Wonderful News!

These days, I don't enter as many writing competitions as I once did. The vast majority of these are vanity, pay-to-play scams, in which entering a book is little more than buying gold stickers to put on the covers of unsold books. 

I've never entered the scam awards programs; I only have entered contests in which my books would be judged solely on their merit. That's why I like the Next Generation Indie Book Awards (sometimes referred to as the Sundance Festival for independent books). I've entered the Next Generation six times, with great success: 

• 2020: A Century of Autopoint took a gold medal for Best Overall Design (Non-fiction) and a silver medal in Writing/Publishing.
• 2021: The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 6 won silver in Writing/Publishing
• 2022: The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 7 also won silver in Writing/Publishing
• 2023: A Field Guide to Sheaffer's Pencils won three medals: gold in General Non-fiction, silver in Coffee Table/Photography and silver in the Specialty/Novelty book category.
• 2024: I didn't publish a book that year.
• 2025: Eversharp: Cornerstone of an Industry won two silver medals, one for Best Overall Design (Non-fiction) and one in General Non-Fiction.

And now, for 2026 . . . 

I'm pleased to report that The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 8 has won two silver medals, one for Best Overall Design (Non-fiction) and another in the Specialty/Novelty Book category.

The link to order the book is here.

Six times I've entered my books in the IBA awards, and all six times they have been honored for a total of eleven medals -- two gold and nine silver. 

After each awards reception, authors are invited to have their picture taken with the awards organizers. For the 2025 ceremony, I decided to take all of my prior medals along and wear all of them. Janet snapped this picture while the official photographers were doing their thing:

Janet said I looked like Mark Spitz without the Speedo. Moments later, she took a candid picture as the organizers were amused:

When I registered to attend this year's awards reception in Chicago, there was from what I recall a new question: how many times have you won an award in the IBA awards? Maybe this stunt planted the seed of an idea . . . I don't know how many independent authors have consistently done this well in the Next Generation Awards, but maybe this year I'll find out.

I've sent the IBA an email to ask if I should bring my previous medals along to the awards reception again this year. It would be fun to have eleven pieces of hardware around my neck. 

I promised to leave the Speedo at home.