Awards

Ellen’s book, She/Her (FLP), is the winner of the 2026 Independent Press Award in the category, “Poetry: Human Identity & Connection.” 

 She/Her explores the many facets of femaleness across decades, reflecting on universal experiences through poems touching on identity, family, faith, and growth. 

View Award Details

Congratulations to Douglas Cole and FLP! Douglas was listed as a 2026 Finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards for his FLP book DRIFTERS. https://www.hofferaward.com

Other honors for DRIFTERS:

Livija’s FLP book, Ilze’s Daughter, was named a finalist in the 61st Georgia Author of the Year Awards for Poetry Chapbook.

The judges praised Ilze’s Daughter as “a quiet triumph,” honoring the immigrant experience from war-torn Latvia and a displaced persons camp in Germany to rural Pennsylvania, highlighting the dignity and daily labor of women.

And When The Sun Drops (FLP) is the winner of the American Legacy Award for a Chapbook. 

Congratulations to Melissa Mitchell and FLP! Melissa was listed as a 2026 Finalist in the The Medal Provocateur Award of the Eric Hoffer Book Awards for her FLP book Portrait Lands. https://www.hofferaward.com

Congratulations to Joseph Hess and FLP! Joseph’s book INTO THE ANCIENT (Finishing Line Press) was selected as the WINNER of the Alumni Book Award from the Master of Fine Arts Program at Ashland University.

The judge, poet George David Clark, had the following to say about the poetry collection, Into the Ancient:

“Hess has a great talent for imagery, and poem by poem the details in this collection are as psychologically insightful as they are vivid and precise.Into the Ancient simply sees the world well—nothing could be less simple. Many of these poems reflect on the past, but it’s the past that transcends our calendars and continues living today in the mystery of the human heart. These poems attend to that mystery with the care to humbly honor it and the boldness to look it right in face.”

For What’s It Like To Be Old?

—Finalist Award in the 23rd Annual Best Book Award of the American Book Fest 2026.

—John Maynard has won a Chrysalis BREW Seal of Excellence and a BREW Reader’s Choice Award. 

—John Maynard has also won a Literary Titan Gold Book Award for Poetry. 

Congratulations to David W. Berner and FLP!  

—David’s new book Garden Tools (Finishing Line Press) was named a POETRY AWARD HONOREE Society of Midland Authors, 2026.https://midlandauthors.org/2026/04/midland-authors-announces-2026-award-winners-and-honorees/

—David W. Berner, author of Garden Tools: Poems (Finishing Line Press, 2025), has been named a finalist for the Book of the Year Award in the poetry category from the Chicago Writers Association. David is currently serving as the Poet Laureate of the Village of Clarendon Hills, Illinois, and is the author of several award-winning books of fiction and memoir. He has also been honored as a Writer-in-Residence at the Jack Kerouac Project in Orlando, Florida. Garden Tools is his debut collection of poetry.  

Congratulations to Ilan Mochari and FLP.  Ilan’s book Playthings (Finishing Line Press) was selected as Publishers Weekly BookLife Editor’s Pick May 2026  https://booklife.com/category/poetry/blreviews/1   

Paddling the Sweet Spot Between Life 
and Death by Laura E. Garrard
Finalist in the 23rd annual Best Book Awards in the category of Health: Cancer (American Bookfest)
https://www.americanbookfest.com/2026bbafullresults.html

Congratulations to Sarah Cummins Small and FLP. Her FLP chapbook Stitches was selected as a Finalist in the Tennessee Book Award: Poetry.

A Moth Collection by Anna Ojascastro Guzon

QASIDA FOR WHEN I BECAME A WOMAN by Huma Sheikh (Finishing Line Press) is a 2026 Finalist in the 23rd annual Best Book Awards in the category of Poetry: Chapbook (American Bookfest)

Del Bac by Liza Porter is a finalist for the WILLA Literary Award for Poetry from Women Writing the West. 

More About the WILLA Literary Award

Streets and San by John S. O’Connor

—Illinois State Poetry Society Book of the Year Award Winner

—Finalist for the 2026 Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year

In the Needle, A Woman by Susan Michele Coronel (Finishing Line Press) is a 2026 Finalist in the 23rd annual Best Book Awards in the category of Poetry: Contemporary (American Bookfest)

Rebecca is the winner of the Literary Titan Book Award. 

Deirdre’s poetry collection, Phantom Limbs (FLP, 2023), is a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards. 

“Part celebration, part elegy, Phantom Limbs is about living fully, arms wide open, despite or perhaps even because of repeated loss. Each depiction is grounded in survival and yet there is often unanticipated joy juxtaposed with heartbreak as the collection reveals intimate moments from childhood trauma to marriage, divorce, parenting, terminal illness, disability, caregiving, widowhood, remarriage-mortality itself.” 

More on the Indie Excellence Awards

Anastatia Caraballo’s Growing Pains received multiple honors: 

• Finalist in the General Poetry category of the 21st Annual Best Book Awards by American Book Fest 

• Winner of the Poetry Chapbook category at the same awards 

View the 2024 Best Book Awards

Additionally, Growing Pains won the International Impact Book Award for “Death, Grief, and Loss Poetry.” 

Learn More About the Award

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Maxim D. Shrayer’s book Kinship was named a finalist in the 2024 International Book Awards for Religious Poetry. 

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Claudia May’s book Birthing Butterflies (FLP) was nominated for the Maya Angelou Book Award and named a Finalist in Poetry in the 2025 Minnesota Book Awards. 

View Minnesota Book Awards Winners and Finalists

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The Healing Book by Dustin Grinnell is a winner in the Short Stories category of the 2024 Best Indie Book Awards. 

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This collection weaves stories of healing and self-discovery— from a neurosurgeon’s search for ayahuasca in Peru to a burned-out office worker finding solace on the Appalachian Trail—highlighting resilience and personal growth in uncertain times. 

Learn More About The Healing Book

Nancy Gerber is the 2025 Independent Press Award winner for her collection, Language Like Water: Poems. The collection poignantly explores conflicts, challenges, and connections in a daughter’s lifelong relationship with her mother, revealing strength through moments of struggle and connection. 

 Learn More About the Award

Kari Wergeland author of  Off the Wall was named a finalist in the Novella category of both the 2024 American Fiction Awards and the 2024 International Book Awards. Novelist Patricia Santana praises the work as “a rich and nuanced portrayal of a young woman struggling to find her place in the world.” 

2024 International Book Awards Finalists