NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARDS
®
CELEBRATING SELF & INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING EXCELLENCE SINCE 2005
CONTEST RULES & GUIDELINES
IT'S TIME TO PUT YOUR BOOK FORWARD
Now in our 21st Year of celebrating publishing excellence, the Indie Excellence® awards recognize books that demonstrate the highest qualities of both content and form. With over 150 categories, from fiction and memoir to cookbooks, children’s books and many other topics, the NIEA celebrates outstanding books that exemplify craft, quality, and independent spirit — with a category for nearly every kind of book. Submissions are open to small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, and self-published authors — all English language printed books available for sale, with eBooks now accepted for the first time this year.
Entries are evaluated using a judging criteria by trusted and experienced jurors. Merit based evaluation, category-appropriate assessment, and independent judgement are the three pillars of the NIEA jurying process. Writing craft, content, and structure are given the most weight in the assessments, however jurors consider all aspects of each book including originality, reader impact, genre execution, design, production, and overall distinction. Ultimately, a single winner is awarded in each category and a limited selection of deserving finalists are also awarded (correlated to the amount of entries in each particular category).
As a Winner or Finalist, you can highlight the award honors on book covers and in various marketing materials in person, at the point of purchase, and across social media platforms. This has been proven to help increase sales significantly. Winners and Finalists can download our digital seal to print on book covers and/or order physical stickers for books.
Official NIEA winner or finalist certificates and medals are available for purchase as well. Our Sponsorship and Juror's Choice Awards offer further cash and service-based prizes to the recipients of those awards. Utilize our media kit including the press release and digital assets together with your featured info on our website, including (if you choose) a complimentary or paid featured listing on our NIEA Speakers Bureau.
For the first time this year, the National Indie Excellence® Awards are now accepting eBooks.
We look forward to celebrating your wonderful books in this contest. Winners and Finalists of the 21st Annual National Indie Excellence® Awards will be announced in June of 2027.
ENTRY PROCESS & FEES
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Complete an online Entry form. You can enter Print Book or eBook format, select multiple categories for your book's entry on one Entry Form.
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$85.00 per Print Book entry per Category ($75 Early Bird pricing through October 15)
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$70.00 per eBook entry per Category
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You are required to upload a digital file of your book front cover as part of the entry process.
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For the print book contest, you will also need to send one physical copy of the book per category entered. Be sure to place a copy of the submission form in each book you send in, one for each category entered.
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Ebook submissions will simply need to follow the steps on the online entry form to upload the accepted eBook file format, EPUB or PDF.
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All payments must be in USD.
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All submissions are final.
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There are no refunds.
See the complete list of guidelines below.
NOTIFICATIONS & DEADLINES OF WINNERS & FINALISTS
We will notify each entry of their received book delivery via e-mail. NIEA announces the winning entries on our website once the judging has been completed, this happens approximately 2-3 months after the date for submissions has closed for the year. Once the submissions close we need this time to fully complete the jurying process, prepare the results, and then share them widely for all to enjoy.
Because of the high volume of entries, it could take up to two weeks to send you the notification that we received your book.
A WORD ABOUT OUR AWARD DESIGNATIONS
As contests have a variety of designations we have structured the National Indie Excellence® Awards (NIEA) so that only one book per category may be designated the “Winner”, however, there are always more titles in a category that truly stand out and we believe these too deserve recognition. We are dedicated to celebrating excellence in self-published books so NIEA also has the “Finalist” category.
Books recognized as Finalists are outstanding. The differences between a Winner and Finalist are often so small that the judging is quite a challenge! Gaining recognition as a Finalist is a high honor and very competitive, it is something an author should be extremely proud to promote. The number of Finalists is tied to the number of entries in a given category.
Readers appreciate our Winners and Finalists as worthy of their attention and their book-buying dollars.
RULES & GUIDELINES
BOOK ELIGIBILITY
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Only books that are published in 2025, 2026 and 2027 (before March 31st) are eligible.
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All physical titles must have an ISBN and be published books available on websites such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever good books are sold (including your own).
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Books published by Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, Random House, or Simon & Schuster are not eligible to apply.
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Your book must be available for sale by the contest deadline.
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AI tools are permitted for grammar editing and research purposes. NIEA strongly discourages the use of AI to generate the substantive narrative, thematic, or stylistic content of a submitted work.
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Entrants must disclose any use of AI in writing the submitted text on their entry form; this disclosure will be provided to jurors and may be weighed as a negative factor in scoring. Submissions found with undisclosed AI-generated content may be disqualified.
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All entries must be submitted and postmarked by March 31, 2027.
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A specific edition of a book title that has previously been awarded Winner or Finalist status in a given category may not be resubmitted to that same category in any future contest year.
ONLINE ENTRY
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All entries must complete online entry forms.
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All entries must provide the correct format of files as indicated on the entry form.
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All payments must be in USD. All submissions are final. There are no refunds.
BOOK SUBMISSION
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Indie Excellence® submissions cannot be returned. Each entry must contain the official entry form. All shipping and handling costs must be borne by entrants.
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For the print book contest, you are responsible for having your physical book reach us by the deadline for submission. Unless you receive an email acknowledging receipt of your book, please be aware that your book has not been included in the judging process.
JUDGING
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Merit based evaluation, category-appropriate assessment, and independent judgement are the three pillars of the NIEA jurying process. Writing craft, content, and structure are given the most weight in the assessments, however jurors consider all aspects of each book including originality, reader impact, genre execution, design, production, and overall distinction.
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The National Indie Excellence® Awards selection committee reserves the right to determine the eligibility of any book.
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We do not publish the names of the jurors to respect their privacy.
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Indie Excellence® is open to all English language books that are available for sale both online and in bookstores.
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We reserve the right to move books into another category if it seems appropriate.
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Winners and Finalists will be notified in June 2027.
Please include a printed entry form confirmation together with each physical book submission to the following address:
Indie Excellence® Submission
703 Pier Ave, Suite B-684
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254