Utah Book Awards

The Utah Book Awards honor works of outstanding literary merit by Utah authors.

An award is given based on the strength of the publication’s literary merit, lasting importance, and overall quality. We are particularly interested in prioritizing excellent works created by authors of communities that have been historically marginalized and excluded.

The Utah Book Awards are a project of The Utah Center for the Book at Utah Humanities (an affiliate of The Library of Congress Center), the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, the Utah State Library Division, and The League of Utah Writers.

Frequently Asked Questions

How are finalists and winners selected? Judges, composed of librarians, booksellers, and authors, evaluate every book submitted. They determine the list of notable books, finalists, and winners from each genre.

How do I submit a book for consideration for the 2025 Utah Book Awards? A book is eligible if it is written by an author currently living in the state of Utah and published between January 1, 2022 and October 1, 2024. Please see the submission guidelines below to make sure that both you and your book meet the eligibility requirements.

Submission Window: Submissions are open from 10/1/2024 to 12/31/2024. The Submission Portal was donated by our partner, the League of Utah Writers. Their logo is at the top of the portal below to indicate that you are submitting at the correct location:

Submit your book here!

Recognition

• Winners: a cash prize and an engraved plaque
• Winners, Honorable Mentions, and Notable Reads:
  • A banquet in their honor during the Utah Humanities Book Festival in October 2025
  • Opportunity to join classrooms and speaker’s engagements across the state of Utah
  • Statewide publicity surrounding the announcement of the Utah Book Awards
  • Branded promotional materials

Judging

• Round One: Panel chair works with administrative team to come up with a list of Notable Books in each genre.
• Round Two: Panels work together to choose one Award winner and two Honorable Mentions from the longlist.
• Round Three: Our Guest Judges Select Winners

Submission Guidelines

Complete the online entry form. Upload a digital (pdf) copy of your book. Pay the entry fee on the online form.

Submission Categories

• General Fiction (for adult audiences, including romance): Full-length novels & collections of short stories by a single author are eligible. Collaborations are eligible if both (all) authors are current residents of Utah, with a 50,000-word minimum.
• Speculative Fiction (for adult audiences: fantasy, science fiction, horror, alternate history, and more; speculative fiction is an encompassing genre that freely explores possibility and impossibility alike): Full-length novels & collections of short stories by a single author are eligible. Collaborations are eligible if both (all) authors are current residents of Utah, with a 50,000-word minimum.
• General Nonfiction (for all audiences): Full-length works of general nonfiction, research, recipe book, etc. (not memoir).
• Memoir/Narrative Nonfiction/Biography/Essay Collections (for adult audiences): Full-length works of memoir/biography/narrative nonfiction and collections of essays by a single author are eligible, 50,000-word minimum.
• Poetry (single-author collection): Collections of poetry by a single author are eligible. A collection may consist entirely of new poems or of a new selection of work from throughout a writer’s career.
• Middle Grade/Young Adult (audiences ages 10-18): middle-grade and young-adult books of fiction and nonfiction are eligible.
• Illustrated and Picture Books (for any audience, illustrations comprise a significant portion of the work): Full-length graphic novels, graphic memoirs, early reader (picture books), or works of graphic nonfiction are eligible. Either the authors OR the illustrators must be Utah-based. Works intended for all age groups (adult, YA/middle grade, and early readers) will be considered.

General Eligibility Guidelines

1. Books must have been written, illustrated, or translated by permanent residents of Utah. Those on temporary placement or those who are regular vacationers to the state but who maintain residency elsewhere are not considered permanent residents. Writers must be living in Utah at the time their books are submitted and must continue as permanent residents at the time the awards are announced.
2. Any individual, organization, or company may enter a book in any appropriate category.
3. Anthologies or collaborations are eligible if ALL authors are Utah-based.
4. Self-published books are eligible.
5. Books must have been published in their original format during the calendar year between January 1, 2022 and October 1, 2024.
6. An author may be recognized for more than one book per year. Books by authors who have previously won a Utah Book Award are eligible.
7. Submission of a title confirms the following: Utah Center for the Book has permission to use the book cover, excerpts from the text, and publicity notices in any promotion of the Awards.
8. Each category has its own judging panel which draws from a variety of reading communities. The Utah Center for the Book and the book judges resolve all questions about eligibility; the judges determine the award winners. The decisions of the panels are final.