Announcing
22nd Annual Massachusetts Book Awards (pub 2021)
&
Calling for Submissions
23rd Annual Massachusetts Book Awards (pub 2022)
22nd Annual Massachusetts Book Awards Announced
Massachusetts Center for the Book is pleased to announce the Award and Honors titles in the 22nd Annual Massachusetts Book Awards (pub 2021).

"Especially during times of disruption, the continuing excellence of the Massachusetts writing community is a source of inspiration and hope," said Sharon Shaloo, Executive Director of Mass Center for the Book. “How wonderful to live among the creative forces represented here. Congratulations to all. with thanks for your work."
The Fiction Award winner is The Book of Form and Emptiness (Viking) by Ruth Ozeki of Northampton.

Fiction Honors are awarded to Leaving Coy's Hill (Pegasus Books) by Katherine A. Sherbrooke of Cohasset and An Ordinary Wonder (Pegasus Books) by Buki Papillon of Boston.
The Nonfiction Award is All That She Carried (Penguin Random House) by Tiya Miles of Cambridge.

The Nonfiction Honors titles are Under a White Sky (Crown/Penguin Random House) by Elizabeth Kolbert of Williamstown and Travels with George (Viking) by Nathaniel Philbrick of Nantucket.
The Poetry Award winner is Floaters (W.W. Norton & Co.) by Martín Espada of Shelburne Falls.

Honors Poetry collections are I Wish My Father (Headmistress Press) by Lesléa Newman of Holyoke and Tremors (Four Way Books) by Cammy Thomas of Boston.
The Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature Award winner is Red, White, and Whole (Quill Tree Books/Harper Collins Publishers) by Rajani LaRocca of Concord. 

Honors titles in Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature are Last Night at the Telegraph Club (Dutton Books for Young Readers/Penguin Random House) by Malinda Lo of Brookline and Picturing a Nation (Candlewick Press) by Martin W. Sandler of Cotuit.
The Award winner in the Picture Book/Early Reader category is Dream Street (Anne Schwartz Books/Penguin Random House) by Tricia Elam Walker, illustrated by Ekua Holmes of Boston.

Honors titles in Picture Books and Early Readers are Bubbles...UP! (Katherine Tegen Books/Harper Collins Publishers) by Jacqueline Davies of Needham, illustrated by Sonia Sánchez, and Be a Tree! (Abrams Books for Young Readers) by Maria Gianferrari of Worcester, illustrated by Felicita Sala.
Save the date! We've booked the Massachusetts State House for a January 18th Book Awards celebration.
Thanks to the Judges in the 22nd Annual Awards Program

Mary Anne Antonellis, Library Director, Shutesbury; Syed Saffana Anwar, Borrower Services Librarian, Cambridge; Sara Collins, Library Director, Manchester-by-the-Sea; Cindy Erle, School Librarian, Boylston; Corinne Fisher, Children's Librarian (ret), N. Andover; Brett French, Library Network Applications, Worcester; Liz Gray, School Librarian (ret), Newton; Betsy Groban, Book Critic & former Children’s Book Publisher, Cambridge; Katherine Luer Hartmann, Librarian, Medford; Robert L. Hayes, Outreach Librarian, Tewksbury; Jennifer Jones, Library Director, Mattapoiset; Karen Kosko, School Librarian (ret), Cambridge; Evelyn Pratt, Librarian, Longmeadow; Jennifer Usovicz, Children's Librarian, Peabody; and staff/consultants of Massachusetts Center for the Book
Submissions Open for 23rd Massachusetts Book Awards
The Call for the 23rd Annual Massachusetts Book Awards (books published in 2022) is now open. Submissions will be accepted until December 31, 2022.

We invite you to review the guidelines and complete the submission form using the link below. A couple of reminders:

  • In the Picture Book/Early Reader category, books are eligible if the writer OR illustrator is a current resident of Massachusetts
  • Writing for adults or children that has been TRANSLATED by a Massachusetts resident is invited for a new category of achievement
  • We request two physical copies of the book for the first round of judging
  • Mass Center for the Book is now in Northampton. Please update your records

Visit our website to read the complete guidelines & to access submission form:
Our New Address:

Massachusetts Center for the Book
17 New South Street, Suite 302
Northampton, MA 01060
Phone: 413.341.3143 (messages)
Email: [email protected] (general)
[email protected] (program specific)

The Massachusetts Center for the Book is a public-private partnership, chartered as the Commonwealth affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and charged with developing, supporting and promoting cultural programming to advance the cause of books and reading in Massachusetts and throughout the nation.  
There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away . . .

413.341.3143