Southern Book Prize (formerly the SEBA Book Award and SIBA Book Award) is a

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded Literature, literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award c ...

given by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA). It was first awarded in 1999.Summer, Bob (1999). "SEBA presents first book awards." ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', 246(20), 24. 1 Color Photograph. Last accessed Oct. 8, 2012. Nominated books must be Southern in nature or by a Southern author, have been published the previous year, and have been nominated by a SIBA-member bookstore or one of their customers. Voting categories include

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

Nonfiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to present topics objectively ...

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

cooking Cooking, also known as cookery or professionally as the culinary arts, is the art, science and craft of using heat to make food more palatable, digestible, nutritious, or Food safety, safe. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from ...

and

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

. In 2016, the award was renamed the Southern Book Prize and awarded in honor of southern writer

Pat Conroy Donald Patrick Conroy (October 26, 1945 – March 4, 2016) was an American author who wrote several acclaimed novels and memoirs; his books ''The Water Is Wide (book), The Water is Wide'', ''The Lords of Discipline'', ''The Prince of Tides (no ...

, who died in March 2016. The first awards were given in 1999. From 1999 through 2007 winners were chosen by popular vote through an online voting mechanism. Starting in 2008, winners were chosen from the list of finalists by a jury of SIBA booksellers.2008 SIBA Book Award
/ref> Since 2019 candidates have been nominated by Southern indie booksellers before the ballot of finalists in three categories is voted on by bookstore customers. According to SIBA, 1800 ballots were cast to select the winners of the 2023 prize.

Winners

Southern Book Prize

Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize

References

{{Reflist

External links

SIBA Book Award
official website
SIBA Book Award
at

LibraryThing LibraryThing is a social cataloging web application for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book metadata. It is used by authors, individuals, libraries, and publishers. Based in Portland, Maine, LibraryThing was developed b ...

American children's literary awards Southern United States literature American fiction awards American non-fiction literary awards American poetry awards Awards established in 1999 1999 establishments in the United States