Tag: WritingCommunity

  • The 2024 Harvey Chute First Place Roundup for Business and Finance

    Three Black stripes on a yellow badge CIBA BadgeThe Harvey Chute Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Business and Enterprising Non-Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Jacqui Clarke‘s book, Stop Worrying About Money, will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Harvey Chute 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!

    The 2024 Harvey Chute Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

    Join us in celebrating the 2024 First Place Harvey Chute Winners!

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    Roger Spitz – Disrupt With Impact

    Disrupt With Impact is the ultimate guide to thriving in today’s complex business landscapes. It offers strategies that will allow you to navigate uncertainty and change through strategic decision-making.

    Covering major challenges such as sustainability, AI, geopolitics and cybersecurity, this book is your compass for exploring the uncharted waters of the future. These paradigm shifts will redistribute trillions of dollars, presenting opportunities for immense value creation, while those clinging to business as usual face growing risks of value destruction. Through fascinating research and original frameworks, Disrupt With Impact offers the knowledge and confidence you need to lead your business through disruption.

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    Jenny Li Fowler – Organic Social Media

    Organizations and institutions focused on community building have a built-in group of ambassadors who embrace their message and vision. Social media managers have a unique opportunity to lean into this loyalty by creating a social presence informed by this digital engagement.

    In Organic Social MediaJenny Li Fowler outlines the important steps that social media managers need to take to enhance an organization’s broader growth objectives. Fowler breaks down the important questions to help readers determine the best platforms to invest in, how they can streamline the approval process and other essential strategic steps to create an organic following on social platforms.

    Organic Social Media explains how to elevate the key growth objectives of a brand by creating or recreating its online presence. Early chapters walk readers through the planning phase, the process of strategic goal setting, platform selection, resource management and content discovery. Later chapters focus on executing these established plans and offer a strategic way to build a content calendar and track the success of social. With this book, social media managers will future-proof the online presence of any organization.

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    Anastasia Karklina Gabriel – Cultural Intelligence for Marketers

    Brands not only reflect culture but actively shape societal norms and values. Move beyond performative inclusive marketing and drive the cultural conversation.

    A brand today can build a marketing strategy that not only effectively resonates with audiences but also meaningfully impacts society at large. Learn how to produce inclusive marketing using an approach grounded in critical perspectives on society and the impact brands wield in shaping it. In this book, cultural theorist and strategist Anastasia Karklina Gabriel draws on social analysis, media theory, and semiotics to help marketers improve cultural fluency and future-proof brand strategy by embedding equity and inclusion into every aspect of marketing. Cultural Intelligence for Marketers explains how to create an inclusive marketing strategy using an actionable approach that draws on advanced insights into culture, identity, representation, and the power of media in driving social change.

    The book offers an in-depth dive into the urgent need for cultural competence in marketing using a framework rooted in 4Cs: Culture, communication, critical consciousness, and community. It delves into practical aspects of conscious marketing, inclusive innovation, cultural insights, brand activism, social impact, and responsibility in business. It features insights from current and former marketing leaders at Wieden+Kennedy, Mindshare, Dentsu, and Saatchi & Saatchi, among others. Drawing on case studies from brands that are actively pursuing inclusive marketing strategies, including Microsoft, Pinterest, Billie, and REI, Gabriel outlines the process of deploying cultural intelligence to attain commercial advantage while transforming society for the better.

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    Neal Schaffer – Digital Threads

    Are you a small business owner, entrepreneur, or content creator struggling to navigate the complex world of digital marketing?

    Do you want to learn how to build a powerful online presence, leverage social media, and harness the power of AI tools without breaking the bank?

    In Digital Threads, renowned digital marketing consultant and Fractional CMO Neal Schaffer offers actionable insights and practical strategies that have helped countless businesses and entrepreneurs achieve their marketing goals. Drawing on over a decade of experience, Neal provides a comprehensive playbook that demystifies digital marketing and empowers you.

    Digital Threads is your ultimate guide to mastering digital marketing in today’s fast-paced, digital-first economy.
    In today’s digital-first economy, having a strong online presence and effective marketing strategy is crucial for success. Digital Threads provides you with the knowledge and tools you need to thrive. Whether you’re just starting or looking to refine your existing strategies, this book is your go-to resource for achieving measurable results and sustained growth.

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    Melina Palmer – The Truth About Pricing

    The ultimate guide to pricing mastery and value-based pricing, The Truth About Pricing helps you unlock the secrets of your buyers’ minds, understand their needs, and set prices that skyrocket your business’s success.

    Pricing mastery made easy. A must-read for entrepreneurs seeking to determine what their customers value and set prices they want by understanding the truth about pricing—it isn’t about the price. Everything that happens before the price matters much more than the price itself. Have happier clients, boost your profits, and confidently master the pricing game with this comprehensive guide.

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!


    Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Harvey Chute First Place Winners!

    Three Black stripes on a yellow badge CIBA Badge

    Watch for our Spotlight and Hall of Fame Articles that will feature incredible books, including Jacqui Clarke’s amazing Stop Worrying About Money!

    Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you submit to the Harvey Chute Awards!

    The tiers of achievement for the CIBAs

    Got a great Business and Enterprise Book?

    The 2025 Harvey Chute Book Awards are open through the end of September!

    Blue button that says Enter a Writing Contest
    Submit to the Harvey Chute Awards Today!
  • The 2025 Fiction Cover Design Awards (CCDAs) Long List

    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 2026 Chanticleer 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.

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

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

    Congratulations to our very first Fiction Cover Design Grand Prize Winner!

    Luna, Rhone & Stone Book Two

    By Strider S.R. Klusman

    Click here to see the rest of the 2024 Winners.

    We are now accepting submissions into the 2026 Chanticleer Cover Design Awards for Fiction.

    Please click here for more information.

    Winners will be announced at the 2025 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

    April 17 – 19, 2026! Save the Date for Registration!

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

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

  • 10 Days Left: Nellie Bly, Hearten, Journey, and Military & Front Line Book Awards close soon!

    The First set of Non-Fiction Divisions closes soon!

    Nellie Bly, Hearten, Journey, and Military & Front Line Awards

    Don’t let your book miss out!

    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!

    Best Book Grand Prize for the Chanticleer Int'l Book Awards

    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

    Red, Black, White, book, cover

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    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

    Elk Love cover by Lynne Spriggs O'Connor

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    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

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    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

    Memoirs from the Frontlines cover by Kim Sloan

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    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.

    Let’s celebrate exceptional storytelling together!

    Blue button that says Enter a Writing Contest

    Your book deserves to be discovered

    Don’t Delay! Enter Today!

  • The 2025 Nellie Bly Hall of Fame for Longform Journalism

    Truth Matters Now More Than Ever

    Your Work can Add to the Conversation

    ***Make Your Story Known Today***

    You have until August 31st to submit to the 2025 CIBAs!

    Nellie Bly Awards

    Elizabeth Cochran Seaman (Better known by her Pen Name, Nellie Bly) created a new brand of Investigative Journalism. Best known for beating Jules Verne’s Around The World in 80 Days in 72 days, and even more amazingly, Going undercover to get herself put into a New York Mental Hospital to then publish an exposé on the unlivable conditions and mistreatment of marginalized women. Journalist, Novelist, Inventor and overall amazing Woman. So its only fitting that our Division for Investigative Journalism be named for the woman who made the genre.

    We’re excited to celebrate the excellent caliber of work that we have had the honor of promoting in the CIBAs for Longform Journalism.

    The Nellie Bly Awards are one of a kind. Check out the following books to find out why!

    The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, And a 20 Year Fight for Justice
    By Dan Slepian

    In 2002, Dan Slepian, a veteran producer for NBC’s Dateline, received a tip from a Bronx homicide detective that two men were serving twenty-five years to life in prison for a 1990 murder they did not commit.

    Haunted by what the detective had told him, Slepian began an investigation of the case that eventually resulted in freedom for the two men and launched Slepian on a two-decade personal and professional journey into a deeply flawed justice system fiercely resistant to rectifying—or even acknowledging—its mistakes and their consequences.

    The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice is Slepian’s account of challenging that system. The story follows Slepian on years of prison visits, court hearings, and street reporting that led to a series of powerful Dateline episodes and eventually to freedom for four other men and to an especially deep and lasting friendship with one of them, Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez. From his cell in Sing Sing, JJ aided Slepian in his investigations until his own release in 2021 after decades in prison.

    Like Bryan Stevenson’s Just MercyThe Sing Sing Files is a deeply personal account of wrongful imprisonment and the flaws in our justice system, and a powerful argument for reckoning and accountability. Slepian’s extraordinary book, at once painful and full of hope, shines a light on an injustice whose impact the nation has only begun to confront.

    Buy the book here!

    You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live: Ten Weeks in Birmingham That Changed America
    By Paul Kix

    Paul Kix shows readers the bloody front lines of the civil rights movement in his novel You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live: Ten Weeks in Birmingham That Changed America.

    This historical nonfiction novel explores in-depth the Birmingham, Alabama campaign known as Project C. Kix dives deep into the minds of dozens of key historical figures who helped orchestrate the campaign, such as Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, and Fred Shuttlesworth. Despite an overwhelming fear of failure, Project C needed to catch the attention of the nation.

    When the brutal murder of George Floyd sparked the Black Lives Matter movement, Kix and his wife were faced with the difficult task of explaining racism to their children. Kix, who is white, and his wife, who is Black, chose not to shield them from news coverage of the deaths and the protests that followed.

    The jarring footage of Floyd’s death paralleled another startling image: that of a 15-year-old boy being attacked by a German shepherd handled by the Birmingham police.

    Read More Here

    Saints and Soldiers Cover

    Saints and Soldiers
    By Rita Katz

    To many, atrocities such as mass shootings and violent counter-protests seem to appear out of thin air, undertaken by independent actors. But Rita Katz, in her groundbreaking exploration of internet-age terrorism Saints and Soldiers, reveals a sinister ecosystem of violence multiplying worldwide, visible yet largely ignored.

    Katz – executive director of the counterterrorist organization SITE Intelligence Group– uses a strategic blend of primary media sources, personal narrative, and research analysis to unearth the haunting truths of internet-age terrorism. Although SITE once focused mainly on monitoring the actions of Islamist terrorist groups, Katz describes how it began applying the same tracking methods to white supremacists and neo-Nazis over a decade ago. As Katz writes, “the internet is more than just an asset for today’s new breed of terrorists. It is a necessity.”

    Read More Here

    America's Forgotten Suffragists Cover

    America’s Forgotten Suffragists: Virginia and Francis Minor
    By Nicole Evalina

    Comprehensive in its own right, America’s Forgotten Suffragists by Nicole Evelina is an essential addition to the canon of women’s suffrage and first-wave feminism.

    Equal parts local history of women’s right to vote in the nineteenth century and biography of Virginia and Francis Minor, America’s Forgotten Suffragists illuminates the story of a wife-and-husband feminist duo who were the first to fight for women’s suffrage at the Supreme Court level.

    We learn about the lives of Virginia and Francis Minor by way of historical records, intersecting timelines with other suffragists, and news articles and letters. Virginia Minor was raised on the new and intellectually stimulating University of Virginia campus, where her father worked. Born into a colonial settler and slave-owning family, Virginia came into her own as she grew older, forming abolitionist and feminist beliefs.

    Read More Here

    Prison From The Inside Out
    By William “Mecca” Elmore and Susan Simone

    Prison from Inside Out: One Man’s Journey from a Life Sentence to Freedom is an illuminating chronicle that tells the story of a man who not only survived the stoniest soil but used his experiences to thrive as a human being.

    This arresting memoir is essentially a road trip of William ‘Mecca’ Elmore, a man with a tumultuous childhood, growing up in a neighborhood chock full of social problems. It is in this environment that Elmore is involved in a crime that consequently leads to his arrest and trial. The story builds upon his incarceration in various correctional facilities, his experiences, his release through a Mutual Agreement Parole Program, and his eventual redemption.

    Read More Here

     


    Now that you’re set on your next reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Nellie Bly Winners is to submit today!

    Those who submit and advance will have the chance to win the Overall Grand Prize of the CIBAs and $1000!

    Be Part of the Legacy: Join the Illustrious Roster of Winners

    As the deadline for the 2025 Nellie Bly Awards creeps closer, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the exceptional achievers.

    Seeking avenues for your non-fiction prowess? Explore all our Non-Fiction Divisions that provide platforms for various genres and styles.

    With over $30,000 in rewards and prizes given away every year, what are you waiting for? Submit today!

     

  • The 2025 Nellie Bly Spotlight for Longform Journalism

    In the Tradition of Fearless Truth-Telling

    Nellie Bly Awards

    The Nellie Bly Awards Honor Investigative Journalism That Changes the World

    The submissions for the 2025 Awards are underway, and Nellie Bly closes on August 31, 2025!

    In 1887, a young reporter named Nellie Bly feigned mental illness to expose the horrific conditions at the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island, forever changing how society treated the mentally ill. Her courage to go undercover, endure personal risk, and challenge powerful institutions established a tradition of investigative journalism that continues to hold the powerful accountable and give voice to the voiceless.

    The Nellie Bly Awards honor this fearless tradition, celebrating the journalists, researchers, and truth-tellers who dedicate years – sometimes decades – to exposing corruption, fighting injustice, and demanding accountability from systems that would prefer to operate in shadows. These are the stories that don’t just inform readers; they change laws, free the innocent, and restore faith in the power of persistent, ethical journalism.

    The Vital Role of Investigative Journalism

    In an era of instant news, social media speculation, and AI hallucinations, deep investigative work has never been more crucial. The authors recognized by the Nellie Bly Awards understand that real accountability journalism requires time, resources, and extraordinary persistence. They dig deeper than daily news cycles allow, following leads that others abandon, and asking questions that make uncomfortable people uncomfortable.

    The best investigative non-fiction sparks conversations, policy changes, and sometimes legal action that creates lasting positive change. These authors transform individual investigations into broader understanding of systemic issues that affect us all.

    Celebrating Our 2024 Grand Prize Winner!

    We’re deeply honored to recognize Dan Slepian, whose extraordinary work The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice claimed the 2024 Nellie Bly Grand Prize with an investigation that exemplifies the very best of accountability journalism. What began as a single tip from a Bronx homicide detective in 2002 became a twenty-year personal and professional journey that ultimately freed six innocent men from prison.

    Slepian’s story demonstrates the persistence that defines great investigative journalism—years of prison visits, court hearings, and street reporting that challenged a justice system “fiercely resistant to rectifying—or even acknowledging—its mistakes.” His work resulted not only in powerful Dateline episodes but in actual freedom for wrongfully convicted men, including his deep friendship with Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez, who aided Slepian’s investigations from his Sing Sing cell until his own release in 2021.

    The Sing Sing Files represents investigative journalism at its most vital, exposing systemic flaws while honoring individual human stories, requiring both professional skill and personal courage, and ultimately creating change that extends far beyond the pages of the book. In addition to ongoing promotional features, The Sing Sing Files will be regularly promoted throughout the year and for the next five years in our upcoming Hall of Fame posts. Dan Slepian will also be invited to participate in a Chanticleer 10-Question Interview, and The Sing Sing Files will receive a coveted Chanticleer Editorial Review.

    Categories That Cover Every Beat

    The Nellie Bly Awards welcome investigative work across every section of the metaphorical newspaper, recognizing that corruption and injustice can emerge anywhere:

    • Social Science – Research-driven investigations into societal patterns and behaviors
    • Data Driven Reporting – Stories powered by statistical analysis and empirical evidence
    • Equality and Justice – Exposés of discrimination and fights for civil rights
    • Ethics – Investigations into moral failures in institutions and leadership
    • Human Rights – Documentation of abuses and advocacy for fundamental freedoms
    • Refugees, Immigrants, Migrants – Stories of displacement and the policies that affect vulnerable populations
    • Activist Groups – Investigations into movements, both positive and problematic
    • Crimes and Corruption – Classic investigative journalism exposing criminal behavior and institutional corruption
    • Environmental – Reporting on ecological crimes and environmental justice
    • Whistle Blowers – Stories of those brave enough to expose wrongdoing from within
    • Politics Regional, National, International – Government accountability at every level
    • Wartime/Military – Investigations into conflicts and military institutions
    • \Health and Medicine – Medical investigations and healthcare system accountability and interest stories
    • Nature and the Environment – Environmental science and conservation investigations and interest stories
    • Pop Culture, Social Issues, Current Events – Contemporary cultural criticism and social analysis
    • Home & Garden – Largely interest stories focused on how-to home changes and possible investigations that can result

    Like the sections of a great newspaper, these categories ensure that no corner of society escapes the scrutiny that democracy requires.

    Other August Non-Fiction Opportunities

    The Nellie Bly Awards are part of Chanticleer’s comprehensive celebration of narrative non-fiction, all closing at the end of August:

    September’s non-fiction divisions include Instruction and Insight (I&I), Harvey Chute, and Mind & Spirit Awards.

    Looking at Investigative Excellence

    Check out some of these powerful investigative works we’ve celebrated recently!

    You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live Cover

    You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live
    By Paul Kix

    Paul Kix shows readers the bloody front lines of the civil rights movement in his novel You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live: Ten Weeks in Birmingham That Changed America.

    This historical nonfiction novel explores in-depth the Birmingham, Alabama campaign known as Project C. Kix dives deep into the minds of dozens of key historical figures who helped orchestrate the campaign, such as Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, and Fred Shuttlesworth. Despite an overwhelming fear of failure, Project C needed to catch the attention of the nation.

    When the brutal murder of George Floyd sparked the Black Lives Matter movement, Kix and his wife were faced with the difficult task of explaining racism to their children. Kix, who is white, and his wife, who is Black, chose not to shield them from news coverage of the deaths and the protests that followed.

    The jarring footage of Floyd’s death paralleled another startling image: that of a 15-year-old boy being attacked by a German shepherd handled by the Birmingham police.

    Read More Here

    Delaware from Freeways to E-Ways Cover

    Delaware from Freeways to E-Ways
    By Dave Tabler

    Dave Tabler’s Delaware from Freeways to E-Ways presents a nonlinear kaleidoscope view of Delaware’s twentieth-century history, braiding together snapshots of the state through a variety of lenses.

    By dissecting the history of the state’s education system, economy, politics, war, technology, social dynamics, religion, agriculture, and conservation of the natural world, this book becomes a patchwork quilt of Delaware’s contributions to recent American history.

    Tabler strategically places historical images throughout the first half of the book to help paint a vivid picture of what Delaware life has been like across the years. The second half of the book then expounds on every snapshot, allowing the reader to pursue the parts that most interest them. Tabler concludes each of these deeper dives by describing the impacts on present-day Delaware and America. These threads of connection to current events help the reader find meaning within the overall arc of history.

    Read More Here

    Italians in the Pacific Northwest Cover

    Italians in the Pacific Northwest
    By Tessa Floreano

    Tessa Floreano’sItalians in the Pacific Northwest is an inviting pictorial narrative featuring both ordinary and extraordinary individuals of Italian heritage who helped to create and develop Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

    Concentrating on the decades from 1880 to 1950, Floreano begins by referencing the earliest Italian explorers of the Pacific Northwest Territory, then quickly moves to the efforts of those who sought a better life through hard work and new opportunities on American shores.

    Floreano’s research shows through the fascinating details of this book.

    She includes stories, photographs, and memorabilia to highlight both the struggles and triumphs of these pioneering Italian Americans. From the backbreaking labor of building the road and rail infrastructure that connected this new land, to working in the coal mines, logging and milling the giant cedars, farming the soil, fishing the waters, and becoming savvy entrepreneurs, these people proved a hearty, steadfast bunch.

    Read More Here

    I Am a Prisoner of Hope Cover

    I Am a Prisoner of Hope
    By Samuel Ole Lotegeluaki, Ph.D.

    Author Samuel Ole Lotegeluaki, PhD, states in the very title of this book, I Am a Prisoner of Hope. He goes on to explain why this is the case and why hope is central to our beingness.

    A Maasai originally from Tanzania and one of three boys in a family with eight children, Lotegeluaki has been living in the United States for many years and has seen much good and much bad, in the country and around the world. In defiance of social inequality and bigotry, Lotegelauki maintains a strong belief in human unity, “Day and night I am reminded of the fact that we as human beings, regardless of culture, language, religion, gender, skin color or social economic status, are all under God’s huge canopy, and we are convincingly related.” He reminds us, “You may not look exactly like me, but rest assured, we are not just related, but more importantly, we are siblings.”

    Lotegeluaki tells the reader his experiences, the histories of places he has lived and the people he has met, and observes what each has to teach and offer humanity. He remains dedicated to the pursuit of togetherness within diversity, no matter our differences. In Chapter Four, “Grandmother’s Quilt,” he uses the metaphor of a handmade quilt with emotional overtones and ties to explain human nature and all that it entails.

    Read More Here

    Saints and Soldiers Cover

    Saints and Soldiers
    By Rita Katz

    To many, atrocities such as mass shootings and violent counter-protests seem to appear out of thin air, undertaken by independent actors. But Rita Katz, in her groundbreaking exploration of internet-age terrorism Saints and Soldiers, reveals a sinister ecosystem of violence multiplying worldwide, visible yet largely ignored.

    Katz– executive director of the counterterrorist organization SITE Intelligence Group– uses a strategic blend of primary media sources, personal narrative, and research analysis to unearth the haunting truths of internet-age terrorism. Although SITE once focused mainly on monitoring the actions of Islamist terrorist groups, Katz describes how it began applying the same tracking methods to white supremacists and neo-Nazis over a decade ago. As Katz writes, “the internet is more than just an asset for today’s new breed of terrorists. It is a necessity.”

    Throughout Saints and Soldiers, Katz uses her decades of intensive experience to describe how a new generation of internet-born white supremacist movements followed the same trajectory as ISIS. She exposes the network of threads that link white supremacist violence such as the Christchurch massacre of 2019 to their origins on messaging platforms such as 8chan, Discord, Stormfront, and Telegram. Indoctrinating vulnerable minds with extremist neo-Nazi ideology, these violent groups use a “screw your optics” mantra that celebrates gruesome violence and the “saints” and “martyrs” that drive their hateful cause.

    Read More Here

    These works demonstrate how great investigative journalism combines rigorous research with compelling storytelling to create accountability and change.

    See the Chanticleer Difference for Yourself!

    The CIBAs offer multiple levels of recognition designed to augment your digital footprint and provide long-tail marketing that makes you easier for readers to find. Each reward builds on the previous and continues promotion:

    • Long List: Recognition across our website, newsletter, and social media
    • Short List/Semi-Finalist: Digital badges and promotional stickers
    • Finalists: Conference discounts, review discounts, certificates, and genre-specific badges
    • First Place Winners: Coveted Chanticleer Blue Ribbon, premium review discounts, lifetime Roost membership discount, and year-round promotion
    • Grand Prize Winners: Awarded Editorial Book Review and Author Interview, featured on Awards page all year, promoted in Hall of Fame articles for five years
    • Overall Grand Prize Winner: $1000 cash prize

    The Nellie Bly Awards provide recognition for work that often takes years to complete and may challenge powerful interests who would prefer these stories remain untold. Whether you’re a professional journalist, academic researcher, or citizen investigator, these awards celebrate the courage and persistence required to hold the powerful accountable and give voice to those who need advocates.

    Carry Forward the Legacy

    In Nellie Bly’s tradition, the best investigative journalism requires both courage and compassion—the bravery to challenge systems and the empathy to understand how those systems affect real people. Your investigation, your exposé, your carefully researched account of injustice or corruption could be the story that creates change, demands accountability, or gives voice to those who have been silenced.

    Nellie Bly Awards

    Honor Nellie Bly’s legacy of fearless truth-telling—the deadline is August 31, 2025!

    You know you want it…

    Submit to the Nellie Bly Awards today and help us celebrate journalism that changes the world!

  • The 2025 Hearten Hall of Fame for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction

    Take a deep breath and smile

    A book covered in flower petals with the pages formed into a heart

    The Hearten Awards are here to bring you joy, and maybe a few tears with some of these excellent books

    **Your Story is Worth Sharing**

    You have until August 31st to share your uplifting memoir with us and enter the 2025 CIBAs!

    Enter by August 31, 2025

    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 cover by Lynne Spriggs O'Connor

    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

    Find more from this author on her website

    Buy the Book

    Running Away from the Circus Cover

    Running Away from the Circus
    By Nove Meyers

    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.

    Read more here!

    Inner Trek Cover

    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.

    Read more here!

    DAWGS Cover

    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?”

    Read more here!

    Love Life & Lucille Cover

    Love, Life, and Lucille
    By Judy Gaman

    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.

    Read more here!


    Now that you’re set on your next reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Hearten Winners is to enter today!

    The Chanticleer Int'l Book Awards Overall Grand Prize sticker for the CIBAs

    Those who submit and advance will have the chance to win the Overall Grand Prize of the CIBAs and $1000!

    The Blue and Gold Best Book Awards for the CIBAs
    You know you want it…

     

  • The 2024 Hearten First Place Roundup for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction

    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!

    The 2024 Hearten Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

    Join us in celebrating the 2024 First Place Hearten Winners!

    A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

    Genét Simone – Teaching in the Dark

    Teaching in the Dark Cover

    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.

    Read More Here!

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    David Hutton – Drums of a Distant Tribe

    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.

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    Etsuko Diamond Miyagi – Diamond: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan

    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 Japan is 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.

    Read More Here!

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    Rachael Siddoway and Sonja Wasden – An Impossible Life: A True Story of Hope and Mental Illness

    Also a 2024 Journey First Place Winner!

    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.

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    Susan Cole – Holding Fast: A Memoir of Sailing, Love, and Loss

    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.

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    Tony Jeton Selimi – The Unfakeable Code®

    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.

    Find it on Amazon!


    Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Hearten First Place Winners!

    Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you submit to the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!

    The tiers of achievement for the CIBAs

    Got a great Fiction Book? The 2025 Hearten Book Awards are open through the end of August!

    Blue button that says Enter a Writing Contest
    Submit to the Hearten Awards Today!
  • The 2025 Hearten Spotlight for Inspiring and Uplifting Non-Fiction

    Where Hope Meets the Written Word!

    The Hearten Awards Celebrate Stories That Inspire and Heal

    The submissions for the 2025 Awards are underway and Hearten closes on August 31, 2025!

    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

    Coffee with heart in red dishware

    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!

    Elk Love cover by Lynne Spriggs O'Connor

    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 words "Non-Fiction CIBA Divisions Because truth Matters" over the pages of a book

    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

    Military & Front Line Awards – Stories of military service and front-line experiences

    September non-fiction divisions include: Instruction and Insight (I&I), Harvey Chute, and Mind & Spirit Awards.

    Looking at Stories That Inspire

    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 Excellence by 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.

    Read More Here

    Running Away from the Circus Cover

    Running Away From The Circus
    By Nove Meyers

    Heartens 2023 Grand Prize Winner!

    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.

    Read More Here

    The Best I Can Do Cover

    The Best I Can Do
    By Cheryl Landes

    Cheryl Landes’s The 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 Do tells 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.

    Read More Here

    Teaching in the Dark Cover

    Teaching in the Dark
    By Genet Simone

    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.

    Read More Here

    Fishing with Hyenas Cover

    Fishing With Hyenas
    By Theresa Mathews

    A Journey First Place Winner!

    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.

    Read More Here

    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.

    Share your story of hope and healing—the deadline is August 31, 2025!

    You know you want it…

    Submit to the Hearten Awards today and help us celebrate the transformative power of uplifting stories!

  • Two Weeks left to submit to the Chanticleer Cover Design Awards (CCDAs!)

    Two Divisions Close at the end of July

    The Cover Design Book Awards for Fiction and Non-Fiction

    Two excellent divisions close at the end of July!

    Don’t let your cover miss out!

    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!

    Best Book Grand Prize for the Chanticleer Int'l Book AwardsCongratulations 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

    A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

    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

    Teaching in the Dark Cover

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    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.

    Let’s celebrate exceptional storytelling together!

    The Cover Design Book Awards for Fiction and Non-Fiction

    The Chanticleer Cover Design Awards for Fiction and Non-Fiction

    Your book deserves to be discovered

  • Cover Design Fiction First Place Roundup 2024

    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!

    The 2024 Clue Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

    Join us in celebrating the very first group of First Place Cover Design Winners!

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    Margaret Porter – A Change of Location

    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.

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    Travis Davis – One of Four

    One of Four Cover

    A 2024 Hemingway First Place Winner!

    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.

    Read More Here

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    Ann Phillip – Grand Theft Death

    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 are even 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.

    Read More Here

    Find it Locally or on Amazon!

    Laura C. Rader – Hatfield 1677

    A 2024 Chaucer First Place Winner!

    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.

    Find it Locally or on Amazon!

    Mark A. Gibson – A Song That Never Ends

    A Song that Never Ends Cover

    A 2023 Series Award First Place Winner!

    Home.

    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.

    Read More Here

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    Gail Noble-Sanderson – The Book of Rules

    A 2022 M&M First Place Winner!

    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.

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    C.L. Olsen – Old Crabby Turtle

    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.

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    R.W. Meek – The Dream Collector Book 1: Sabrine and Sigmund Freud

    The Dream Collector immerses 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.

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

    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?

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!

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    And now, the first ever GRAND PRIZE WINNERS in Non-Fiction for the Chanticleer Cover Design Awards!

    Strider S.R. Klusman – Luna, Rhone and Stone Book 2

    A 2023 Dante Rossetti First Place Winner!

    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.

    Read More Here

    Find it Locally and on Amazon!


    Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Cover Design First Place and Grand Prize Winners!

    Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you submit to the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!

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