2008 BOTYA Winners Announced

May 23, 2009—Foreword Reviews is pleased to announce the winners of the 2008 Book of the Year Awards and the Independent Publisher of the Year.

At a ceremony today at BookExpo America in New York City, the 220 Book of the Year Award winners in 61 categories were honored. These books, representing the best independently published books from 2008 were selected by a panel of librarian and bookseller judges.

Home Spun Two books were also named Editor’s Choice Prize winners, a distinction that comes with a $1,500 cash prize. The Editor’s Choice Prize for Fiction was given to Other Press for Home Spun by Nilita Vachani (978-1-59051-285-2).

“Nilita Vachani has enough confidence in herself to just tell the story—or let the story tell itself,” said Editor-in-Chief Heather Shaw. “The result a wonderful novel—the best kind of novel. A novel that takes you someplace new and allows you to discover yourself there.”

American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau The Library of America was presented with the Editor’s Choice Prize for Nonfiction for its book, American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau, edited by Bill McKibben (978-1-59853-020-9).

“American Earth is a great reminder of the power of the written word,” Managing Editor Whitney Hallberg said. “Some of the most influential environmentalists have also been writers. Many of them are represented here, including Henry David Thoreau, Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, and George Perkins Marsh. Foreword is proud to recognize such an outstanding collection.”

The other 220 winners were selected by dozens of librarians and booksellers who are experts in the subject matter of the books they judged, and who make purchasing decisions daily for their collections or bookstores.

The University of Nebraska Press was named the Independent Publisher of the Year. The University of Nebraska Press makes significant contributions to scholarly publishing, but its innovative achievement has been to go beyond academia and carve out for itself a brilliant trade niche in the areas of memoir combined with history and travel, translation, and sports.

Foreword’s founder and publisher, Victoria Sutherland, spoke at the awards ceremony and announced the winners.

“Programs like the Book of the Year Awards help level the playing field,” she said. “It sounds almost cliché, but what does it really mean? Simply look around at the other national awards programs. There seems to be a prejudice against anything that isn’t from a larger house. Foreword honors only those books coming from independent community, giving them the value they deserve.”

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Since 1998, Foreword Reviews has provided trade book reviews of the best titles from independent presses. In print and online, its FOLIO award-winning design and editorial content make the magazine a favorite among librarians, booksellers, and readers—an excellent resource when it comes to purchasing books. Foreword INDIES and the fee-for-review Clarion service complement our online content and print magazine, helping to showcase independent presses and their authors.

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