opens a dramatic fictional saga of the Hamilton family from the late 1930s Depression era, to 1967 and the Vietnam conflict. Here against the backdrop of a South Carolina tobacco farm, we come to witness a family in turmoil.
The calm and reserved Walter Hamilton and his rebellious, impulsive wife Maggie strive to build a life and raise a family. But the couple is tested by a series of misfortunes—miscarriages and stillbirths, and Walter’s enlistment during WWII leaving him with guilt-induced PTSD as he deals with the memory of fallen comrades.
At the center of this heartfelt story is James, the middle child, who at the tender age of eight is forced from his home due to a horrific accident and sent to live with a widower uncle.
Wales, 1946. In the beautiful seaside village of Mumbles, Drew Davies, a young Welsh woman, is determined to pursue a career in a profession that has been historically denied to women. Living with her grandparents in their charming stone cottage, Drew’s quiet life changes course suddenly when murder, espionage, and a cast of scoundrels and saints enter the picture, but not even murder can stop Drew in her tracks. This is the first historical cozy mystery in Gail’s new Drew Davies Railway Mysteries series.
Most bullies are hurting somewhere inside. This magical and heartwarming tale about an old giant sea turtle and a tiny little fish teaches us about BRAVERY, TRUST, FORGIVENESS, and HOPE. And to HELP others in need, no matter how different we are.
This is the story of an old sea turtle with a rusty fish hook stuck in his foot! He is quite crabby about his unfortunate situation, and likes to terrorize the little sea creatures. One day he catches little fishy, and plans to have him for dinner until little fishy tells the old turtle that if he will trust him and let him go, he will come back with his friend Mr. Swordfish, and he can saw that old rusty fish hook off so he will feel better!
A portion of the profits from this book are donated to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation center.
The Dream Collectorimmerses the reader into the exciting milieu of late 19th Century Paris when art and medicine were in the throes of revolution, art turning to Impressionism, medicine turning to psychology. In 1885, Julie Forette, a self-educated woman from Marseilles, finds employment at the infamous Salpêtrière, hospital and asylum to over five thousand disabled, demented and abandoned women, a walled city ruled by the famed neurologist and arrogant director, Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot.
Julie Forette forms a friendship with the young, visiting intern Sigmund Freud who introduces her to the altering-conscious power of cocaine. Together they pursue the hidden potential of hypnotism and dream interpretation. After Freud receives the baffling case of the star hysteric, Sabrine Weiss, he is encouraged by Julie to experiment with different modes of treatment, including “talking sessions.” Their urgent quest is to find a cure for Sabrine, Princess of the Hysterics, before Dr. Charcot resorts to the radical removal of her ovaries.
In Paris, Julie finds a passion for the new art emerging, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, and forms friendships with the major artists of the period, including Pissarro, Monet, and Degas. Julie becomes intimately involved with the reclusive Cezanne only to be seduced by the “Peruvian Savage” Paul Gauguin. Julie is the eponymous ‘Dream Collector’ collecting the one unforgettable, soul-defining dream of the major historical figures of the period.
Deborah Swenson – Till My Last Breath, Book 1 of the Desert Hills Trilogy
A 2021 Chatelaine First Place Winner!
Emily Sweeney, MD, is a vibrant young trauma physician at a major Seattle medical center who is tragically taken from the comfort of her 21st Century life. Suddenly, dropped into the 1880s unforgiving frontier, she is determined to survive, or die all over again. Using her knowledge and skills as a physician, Emily struggles to save a stranger in the desert hills of the Arizona Territory. In the end, can she return to her previous life and leave behind the man she’s come to love?
Caleb Young, a once-prominent Boston attorney in 1880, is haunted by his past filled with lies and deception. Hoping to outrun his demons, he willingly leaves his privileged life behind. Heading straight into unforeseen trouble, he is shot for revenge and left to die in the desert hills. Now, dependent on a beautiful woman who appears out of nowhere using her hands and heart to save him, will he finally have a reason to live.
Two lives forged out of truth and trust, can their love survive, or will it take its last breath?
For a country kid, the odd styles and new-fangled contraptions of the steam era were beyond Rhone’s comfort zone, but he was here to do a job, if he managed to graduate from the OPR Academy.
Using his front as a nobleman’s son, Rhone and his unique partner, Stone, are sent to an easy first assignment, the little harbor town of Corgy. But he quickly discovers the mayor dislikes him and that pirates are hounding the shipping trade. With one disliking him, and he disliking them both, things weren’t starting off well. Unfortunately, it was his job to fix problems and he was glad he had Stone along to help.
Only when he met Bella, the fiery waitress at The Common House, and Captain Black, of The Backwater Mistress, did he find his answer and an entirely uplifting experience you won’t want to miss.
From Chanticleer:
Luna, the second book in Strider S.R. Klusman’s YA Rhone and Stone Series, follows Rhone and his alien partner Stone as they develop a ship that can sail through the air.
The two train to become agents for the Office of Public Recrimination, urged to join by their friend – and now boss – Aundrea. Rhone struggles through training with the help of his trusty partner, but a much more difficult test remains before them – their first assignment.
Aundrea sends them to Corgy, a port town, without explaining their mission. But it doesn’t take long for Rhone to encounter troubles from shore and sea alike.
He and Stone meet Mayor Dugan, who takes an instant dislike for Rhone, posing as a wealthy merchant’s son. But it’s his front, designed so by the ladies of the OPR, and commands a great deal of respect and authority from the locals, if not Bella. Sometimes it’s difficult not to forget his actual purpose for being at Corgy. As an agent of the OPR, he must solve the town’s greatest problem, a rash of pirate attacks on Corgy’s vital ocean-borne trade; if they continue, Corgy won’t survive.
The submissions for the 2025 Cover Design Awards – CCDAs – are underway, and both Fiction and Non-Fiction divisions close on July 31, 2025!
In the three seconds it takes you to read this sentence, a potential reader has already decided whether your book is worth their attention. That’s the brutal reality of today’s marketplace: your cover has exactly three seconds to communicate genre, grab attention, and compel someone to pick up your book or click that buy button.
The Chanticleer Cover Design Awards celebrate the visual art of storytelling—recognizing the designers, publishers, and authors who understand that powerful cover design isn’t just decoration, it’s marketing. Whether displayed 50 feet tall at a trade show or reduced to a thumbnail on Amazon, your cover is your book’s most important piece of retail real estate.
The 5-Element Formula for Cover Success
Every winning cover must instantly communicate five critical elements:
Genre – Is it clearly science fiction, romance, mystery, or a memoir within those crucial three seconds?
Target Audience – Does it speak to young adults, literary fiction readers, business professionals, or general trade audiences?
Mood – Suspenseful, romantic, humorous, dark, or inspirational—the emotional tone must be unmistakable.
Timeframe – Contemporary, historical, futuristic, or period-specific settings should be immediately apparent.
Place/Culture – Whether it’s small-town America, ancient Rome, or outer space, location context sells books.
As Chanticleers founder Kiffer Brown says: “Effective covers sell the first book. The content between the covers sells the second book.”
Celebrating Our First ever 2024 Grand Prize Winners for the CCDAs!
Fiction Grand Prize Winner: Luna by Strider Klusman
This YA steampunk adventure cover perfectly exemplifies winning design—immediately communicating its genre through Victorian-inspired mechanical elements, targeting young adult readers with dynamic character positioning, and establishing a fantastical mood that promises adventure. The cover tells potential readers exactly what they’re getting: imaginative steampunk storytelling for the YA market.
Non-Fiction Grand Prize Winner: Teaching in the Dark by Genét Simone
This powerful memoir cover demonstrates how non-fiction design can convey both emotional impact and genre clarity. The visual elements immediately signal this as narrative non-fiction while the mood suggests a serious, transformational story that will resonate with educators and readers interested in social justice themes.
Both winners will be regularly promoted throughout the year and for the next five years in our upcoming Hall of Fame posts. They’ll also be invited to participate in Chanticleer 10-Question Interviews and receive featured coverage across our promotional platforms.
Design Categories That Drive Sales
Fiction Categories:
Literary/Contemporary/Satire – Sophisticated design for discerning readers
Romance – Emotional connection and genre expectations
Historical Fiction – Period authenticity with modern appeal
Supernatural & Speculative Fiction – Otherworldly elements that intrigue
Suspense/Thriller/Mysteries – Tension and danger in visual form
Youth Reads – Age-appropriate design that appeals to young readers and their parents
Non-Fiction Categories:
Narrative Non-Fiction Works – Story-driven design for memoir, biography, and true stories
Advisory/How-To/Guides – Clear, professional design that builds trust and expertise
Looking at Cover Excellence
Check out some of the outstanding cover designs we’ve celebrated recently that showcase the perfect marriage of artistic vision and market savvy!
These covers represent the gold standard: designs that work whether they’re displayed in bookstores, featured in online retailers, or showcased at book fairs and conferences.
See the Chanticleer Difference for Yourself!
We’re excited about all the exceptional cover designs we receive every year. The Chanticleer International Book Awards offers an incredible $30,000 in cash, prizes, and promotion across all divisions!
Your cover design deserves recognition in an industry where visual impact drives sales. From indie authors investing in professional design to major publishers showcasing their best work, the Cover Design Awards celebrate the artistry that makes books impossible to ignore.
Your Cover is Your Silent Salesperson
In bookstores, at trade shows, on digital platforms your cover works 24/7 to sell your book. Whether you’re a designer proud of your visual storytelling, a publisher showcasing your best releases, or an author who invested in professional design, the Cover Design Awards provide the recognition that turns great design into marketing momentum.
You know you want it…
Don’t let your cover blend into the crowd—the deadline is July 31, 2025!
Submit to the Cover Design Awards today and make your book impossible to ignore!
This post has links to each of the 16 individual CIBA FICTION Divisions’ Grand Prize and First Place Category Winners. We will have a separate post for Non-Fiction Award Winners which will include the Shorts Awards, and the Series Awards’ winners.
All First Place and Grand Prize winners were announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, April 5that the Chanticleer Banquet. It is a huge honor for us to have the opportunity to recognize all Finalists, First Place Winners, and Grand Prize Winners with you live and in-person!
Let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.
Now, presenting the links to the 2024 CIBA Fiction Division Awards Grand Prize Winners!
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 CYGNUS Awards for Science Fiction is:
Ares
By Jayson Adams
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 OZMAAwards is:
A Circle of Stars
By Erin Lark Maples
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 SHELLEYAwards is:
The Time-Marked Warlock
By Shami Stovall
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 GLOBAL THRILLER Awards is:
A Blanket of Steel: The Rise of Oceania
By Timothy S. Johnston
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 CLUE Awards is:
Enemies Domestic
By John DeDakis
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 Mystery & Mayhem Awards is:
If Two Are Dead
by Jeanne Matthews
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 DANTE ROSSETTI Awards is:
The Realm of Gods
by Glen Dahlgren
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 GERTRUDE WARNER Awards is:
Back to Bainbridge
by Norah Lally
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 LITTLE PEEPS Awards is:
Island Moon
by Ruth Amanda
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 LARAMIEAwards is:
Sarita
by Natalie Musgrave Dossett
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 CHAUCER Awards is:
Maid of Honour
Anne Boleyn at Margaret of Austria’s Court
by Rozsa Gaston
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 GOETHE Awards is:
Abigail’s Song
by Alina Rubin
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 Hemingway BookAwards is:
Of White Ashes
by Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 CHATELAINE Book Awards is:
The Key
by Jo Morgan Sloan
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 HUMOR & SATIRE Awards is:
The Man Who Saw Seconds
by Alexander Boldizar
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 SOMERSET Awards is:
Vermilion Harvest: Playtime at the Bagh
by Reenita Malhotra Hora
We have badges available starting with the Short List. If you need a digital badge reflecting your tier level, please email info@ChantiReviews.com with your division and rank, and we will send you one as soon as possible.
Make sure your Award gets the attention it deserves on Goodreads.com
In the Librarian Manual on Goodreads, you can go to your Book Edit Page — Literary Awards.
You want to list the Award for Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) Winners, and be sure to include the year and what place you received. For example:
The year Long List, Short List, Semi-Finalist, Finalist, First Place, Division Grand Prize, or Overall Grand Prize Winner
Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.
Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.
The Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2024 CIBAs was Reenita Malhotra Hora‘s Book Vermilion Harvest: Playtime at the Bagh
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.
See Non-Fiction, Series, and Shorts Grand Prize Winners here!
See the Official Overall Grand Prize winner Post here!
Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!
PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!
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.
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.
Thank you for participating in the 2024 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.
The Chanticleer Cover Design Awards (The CCDAs) for Fiction recognizes artistic excellence across genre in great cover design. The CCDAs are a new Award Division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).
Our design is inspired by books designed by the incomparable Coraline Bickford-Smith. Her simple, beautiful, and evocative designs do so much to make the book work as a visual ambassador, capturing the essence of story and compelling potential readers to pick it up, click on it, or share it with others. A well-designed cover signals professionalism, sets expectations for your genre, and serves as a powerful marketing tool to stand out in both digital and physical spaces.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring clear genres, audience, time periods, typography, and longevity across genres of Historical Fiction, Romance, Literary, Satire, Speculative Fiction, and Youth Reads.
1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Diane Garland on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 at the Bellingham Yacht Club in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
This is the OFFICIAL 2024 LIST of the COVER DESIGN AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the COVER DESIGN Grand Prize Winner.
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their covers!
Margaret Porter – A Change of Location
Travis Davis – One of Four
Ann Philipp – Grand Theft Death
Laura C. Rader – Hatfield 1677
Mark A. Gibson – A Song That Never Ends
Gail Noble-Sanderson – The Book of Rules
C.L. Olsen – Old Crabby Turtle
R.W. Meek – The Dream Collector Book I Sabrine and Sigmund Freud
Deborah Swenson – Till My Last Breath Book One in the Desert Hills Trilogy
The Grand Prize Winner for the 2024 CCDA COVER DESIGN 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.
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.
NOTE: 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.
Thank you for participating in the 2024 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.
Hounded by an authoritarian military, vicious fellow psychics, and his own mental shadows, teenage Samuel Helen seeks the only people who can help his comatose beloved Evelyn. In Mark Sabbas’s Metaphysical adventure novel, The Monarchs, Samuel has no choice but to trust a strange and powerful girl, Luna, as his guide.
Decades after a nuclear apocalypse devastated Earth, the New Youth were born amidst rebuilding civilization. Vested with large, shining eyes and mysterious psychic power, these children are often feared as demons and taken by the Union military to be molded into weapons. Samuel himself spent most of his life in a military research facility. He grew up believing that a dark and furious power slumbered within him, eager to emerge and wreak havoc.
But Samuel’s not quite alone in this painful world. He has the love of an orphaned non-psychic girl, Evelyn, who urges him to run away with her. And within the walls of the Facility, Samuel relies on the mentorship and counsel of the psychologist Walter. Walter’s old-world music awakens a sense of beauty and inspiration in Samuel, though he struggles to accept Walter’s belief in a beneficent cosmic power.
Thanks to them and the few other New Youth he’s able to befriend, Samuel clings to an open mind and hope for a better world. Both of which are tested when an army of renegade psychics—the Children of the Dragon—lay waste to the Facility.
Despite their words of liberation, leaders Matteo and Tiana leave death and suffering in their wake. They demand absolute obedience on their quest to bring down the Union and rise as Earth’s ‘rightful’ rulers. But even as the Children of the Dragon hold Walter over his head, Samuel refuses to bloody his hands for them. Instead, he and Evelyn flee the desolation.
Though the two young lovers are aided by a mystical presence, it isn’t long before they’re found by a pair of hunters with cruel intentions. Samuel begins to draw more on his metaphysical power, but after his rescue attempt Evelyn is left in a state of supernatural unconsciousness. They would have surely died if not for the sudden appearance of Luna, a New Youth with incredible power both destructive and enlightened.
Luna speaks of a Sanctuary led by her sister, where they can find safety and a healer capable of reaching Evelyn’s soul. But to get there, Luna and Samuel have to follow a mystical river and evade capture while caring for Evelyn’s body along the way. Samuel struggles against his internal demons, trying to grasp enough power to protect himself and his companions without giving in to guilt and hatred.
Luna guides Samuel through the physical and spiritual alike as they both face shadows of the past.
While Samuel can’t be sure how much to believe Luna’s words, he opens himself to the idea of connecting with a broader world consciousness and eventually learns that he has to accept the darkness inside himself in order to embrace the light. Samuel’s good heart and dedication to Evelyn make him an endearing protagonist and help to anchor his metaphysical experiences in relatable emotion.
Luna herself breathes levity and life into the story as she clashes with Samuel’s troubled, sorrowful state. Their shifting dynamic will pull readers eagerly down the river with them. As Samuel learns more about Luna’s violent past, he and the reader alike wonder who this otherworldly girl really is.
Samuel’s metaphysical encounters reveal that more than just his own destiny stands at a vital crossroads—the whole of Earth is caught in a battle between good and evil.
The Monarchs shows a world on the precipice of great change. On one side are the old paradigms of violent dominance, perpetuated by both the Union military and the Children of the Dragon. On the other stands a vision of community and mutual understanding—an enlightened age rising from the ashes. This isn’t a battle that can be won by force, but rather through radical forgiveness and communion with the divinity inside every soul.
Through music, out-of-body visions, and meditative dreams, The Monarchs engages with philosophy and spirituality.
Although readers might struggle to grasp these visions at first, growing familiarity with the characters gives more shape to the abstract imagery and implications. Samuel in particular illustrates the idea of divine unity through his reckonings with traumatic memories and struggle to forgive himself for his mistakes. Later in the story these visions sometimes retread the same emotional ground, although with distinct settings and imagery.
This adventure centers its message of optimism and universal belonging.
The hope for a better world pushes Samuel on in the face of cruelty and loss. He learns to reject cynicism and a focus on the self, gradually putting his faith in a greater metaphysical plan than he can see at once. In his darkest moments, songs from his mother and from Walter’s revered records give him comfort.
Throughout their journey, Samuel, Luna, and Evelyn are buoyed by the kindness of old friends and strangers alike. An old priest gives them shelter and spiritual guidance, a mother invites them to share her roof and food, and even some of those who did them harm in the past return to offer a helping hand. The Monarchs is a story of forgiveness, hope, and the power of love freely given.
There’s a darkness rising from the Otherworld in Lydia M. Hawke’s Becoming Crone, and only the Morrigan’s Crones can send it back. But For Claire Emerson, her first challenge is accepting the fact that she is a Crone.
On Claire’s sixtieth, friends and family come to celebrate her milestone birthday. But with her daughter-in-law Natalie giving out advice more suitable for an 80-year-old, her neighbor Jeanne’s annual gifting of a garden gnome, and her best friend Edie cracking wise and irreverent, Claire’s milestone is more like a millstone around her neck. Fresh off a divorce, in a funk, and seeking purpose in her life, her day is only brightened by her grandson Braden gifting her an antique pendant.
The owner of the antique shop, her neighbor Gilbert, wants to buy it back. Claire refuses for Braden’s sake and finds the pendant proves to have a value stranger than money. Other strange occurrences happen as well, including a strange, angry man, and protective crows. Determined to resolve this new mystery, Claire sets out to find the address.
And find it she does, after a long trek down a disused, heavily wooded, bramble-entangled road.
It’s a stone cottage, guarded by two beings destined to teach and protect her: a female gargoyle named Keven, and Lucan the rather charming werewolf. After much resistance—not to mention an attempt on her life—Claire agrees to stay the night.
At this point Claire is chalking up her fantastical experiences to a seemingly sudden onset of dementia. Despite her disbelief, Claire is sharp and likable, with an engaging voice and a gift for wry witticisms. “Not quite what I’d envisioned as a retirement plan,” she tells herself when she finally agrees to learn magick from Keven.
And she needs to learn magick fast! When the mages attack, the stakes become astronomic.
Claire collects her cat and moves into the cottage to begin her lessons. She finds her long-ago dabbling in Wiccan spells proves she already has the magick in her, but she needs to learn to control it. To Claire’s and Keven’s surprise, she finds she can tap into Air, Fire, Earth, and Water magick. Each Crone controls only one element, which means that Claire is the fifth and ultimate Crone, the Crone of Spirit.
As her training continues, she learns the evil she’s seen began in Arthurian times, when a Slavic god named Morok possessed the wizard Merlin and began disseminating darkness and deceit upon the world. Only the Morrigan and her Crones are capable of stopping him. But each time they try to rid themselves of him, a little of the world also falls with him.
Hawke ties this god of deceit to the lies and disinformation our world experiences today—a quiet reality check that helps ground the story. Morok’s mages even use bots to crawl the internet in search of the five pendants that, when used together, would destroy him forever.
Becoming Crone takes its time getting through Claire’s misgivings about turning sixty before it sets her on her true path, but Hawke has created such a lively cast of characters within a fluid and vivid environment, and the story never fails to intrigue.
Claire’s attraction to Lucan, and Edie’s disappearance, leave unanswered questions, and readers can look forward to both characters returning in the second installment of The Crone Wars series – A Gathering of Crones.
Women readers in particular will enjoy Becoming Crone for its dynamic representation of older female characters. After all, as Keven tells Claire, “All women are witches. Or at least, they have the capacity to be so.”
The Chanticleer Cover Design Awards (The CCDAs) for Fiction recognizes artistic excellence across genre in great cover design. The CCDAs are a new Award Division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).
Our design is inspired by books designed by the incomparable Coraline Bickford-Smith. Her simple, beautiful, and evocative designs do so much to make the book work as a visual ambassador, capturing the essence of story and compelling potential readers to pick it up, click on it, or share it with others. A well-designed cover signals professionalism, sets expectations for your genre, and serves as a powerful marketing tool to stand out in both digital and physical spaces.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring clear genres, audience, time periods, typography, and longevity across genres of Historical Fiction, Romance, Literary, Satire, Speculative Fiction, and Youth Reads.
These titles have moved forward from the 2024 CCDA Fiction Semi-Finalists to the 2024 CCDA Fiction FINALISTS. These entries are now in competition for the 2024 CCDA Fiction First Place Category Winners and Division Grand Prize Winners! FINALISTS will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC25.
We will announce the First Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 in beautiful Bellingham, WA at the Bellingham Yacht Club sponsored by the 2025Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the FIRST PLACE and GRAND PRIZE WINNER of the 2024 Chanticleer Cover Design Awards novel competition for Fiction Books!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
J. Shep – The December Issue
Margaret Porter – A Change of Location
Chris Bennett – The Road To Revolution
Travis Davis – One of Four
Abbe Rolnick –The Underpainting
Ann Philipp – Grand Theft Death
Lucinda Brant – Their Graces Roxton Foundation Series
Laura C. Rader – Hatfield 1677
Kim Gottlieb-Walker –Lenswoman in Love
Natalie Musgrave Dossett – Sarita
Mark A. Gibson – A Song that Never Ends
Gail Noble-Sanderson – The Book of Rules
C.L. Olsen – Old Crabby Turtle
Michelle Morningstar – The Space Between the Divine and the Unholy
R.W. Meek – The Dream Collector Book I – Sabrine and Sigmund Freud
Deborah Swenson – Till My Last Breath Book One in the Desert Hills Trilogy
Strider S.R. Klusman – Luna – The Adventures of Rhone & Stone, book 2
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 Chanticleer Cover Design Awards (The CCDAs) for Fiction recognizes artistic excellence across genre in great cover design. The CCDAs are a new Award Division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).
Let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.
There’s a darkness rising from the Otherworld in Lydia M. Hawke’s Becoming Crone, and only the Morrigan’s Crones can send it back. But For Claire Emerson, her first challenge is accepting the fact that she is a Crone.
