4th annual 'Florida Book Awards' competition announces winners

With its fourth annual competition now completed, the Florida Book Awards has announced the winners in seven categories of books published in 2009.

Wayne Wiegand

“The culture of books in the Sunshine State continues to prosper, and these 
FBA winners clearly prove it,” said Florida Book Awards Director Wayne A. Wiegand, professor of Library and Information Studies and of American Studies at The Florida State University.

The Florida Book Awards –– the nation’s most comprehensive state book awards program –– was established in 2006 to recognize, honor and celebrate the best Florida literature published the previous year. Directed by Wiegand, the annual contest is headquartered and coordinated in The Florida State University Libraries under the supervision of Julia Zimmerman, dean of University Libraries, and Gloria Colvin, a librarian in Reference and Research Services and currently the chairwoman of the Florida Book Awards Executive Committee.

Co-sponsors of the Florida Book Awards are the Program in American and Florida Studies at Florida State University; Friends of FSU Libraries; Florida Center for the Book; State Library and Archives of Florida; Florida Historical Society; Florida Humanities Council; Florida Literary Arts Coalition; Florida Library Association; Florida Family Literacy Initiative; Florida Reading Association; Florida Association for Media in Education; Florida Center for the Literary Arts; Florida Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America; and “Just Read, Florida!”

Julia Zimmerman

Reading the submissions for 2009 were seven juries of three members each, nominated from across the state by co-sponsoring organizations. Jurors were authorized to select up to five medalists (including one winner and one runner-up) in each of the seven categories. Florida State University faculty members Barbara Hamby, a writer-in-residence in the Department of English, and Fredrick Davis, an associate professor in the Department of History, served as jurors for the Poetry and Florida Nonfiction categories, respectively.

Now, Janet Burroway is among the Florida State University connections, past and present, to the Florida Book Awards. Burroway –– FSU’s Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor Emerita of English –– has won the Silver Medal in the General Fiction category, for Bridge of Sand.

The Gold Medal winners, seven in all, will be formally recognized on Wednesday, March 24, at the Historical and Cultural Awards Ceremony, which is sponsored by the State of Florida’s Division of Cultural Affairs and held at the R.A. Gray Building in Tallahassee.

All Florida Book Awards medalists will be honored on April 8 in Orlando at a banquet hosted by the Florida Library Association during its annual conference. For further information on the banquet, contact CMC & Associates at Mwozniak@cmc-associates.com.

Each year, the winning books and their authors are featured in the Summer issue of FORUM, the statewide magazine of the Florida Humanities Council.

For Florida literature published in 2009, the winners of the fourth annual Florida Book Awards competition are:

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE:

*Gold Medal winner: Joan Hiatt Harlow, Secret of the Night Ponies

FLORIDA NONFICTION

*Gold Medal winner: Jack E. Davis, An Everglades Providence: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the American Environmental Century

*Silver Medal winner: Carlton Ward Jr., Florida Cowboys

*Bronze Medal winner: Todd T. Turrell, Naples Waterfront – Changes in Time

GENERAL FICTION

*Gold Medal winner: N.M. Kelby, A Travel Guide for Reckless Hearts

*Silver Medal winner: Janet Burroway, Bridge of Sand

*Bronze Medal winner: Ana Menendez, The Last War

*Bronze Medal winner: A. Manette Ansay, Good Things I Wish You

*Bronze Medal winner: Michael Lister, Double Exposure

POETRY

*Gold Medal winner: Campbell McGrath, Shannon

*Silver Medal winner: Denise Duhamel, Ka-Ching!

*Bronze Medal winner: Jesse Millner, Neighborhoods of My Past Sorrow

*Bronze Medal winner: Peter Meinke, Lines from Neuchatel

POPULAR FICTION

*Gold Medal winner: Glynn Marsh Alam, Moon Water Madness

*Silver Medal winner: Diane A. S. Stuckart, Portrait of a Lady: A Leonardo DaVinci Mystery

*Bronze Medal winner: Jonathon King, The Styx

*Bronze Medal winner: Chris Kuzneski, The Lost Throne

*Bronze Medal winner: Tim Dorsey, Nuclear Jellyfish

SPANISH LANGUAGE BOOK

*Gold Medal winner: Juan Cueto-Roig, Veintiún cuentos concisos

*Silver Medal winner: José Alvarez, Frank País y la revolución cubana

YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE

*Gold Medal winner: Alex Sanchez, Bait

*Silver Medal winner: Rick Yancey, The Monstrumologist

Sorted by region, the winners are:

*Boca Raton: Jonathon King

*Fort Myers: Jesse Millner

*Gainesville: Jack E. Davis; Rick Yancey

*Loxahatchee/Wellington: Diane Stuckart; Jose Alvarez

*Miami: Alex Sanchez; Ana Menendez; Campbell McGrath; Denise Duhamel; Juan Cueto-Roig

*Naples: Todd Turrell

*Palm Beach: A. Manette Ansay

*Sarasota: N.M. Kelby

*St. Petersburg: Peter Meinke

*Tallahassee: Glynn Marsh Alam; Janet Burroway

*Tampa: Carlton Ward, Jr.; Chris Kuzneski; Tim Dorsey

*Venice: Joan Hiatt Harlow

*Wewahitchka: Michael Lister

To learn more about Florida Book Awards, visit one or all of the following Web sites:

*http://floridabookawards.lib.fsu.edu

*http://floridabookawards.wordpress.com/

*http://www.facebook.com/FLBookAwards