About the Connecticut Book Awards

The mission of the Connecticut Center for the Book is to promote the written and spoken word throughout the state and the Connecticut Book Awards recognize and honor those authors and illustrators who have created the best books in or about our state. The Center is Connecticut’s affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

 

 

 

More About the Submission Process

 

Go Directly to Submission Form

 

Submission Guidelines for 2022

  • Deadline: Submissions must be made by 5:00 p.m. on May 2, 2022.
  • Finalists will be announced in September 2022.
  • Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October 2022. Final date to be determined.
  • Authors and illustrators must:

Have been born in Connecticut, OR

Be a current Connecticut resident of at least three years’ standing, OR

The work may be substantially set in Connecticut.

  • Titles must have been published for the first time between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 or have a copyright within 2021.
  • All submitted books must have a valid ISBN.
  • Anthologies are accepted with the same author criteria outlined above.
  • Books by deceased authors will be accepted only if the author was still living at the beginning of the eligibility year (January 1, 2021).

The following are NOT eligible:

  • Reprints of books published in another year.
  • eBooks.
  • Self-help books.
  • Technical manuals.
  • Textbooks.
  • Books written by staff or families of Connecticut Center for the Book, Connecticut Humanities, or members or families of the CT Book Award review committee and/or its judges.

ENTRY FEES WILL NOT BE RETURNED IF ENTRIES ARE INELIGIBLE.

Additional Information

  • Each category has a panel of five (5) judges, one of whom serves as chairperson. All judges have a connection to the literary world in some way and are selected from across the state to include a diversity of professional experience, educational background, ethnicity, age, and gender.
  • Criteria include, but are not limited to: originality, ability to engage the reader,  character development, cover art, interior illustrations (particularly in the Books for Young Readers category), layout and design, production quality, editorial quality (grammar, etc.).
  • A book title may be submitted in only one category and judges may reassign a title to a category deemed more appropriate than that for which it was originally submitted.
  • Judges defer to the committee chair to determine the winner in the case of a tie vote in any category.
  • Awards may not be made if there are insufficient entries in a given category.
  • The Connecticut Center for the Book and its Connecticut Book Award judges resolve all questions about eligibility; their decisions are binding.
  • Notifications will be sent to finalists via email by the end of August 2022. If a notification is not received, the book is not a finalist.

Categories

  • Fiction: includes literary and genre fiction
  • Nonfiction: includes history, biography, science, nature, autobiography, memoir
  • Poetry: a book-length single poem or collection of poetry
  • Books for Young Readers broken into the following categories:
    – Illustrated Picture Books
    – Middle Grade Fiction
    – Middle Grade Nonfiction
    – Young Adult Fiction
    – Young Adult Nonfiction

Submission Process

Submissions open March 1, 2022

  • Deadline: Online form and payment must be received by May 2, 2022 no later than 5:00 p.m.
  • Finalists will be announced in September 2022. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October 2022. (Final date to be determined.)
  • An online entry form and payment must be submitted for each title under consideration. A mailed submission can be arranged. Please contact ctbook@cthumanities.org to make these arrangements.
  • Payment must be received by the deadline to be eligible.
  • Six (6) copies of the books submitted must be arrive in our offices no later than May 13, 2022 at 5:00 p.m.
  • Distribution of copies: One (1) copy will be distributed to each of the five (5) judges in the category for review. One (1) copy of each finalist and winning entries will be held in the Connecticut Center for the Book’s archives.
  • Submissions made on behalf of an author must get their consent to the entry of his/her title for consideration.
  • Submissions will not be considered without author’s contact information.

Mail book copies to:

Connecticut Center for the Book
c/o Connecticut Humanities
100 Riverview Center, Suite 290
Middletown, CT  06457

Fee for Submission

$50 per entry payable by credit/debit card or check.

Needs-Based Fee Waiver:

Connecticut Center for the Book is an affiliate of the Library of Congress and a program of Connecticut Humanities. Both take a strong stand on inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility.

Publishing is one of many spheres of influence where the voices we hear do not always reflect the diversity in backgrounds and points of view found in our communities. This is a long-standing and multifaceted problem, and one that cannot be reversed by any one organization but we can contribute to the solution.

This year the Connecticut Center for the Book offers a needs-based fee waiver option for authors. We recognize that a $50 fee is a significant barrier for some writers. If this describes you, you may opt out of this requirement, no questions asked.

Note:

Only author-submitters are eligible for the waiver. As always, publicists and agents are welcome and encouraged to put forward submissions; however, the entry fee is still required in such cases.

Please also note that, even if you take advantage of the waiver opportunity, the program still requires six (6) physical copies of each book entered into consideration. This stipulation is nonnegotiable.

ENTRY FEES ARE NON-REFUNDABLE.

Bruce Fraser "Spirit of Connecticut" Award

“People develop a ‘sense of place’ through experience and knowledge of a particular area. A sense of place emerges through knowledge of the history, geography and geology of an area, its flora and fauna, the legends of a place, and a growing sense of the land and its history after living there for a time.” Dr. Thomas A Woods

Bruce Fraser, director of Connecticut Humanities for 28 years, was a proponent of Connecticut’s sense of place. He was interested in how places evoke memory and emotions from people, how people have such ferocious identification and loyalty to their surroundings and how the very landscape influences people.

Connecticut Center for the Book receives well over a hundred submissions for its annual book awards and many of these books are Connecticut place-based. In honor of Bruce Fraser, this award highlights the value of sense of place in literature.

How it works

All categories are eligible for this award: Poetry, Fiction, Young Readers and Nonfiction.

Submissions are made via the same submission form and follow the same guidelines. Please consider the following when submitting to this category:

  • Does the text evoke a uniquely Connecticut sense of place?
  • What makes it so?
  • Does it feel authentic to Connecticut’s sense of place? Why?

 

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