This is your semi-regular roundup of new and recent awards garnered by Texas books and authors since our last roundup. 

AUTHOR AWARDS and ACCOLADES 

Kellye Abernathy was awarded a Literary Titan Book Award for her young adult novel AMETHYST, THE SHALLOWS. 

GLITTER EVERYWHERE! WHERE IT CAME FROM, WHERE IT’S FOUND & WHERE IT’S GOING by Chris Barton, illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award in the Texas/Oklahoma division.  

James R. Dennis won the silver medal in the poetry category of the IPPY Awards with his collection SONGS OF SEVEN DAYS. 

Sydney Dunlap was a silver medalist in the Juvenile Fiction category of the Foreword Indies Awards as well as the silver medalist for Juvenile Fiction in the Ippy Awards for her book IT HAPPENED ON SATURDAY. The book was also an Honor book in the Texas/ Oklahoma division of SCBWI Crystal Kite Award. 

MALAS by Marcela Fuentes was chosen as the June pick for the Good Morning America Book Club and NPR’s Book of the Day. 

Colin Holmes won a bronze IPPY award in the mystery category for THUNDER ROAD and a silver in the science fiction category of the Ben Franklin Awards from IBPA for THE OXYGEN FARMER. 

Deborah Johnson won the Cookbooks: General category of the International Book Awards for ON RISING: RECIPES AND RITUALS FOR JOYFUL MORNINGS. 

ARMADILLO ANTICS by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson received the bronze IPPY Award for Children’s Picture Books (7 & Under). 

Octavio Quintanilla won the 2024 Ambroggio Poetry Prize for his manuscript LAS HORAS IMPOSIBLES/THE IMPOSSIBLE HOURS, translated by Quintanilla and Natalia Treviño. Winners receive $1,000 and publication by University of Arizona Press. 

Saborna Roychowdhury won the International Book Awards in the Fiction: Multicultural category for her work EVERYTHING HERE BELONGS TO YOU. The book was also a finalist in the Fiction: Literary category as well. 

FULL MOON PUPS by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Chuck Groenink, was the honor book in the Charlotte and Wilbur Honor Awards from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. 

Susan Johnston Taylor won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award in the Texas/Oklahoma division with her book ANIMALS IN SURPRISING SHADES: POEMS ABOUT EARTH’S COLORFUL CREATURES, illustrated by Annie Bakst. 

Sergio Troncoso won the Bronze IPPY award in the anthology collection for editing NEPANTLA FAMILIAS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF MEXICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE ON FAMILIES IN BETWEEN WORLDS. 

Brendan Vayo was the silver winner in the Fiction: Horror category of the IBPA Ben Franklin Awards. 

HOLLER, CHILD: Stories by LaToya Watkins won the fiction prize in the 34th annual Reading the West Book Awards. 

Will Rogers Medallion Award Winners (rankings announced in October) 

Western Modern Fiction--The Ways of Water by Teresa H. Janssen 

Western Romance--Tastefully Texas by K.S. Jones 

Western Humor--Call of the Wilde by Preston Lewis  

Western Mystery--Hard Country by Reavis Z. Wortham 

Western Inspirational--In the Company of Cows by Sequoyah Branham, Fair Haven by Laura Conner Kestner 

Western Maverick--The Last Man: A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery by Thomas Goodman 

Western Young Reader/Non-Fiction/Illustrated--Fort Worth, Texas: That’s My Town! by Richard Selcer, Illustrated by Deran Wright  

Western Young Reader/Fiction--Heartwood Mountain by S.J. Dahlstrom, Rowdy: Rescue by Chris Mullen (Wolfpack), Rowdy: Return by Chris Mullen 

FINALISTS 

Mary Alford’s DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES is a finalist in the Short Romantic Mystery Suspense category of the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. 

Leah Vidal Carrosquilla’s LIGHT UP THE SKY is a finalist in the International Book Awards in the Religion: Christian Inspirational category.  

AGAINST ALL ENEMIES by Vanetta Chapman made the finalists list in the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense in the Mainstream Suspense category. 

James R. Dennis’s SONGS OF SEVEN DAYS is a finalist in the Poetry: Religious category of the International Book Awards. 

K.S. Jones is a finalist in the Fiction: Young Adult category of the International Book Awards with her novel TWO SIDES OF THE TRUTH. 

TO RESCUE A WITCH by Lisa A. Traugott was named a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.