Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Service to Others

The 2022 Military & Front Lines CIBAs Short List for Service to Others
The Military & Front Lines Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir exploring the lives of those who serve their country and others. The Military & Front Lines Service 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.

Note: This is the newest division at Chanticleer! We are honored to recognize these specialized stories from those who serve.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Military and Front Line Non-Fiction entries to the 2022 Military and Front Line Book Awards SHORT LIST. Finalists will be selected from the Short List. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).

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 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the FINALISTS of the 2022 Military & Front Lines Book Awards for Narrative Non-Fiction.

Please join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.
- Robert E. Lofthouse – Honor Through Sacrifice
- Colonel Van H. Slayden, USAF, with Patrecia Slayden Hollis – Normandy to Nazi Surrender, Firsthand Account of a P-47 Thunderbolt Pilot
- George Kohn – Vector to Destiny
- Tamra McAnally Bolton – A Blessed Life
- Frederick Douglass Reynolds – Black, White, and Gray All Over: A Black Man’s Odyssey in Life and Law Enforcement
- Azim H. Jiwani, MD – Humanizing Medicine
- Isaac Alexis M.D. – The Seductive Pink Crystal
- Marcus A. Nannini – Midnight Flight to Nuremberg
- Christine Herbert – The Color of the Elephant: Memoir of a Muzungu
- Ashe and Magdalena Stevens – Lost in Beirut: A True Story of Love, Loss and War
- Bruce Rowe, MD – Everything Under the Sun
- Brant Vickers – Chucky’s in Tucson
- Matthew J. Louis – Mission Transition: Navigating the Opportunities and Obstacles to Your Post-Military Career
- Jim Enderle – Fight, Flight, or Freeze
- Jonathon C. Benjamin – American Airman
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Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

This is a new division of the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2021 Military and Front Line Awards is Martha Bolton with Linda Hope for Dear Bob… Bob Hope’s Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.s of WW2

Click here to see the 2021 Military an Front Line Book Award Winners for Service to Others

We are now accepting submissions for the 2023 Military and Front Line Book Awards. The 2023 Winners will be announced at CAC 2024.

Learn more here.

See our Full List of Non-Fiction Divisions here!

Winners will be announced at the 2022 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 27-30, 2023! Register Today!

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

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!
February 2, 2023
Navigating Narrative Non-Fiction | November Deadlines for the CIBAs
Demystify Your Non-Fiction with Chanticleer

In Fiction, genre boundaries can sometimes seem so clear, scifi has aliens and mysteries have a murder, but how do we organize Non-Fiction?

Chanticleer offers a wide variety of Non-Fiction Book Awards, and here we’ll focus on the Narrative Non-Fiction Divisions.

These Divisions are:
The Original*

The Journey Awards came first. These awards shine bright as the lodestar of quality for the others. As more Non-Fiction submissions came in, the number of Non-Fiction Divisions expanded to fill the need. Right now, the Journey Awards focuses primarily on stories Overcoming Adversity. Often tear-jerkers, these stories highlight the resiliency of being human.

The 2021 Grand Prize Winner for the Journey Awards was Better off Bald by Andrea Wilson Woods.

There exists a bond between sisters, and often that bond becomes a connection so strong that time cannot erase the love and the longing for the other. Andrea Wilson Woods defines such a bond in Better Off Bald: A Life in 147 Days.

Woods details the choreographed life she lives with her sister Adrienne, who has been diagnosed with cancer. Together they begin their dance, pirouetting around IV ports and long lists of medications. Sisters in life, love, and an all-out war against liver cancer.

Woods retells her story with compassion and a rational eye for detail while embracing all the deep emotions that ravage her as she records every one of the 147 days after the initial diagnosis.
Their confusion about how this could have happened and their hope that they can beat this “thing” growing inside Adrienne are present on each page. Woods makes note of the doctors by name, the nurses by nicknames, and the hospital visits by hours spent waiting, waiting, waiting for help to come and rescue them from the nightmare that cancer has made of their lives.

Read more here.

*Note: The Journey Awards deadline has already passed, but the 2023 Journey Awards are open now!

Putting in the Research

Following the Journey Awards, it became clear we needed Awards focused on Journalism and Reporting. Enter the Nellie Bly Awards, named for reporter Nellie Bly whose journey around the Earth inspired the story Around the World in 80 Days. These books can back up all their facts with hard dates and maybe even an appendix at the end. They tell the stories that call out for their place in history.

The 2021 Grand Prize Winner for the Nellie Bly Awards was America’s Forgotten Suffragists: Virginia and Francis Minor by Nicole Evelina.

After being forgotten for nearly 130 years, the “Mother of Suffrage in Missouri” and her husband are finally taking their rightful place in history.

St. Louisans Virginia and Francis Minor forever changed the direction of women’s rights by taking the issue to the Supreme Court for the first and only time in 1875, a feat never eclipsed even by their better-known peers Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Yet despite a myriad of accomplishments and gaining notoriety in their own time, the Minors’ names have largely faded from memory. In 1867, Virginia founded the nation’s first organization solely dedicated to women’s suffrage—two years before Anthony formed the National Woman’s Suffrage Association (NWSA). Virginia and Francis were also the brains behind the groundbreaking idea that women were given the right to vote under the Fourteenth Amendment, a philosophy the NWSA adopted for nearly a decade.

Read more here.

Opening up Personal Narratives

As the Journey Awards began filling up, it became difficult to recognize both the uplifting and inspirational work as well as the work that looked at the darker side of what people overcome in their life. To try and highlight this warmer tone of writing, the Hearten Awards were introduced, so this “chicken soup for the soul” style of book could be brought to the forefront.

The 2021 Grand Prize Winner for the Hearten Awards was DAWGS: A True Story of Lost Animals and the Kids Who Rescued Them by Diane Trull & Meredith Wargo

We can all make a difference. Elementary-school teacher Diane Trull’s life-defining moment happened when her fourth-grade reading class saw a photo of a cardboard box overflowing with homeless puppies. Trull was no stranger to rescuing abandoned animals. She and her husband, Mark, had made it their mission to find permanent homes for stray dogs and cats. Now her young students were determined to save these lost pups and others like them. And in that moment, the Dalhart Animal Wellness Group and Sanctuary-known as DAWGS-was born. How Trull and her fourth graders started their own animal shelter is a story of dedication, commitment, and perseverance. In this eye-opening, deeply personal book, Trull describes the challenges they faced, from rescuing and caring for the animals to teaching children about compassion and responsibility, to facing local interests opposed to having a shelter in their town. She shares inspiring stories about animals and animal lovers of all ages in this moving story of hope and compassion. DAWGS is a testament to how love and a strong measure of determination can offer second chances-one animal, one child, and one day at a time.

Read more here!

The Newest Division from Chanticleer

The Military and Front Line Awards are close to our heart at Chanticleer. We’ve often wanted enough submissions for this to be its own Division as we all have family who has served in the military. However, we wanted these Awards to represent all walks of life that provide Service to Others like firefighters, teachers, medical workers, and the family of those who work to make our world a better place.

The 2021 Grand Prize Winner for the Military and Front Line Awards was Dear Bob by Martha Bolton with Linda Hope

For five decades, comedian, actor, singer, dancer, and entertainer Bob Hope (1903-2003) traveled the world performing before American and Allied troops and putting on morale-boosting USO shows. Dear Bob . . . : Bob Hope’s Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.s of World War II tells the story of Hope’s remarkable service to the fighting men and women of World War II, collecting personal letters, postcards, packages, and more sent back and forth among Hope and the troops and their loved ones back home.

Soldiers, nurses, wives, and parents shared their innermost thoughts, swapped jokes, and commiserated with the “G.I.s’ best friend” about war, sacrifice, lonely days, and worrisome, silent nights. The Entertainer of the Century performed for millions of soldiers in person, in films, and over the radio. He visited them in the hospitals and became not just a pal but their link to home. This unforgettable collection of letters and images, many of which remained in Hope’s personal files throughout his life and now reside at the Library of Congress, capture a personal side of both writer and recipient in a very special and often-emotional way. This volume heralds the voices of those servicemen and women whom Hope entertained and who, it is clear, delighted and inspired him.

Read more here.

A huge thank you to these incredible authors.

Keep Writing. Truth matters now more than ever.

Have an excellent Non-Fiction Narrative that deserves recognition? Submit now to our Non-Fiction Book Awards by the end of November!*

Note: The Journey Awards Deadline has already passed

Your book could be next!

Looking to up your game? Check out the traditional publishing tool that indie authors can use to propel their writing careers to new levels.
November 17, 2022
Part Three of Three Official Postings of the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards (#CIBAs) Overall Grand Prize and Division Grand Prize and First Place Category Winners
We are deeply honored and excited to continue to announce the 2021 Winners of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs) with our third and final of three official postings.

CIBA Grand Prize Ribbons!

The winners were recognized at the CIBA ceremonies held on June 25th, 2022 in-person and by ZOOM webinars at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether, Bellingham, Wash.

The CIBA announcements were made LIVE with Chanticleerians participating and interacting from around the globe and North America.

Raising our glasses to cheer the CIBA Winners!

We want to thank all of the CIBA judges who read each and every entry and then comment, rate, and rank within each of the 25 CIBA Divisions. Without your labors of love for books, the Chanticleer International Book Awards would not exist. THANK YOU!

We want to thank all of the authors and publishers who participated in the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs). Each year, we find the quality of the entries and the competitiveness of the division competitions increasing exponentially. We added a new level to the judging rounds in 2019—the premier Level of FINALIST per each CIBA Division. The CIBA judges wanted to add the Finalist Level of Achievement as a way to recognize and validate the entries that had outstanding merit but were not selected for the very few First Place Award positions within each genre division.

This post will recognize the First Place and Grand Prize Winners for the

Seven Non-Fiction Divisions:

Journey, Hearten, Harvey Chute, Mind and Spirit, I & I, Military & Frontline and Nellie Bly

along with the FIRST Winners for the

Short Story, and Book Series Awards,

and concluding with the

OVERALL 2021 GRAND PRIZE WINNER

for the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards

For the Cygnus, Ozma, Paranormal, Global Thrillers, M&M, Clue, Little Peeps, Gertrude Warner, and Dante Rossetti Book Awards, please click here for Part 1.

For the Laramie, Chaucer, Goethe, Hemingway, Chatelaine, Mark Twain, and Somerset Awards, click here for Part 2.

The JOURNEY Book Awards for

Narrative Non-Fiction, Memoirs, and Biographies

Grand Prize Winner is

BETTER OFF BALD: A Life in 147 Days

The Journey First Place Category Winners are:
- Rosie McMahan – Fortunate Daughter: A Memoir of Reconciliation
- Rosemary Keevil – The Art of Losing It: A Memoir of Grief and Addiction
- Heather Haldeman – Kids and Cocktails Don’t Mix: A Memoir
- Kathleen Lockyer – The Broken Wing Dance — Love, loss, trauma and how nature led me back to my wild self
- C.L. Olsen – The Home for Friendless Children
The INSTRUCTION and INSIGHT Book Awards

for How-To Guides, Travel Guides, Cook Books, Self-Help, and Enlightenment

Grand Prize Winner is

THE BLACK FOSTER YOUTH HANDBOOK by Angela Quijada-Banks

The I & I First Place Category Winners are:
- Wendela Whitcomb Marsh – Recognizing Autism in Women and Girls
- Geraldine Clouston and Susan Weintrob – indieBRAG Eat, Read & Dream Cookbook
- Jim & Jessica Braz – Baby Out of Wedlock
- Phoebe Walker – Freedom Found – Productive and Joyful Living In Spite of Chronic Pain
- M. J. Simms-Maddox, Ph.D. – A Handbook for Emerging and Seasoned Authors
Congratulations to the Inaugural

AWARD WINNERS for the

Military and Front Line Book Awards

of the CIBAs

The MILITARY & FRONT LINE Book Awards

for Service to Others Non-Fiction

Grand Prize Winner is

DEAR BOB: Bob Hope’s Wartime Correspondance with the G.I.s of World War II by Martha Bolten with Linda Hope

The Military & Front Line First Place Category Winners are:
- Vicki Cody – Fly Safe: Letters from the Gulf War and Reflections From Back Home
- Grover Nicodemus Street RN, Sandra de Abreu Guidry-Street MD, & Ja-ne de Abreu – Chasing the Surge: Life as a Travel Nurse in a Global Pandemic
- Margaret Thomson – The World Looks Different Now
- Burl Harmon – Combat Missions
- George Farag – Unbecoming My Father’s Son: A Memoir
The NELLIE BLY Book Awards

for Investigative and Long Form Journalism Non-Fiction

Grand Prize Winner is

AMERICA’S FORGOTTEN SUFFRAGISTS: Virginia and Francis Minor
by Nicole Evelina

The Nellie Bly First Place Category Winners are:
- Dori Jones Yang – When the Red Gates Opened
- Dr. Kate Dolan – Beating Drug Addiction in Tehran: a Women’s Clinic
- Abe Streep – Brothers on Three: A True Story of Family, Resistance, and Hope on a Reservation in Montana
- Janice S. Ellis, Ph.D. – Advancing the Good Society: Real Advocacy Journalism in Action
The HARVEY CHUTE Book Awards

for Business & Enterprise Non-Fiction

Grand Prize Winner is

BEYOND BALANCING THE BOOKS by George Marino

The Harvey Chute First Place Category Winners are:
- Stan Bernard, MD, MBA – Brands Don’t Win: How Transcenders Change Games
- Thomas Wideman – Welfare Cheese to Fine Caviar: How to Achieve Your Dreams Despite Your Upbringing
- Kate Dixon – Pay Up! Unlocking Insider Secrets of Salary Negotiation
- Cash Nickerson – Negotiating As a Martial Art
The MIND & SPIRIT Book Awards

for Spirituality and Enlightenment Non-Fiction

Grand Prize Winner is

ENLIGHTEN UP! by Beth Gibbs

The Mind and Spirit First Place Category Winners are:
- Mike Lutz – Jesus Speaking
- Reagan J. Pasternak – Griffin’s Heart: Mourning Your Pet With No Apologies
- Tammy Green – Living Without Skin: Everything I Never Knew About Fierce Vulnerability
- Starr Regan DiCiurcio – Divine Sparks: Interfaith Wisdom for a Postmodern World
The HEARTEN Book Awards

for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction

Grand Prize Winner is

DAWGS: A True Story of Lost Animals and the Kids Who Rescued Them
By Diane Trull and Meredith Wargo

The Hearten First Place Category Winners are:
- Fred Guttenberg – Find the Helpers
- Linda Morrow – Heart of This Family – Lessons in Down Syndrome and Love
- Lisa Dailey – Square Up: 50,000 miles in search of a way home
- Labar Laskie – Above the Din: Diary of the HepC Wonder Drugs
- Meg Nocero – Butterfly Awakens: A Memoir of Transformation Through Grief
The SHORT STORY Book Awards

for the CIBA Short Story Collections

Grand Prize Winner is

NEW YORK: Give Me Your Best or Your Worst by Elizabeth Crowens

The Shorts First Place Category Winners are:
- Leah Angstman – Shoot the Horses First
- Susannah Dawn – I’m Not What I Used To Be, Yet I Am Who I’ve Always Been – Excerpts From My Journey
- Domenick Venezia – The Edwerd Chronicles
- Frances Howard-Snyder – Through a Glass Darkly
- Helena P. Schrader – Grounded Eagles
The SHORT STORY Book Awards

for Short Stories, Novelettes, and Novellas

Grand Prize Winner is

HOMEGOING by Toni Ann Johnson

The Shorts First Place Category Winners are:
- Gina Detwiler – Before: Jared’s Story
- M. K. Wiseman – Sherlock Holmes & the Ripper of Whitechapel
- Elizabeth Wolf – The Royal Foetus: A very short novel based on the very short life of King Louis XVII
- Lindy Miller – Sleigh Bells on Bread Loaf Mountain
- Vicky Oliver – A Valentine to my Mothers and Other Dubious Role Models
- Kourtney Spadoni – In The Underwood
The BOOK SERIES Book Awards

for Fiction Series

Grand Prize Winner is

THE GUINEVERE’S TALE TRILOGY by Nicole Evelina

Daughter of Destiny, Camelot’s Queen, and Mistress of Legend

The Series First Place Category Winners are:

Ozma Book Awards for Series – Fantasy Fiction
- M. K. Wiseman – The Bookminder series
Dante Rossetti Book Awards for Series – Young Adult
- Pamela Beason – Run for Your Life
Chatelaine Book Awards for Series – Romantic Fiction
- Janet K. Shawgo – Look For Me Series
CLUE Book Awards for Series – Thriller/Suspense
- Kaylin McFarren – Threads
Mystery & Mayhem Book Awards for Series – Mysteries / Cozy and Not-so-Cozy
- Amy S. Peele – A Transplant Medical Murder Mystery series
Laramie Book Awards for Series – Americana / Western Fiction
- E. Alan Fleischauer – JT Thomas’s Series – Western series
CONGRATULATIONS to ALL!

And NOW for the

2021 CHANTICLEER INT’L BOOK AWARDS

BEST BOOK

and

OVERALL GRAND PRIZE WINNER

THE DEVIL PULLS THE STRINGS

by J.W. Zarek

J.W. Zarek will also be awarded $1,000 USD in recognition of her 2021 BEST BOOK of the YEAR – Chanticleer International Book Awards – Sponsored by Chanticleer Reviews & Media.

A Chanticleer Review of The Devil Pulls the Strings will be featured in the in the Chanticleer Reviews OnWord Magazine (print and epub) along with other promotional and marketing opportunities along with an interview with the author, J.W. Zarek.

Thank you J.W. Zarek for participating in the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards. We look forward to receiving future work in our CIBAs.

CONGRATULATIONS J.W. Zarek!

Six Grand Prize Winners with J.W. Zarek, the 2021 Overall Grand Prize Winner!

From all of us at Chanticleer International Book Awards and Chanticleer Reviews.

Looking for your Division? Check out our previous posts:

For the Cygnus, Ozma, Paranormal, Global Thrillers, M&M, Clue, Little Peeps, Gertrude Warner, and Dante Rossetti Book Awards, please click here for Part 1.

For the Laramie, Chaucer, Goethe, Hemingway, Chatelaine, Mark Twain, and Somerset Awards, click here for Part 2.

THANK YOU to VCAC21 SPONSORS and FRIENDS

And to FRIENDS of CHANTICLEER REVIEWS:

Cathy Ace, J.D. Barker, Robert Dugoni, Chris Humphreys, Bradley Metrock, Jessica Morrell, Scott Steindorff, and Paul Hanson of Village Books

We will post more photographs and information. Do check back and subscribe to the Chanticleer Reviews e-news letter.

We have exciting news for the Chanticleer Community on the horizon so do stay tuned!

You know you want a coveted Chanticleer Reviews Blue Ribbon!

Submit your works (manuscripts or novels published after or on January 1, 2019, are accepted) to the prestigious Chanticleer International Book Awards today! Entries are being accepted into the 2022 CIBAs in all 18 fiction divisions and seven non-fiction divisions.

Be sure to register early for the 11th Chanticleer Authors Conference that will start on April 23rd, 2023 with the 2022 CIBA banquet and ceremony scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 25th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.

Be well. Stay Healthy. Take Care!

An email will go out to all 2021 CIBA award winners prior to October 30, 2022, with instructions, links, and more information about the awards packages. We appreciate your patience. As stated many times before “One does not need to be present at the CIBA ceremony and banquet to win. But it sure is a lot more fun!”

As always, please contact us at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

We need good books, now more than ever!

The Chanticleer Reviews Team
July 13, 2022