The 2021 Will Rogers Medallion Awards

At the 2021 Will Rogers Medallion Awards ceremony in October, 2021, Texas author Preston Lewis won a Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award for written western humor for his book, First Herd to Abilene and a Will Rogers Silver Medallion Award for written western humor for North to Alaska. (Click to visit the Lone Star Book Blog Tour pages for First Herd to Abilene and North to Alaska.) 

“Will Rogers was a respected writer and cowboy entertainer whose work embodied and demonstrated the traditions and values of the American cowboy.  The Will Rogers Medallion Award was originally created to recognize quality works of cowboy poetry that honored the Will Rogers heritage but has expanded to include other works of Western literature and film."

The awards competition takes place annually, and the awards ceremony is held every fall in Fort Worth, Texas. 

2021 Indie Author Project Regional Contests

The fourth annual Indie Author Project regional contests ran in 14 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces and fielded almost a thousand submissions from indie authors of all types. In partnership with literary organizations and libraries across North America, these contests reflect an ongoing and expanding effort to encourage strong relationships between indie authors, public libraries, and readers. Out of all of the submissions, these winning titles reflect the best indie-published eBooks each region has to offer in adult and young adult fiction. These books are available with unlimited, multi-user access in the Indie Author Project Select collections on BiblioBoard Library, OverDrive, cloudLibrary, Axis 360, and more.

The 2021 Texas Author Project winners are Meg Lelvis (adult fiction) for her book, Back of the Yard, and Haleigh Wenger (YA fiction) for her book, A Feeling Like Home.

2022 NAACP Image Awards

Entertainment Weekly announced  Houston author J. Elle and her novel Wings of Ebony have been nominated for a 2022 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Youth and Teens.

The NAACP presents the prestigious annual Image Award to those who represent the year's best in entertainment. This year's Image Awards will be presented live on BET on Saturday, February 26, 2022.

(Click to read the Lone Star Listens interview with J. Elle.) 

Texas Institute of Letters Inductees

The members of the Texas Institute of Letters (TIL) have overwhelmingly approved fifteen writers to join their esteemed ranks. The 2022 honorees include fiction and nonfiction writers Amanda Eyre Ward, Frederick Luis Aldama, and Shelley Armitage; award-winning poets Edward Vidaurre and Melissa Studdard; children’s and YA authors Christina Soontornvat, Francisco Stork, Don Tate, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Varian Johnson, Jennifer Ziegler, and Lupe Ruiz-Flores; journalist Carol Flake Chapman; publisher Will Evans; and historian Catherine Clinto.

Read the full news brief with complete inductee bios here.