2022 Book Award Finalists

Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist, Dr Victoria Wilson-Crane supports adults grieving life losses. Educational innovator and leader, Vic used her academic writing skills and love of words as therapy as she faced significant bereavements in 2020. Her award-winning memoir and self-help book Sixteen

Dan Rice pens the young adult urban fantasy series The Allison Lee Chronicles in the wee hours of the morning. The series kicks off with his award-winning debut, Dragons Walk Among Us, which Kirkus Review calls, “An inspirational and socially relevant fantasy.” While not pulling down the 9 to 5 or

Bob Palmer has been, in chronological order, a construction worker, town planner, rock drummer, graphic designer, award-winning adman, entrepreneur, scriptwriter and movie producer. He gets bored easily. In his spare time, he's been caught in a Utah desert flash flood, set off the alarms at Area 51

Kitiera Morey is a lively perfectionist with the mouth of a drunken sailor. When she's not singing off-key for the entire world to hear or chasing after a chaos demon, Kitiera is indulging her Stardew Valley addiction. She lives in New York with her beautiful daughter, four cats and two dogs.

Kitiera Morey is a lively perfectionist with the mouth of a drunken sailor. When she's not singing off-key for the entire world to hear or chasing after a chaos demon, Kitiera is indulging her Stardew Valley addiction. She lives in New York with her beautiful daughter, four cats and two dogs.

Walt Larimore is a best-selling author who resides in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. He has written or co-written 41 books and over 1200 articles in dozens of publications. As an author, his books have garnered a number of American awards and his international writing awards include Page Turner

Walt Larimore is a best-selling author who resides in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. He has written or co-written 41 books and over 1200 articles in dozens of publications. As an author, his books have garnered a number of American awards and his international writing awards include Page Turner

I moved to Manhattan straight out of college because my sister lived there and I could crash on her couch. Six years later (after a quick jaunt in London), I moved to Los Angeles, where I wrote a lifestyle column for the website Examiner.com. When I struggled with pregnancy, I did what I always do

Maryann Miller is an award-winning author of numerous books, screenplays, and stage plays. She started her professional career as a journalist, writing columns, feature stories, and short fiction for regional and national publications. Now she writes primarily mysteries, including the critically

Al Davidson has loved writing action adventure stories since she could pick up a crayon in kindergarten. Zer0-Day: The Sommerfeld Experiment is a Kirkus reviewed first novel in a planned series of 5. Gauntlet, the second book in the series, released in April. She lives on a small ranch in the

Gerald Everett Jones lives in Santa Monica. The romantic comedy Mick & Moira & Brad is his thirteenth novel. He is a board member of the Independent Writers of Southern California (IWOSC), a Film Independent (FILM) Fellow, and a winner of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Diversity Award. He holds

Sarah Noll Wilson, Inc. is on a mission to help leaders build and rebuild teams. Our goal is to empower leaders to understand and honor the beautiful complexity of the humans they serve. We create a safe, honest environment, preparing people to deal with real-world conflict, have more meaningful

LeeAnn Werner is an author, speaker, and blogger on dysfunctional families and how you move forward based on her own experiences. She’s passionate about healing the dysfunctional family cycle. She's written and self-published two young adult psychological thrillers based on her own childhood, The

Claire Merchant is an Australian author and storyteller. She is best known for her collection of fantasy, contemporary, and romance novels set in fictional South Coast. In 2019, Claire won ‘Top Female Author’ in the Fantasy and Romance categories as voted by The Authors Show.

Breana Greene is an African American self-published author, illustrator, and independent animator from Baltimore Maryland. She graduated from George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology in 2014, and School of Visual Arts with a BFA in Animation in 2018. Since graduating SVA, Breana has

Marlene M. Bell is Ewephoric about writing mysteries and children's books where she's able to use her personal experiences with sheep and farm everyday life into suspenseful crime fiction. She's an artist, as well as a wildlife photographer especially when it comes to sheep. Her landscapes grace the

Jayne Doxtater was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and now resides in the beautiful West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. After a fulfilling 40-year career as a business owner and esthetician, she is now semi-retired and embraces a life close to nature. "I wrote this book as a

Laura West is a Registered Nurse, energy healer, intuitive, and psychic medium dedicated to both the sciences and spirituality. She has taken part in multiple international spiritual summits, has taught about intuition on several virtual platforms to students from all over the world, and has been

Carlos Andrés Gómez is a Colombian American writer from New York City. He is the author of the full-length poetry collection “Fractures” (University of Wisconsin Press, 2020), selected by Natasha Trethewey as the winner of the 2020 Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry; the chapbook “Hijito”(Platypus Press

Diane Davies, award-winning author of Life in the Neck New Friends, Life in the Neck Squirrel Trouble, Life in the Neck Advent of Christmas, and Jeannie Ann’s Grandma Has Breast Cancer, lives in the Neck right next to the animals making their home there. You’ll find her in one of the Neck’s two

Award-winning author Bryan Cassiday writes horror fiction and thrillers. His horror novel Horde won the American Fiction Award 2021 and the Independent Press Award 2022 for Best Horror Novel. He also wrote the Scott Brody thriller series. He lives in Southern California.

Tom Joyce will neither confirm nor deny having any association with persons, living or dead, that have worked for intelligence gathering agencies, in the United States or abroad, in any capacity. He can, however, confirm that he has spent time in Northern Afghanistan and most of the other places

As a child, I struggled with writing. That transformed when I was in graduate school studying for a Ph.D. in biochemistry and confronted with composing a dissertation. As I worked on my thesis, I felt enlivened in a new way. I assumed it was because I was nearing completion of my degree, yet now, in

As a teacher, and voracious reader, I have dreamed of writing educational books for children for many years. I also have a long history of volunteer work with nonprofit literacy organizations. When I decided to complete Queen Bee’s Alphabet Cookbook, I enlisted help from my beautiful and talented

Sandeep Adnani is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Author of ‘The Codes of the Exiled Rogue’ , ‘The Origin of the Exiled Rogue’ and ‘The Prophecy of the Exiled Rogue’ eBooks. He nurtured this metaphysical and transformational fiction idea for over six years before publishing the first part in July 2019

Dr David Ko and Richard Busellato are experienced investment veterans and authors of 'The Unsustainable Truth' (2021). The book explains how investments, even with good intentions, are inevitably corrupted and explores what we can do about it. With a successful career anticipating risk and asking,

Rohit Bhargava is is on a mission to inspire more non-obvious thinking in the world. He is an innovation and marketing expert, skilled facilitator, and keynote speaker. After a successful 15 year career as a brand and marketing strategist at two of the largest agencies in the world (Ogilvy and Leo

Keema Waterfield is the author of Inside Passage, a nomadic childhood memoir set along the wild coast of Southeast Alaska. Waterfield has written for The New York Times, WIRED, Brevity, Scary Mommy, INSIDER, and others. She lives in Missoula, Montana, where she moonlights as a stand-up comic when

LeeAnn Werner is an author, speaker, and blogger on dysfunctional families and how you move forward based on her own experiences. She’s passionate about healing the dysfunctional family cycle. She's written and self-published two young adult psychological thrillers based on her own childhood, The

Before publishing "The Curse of Dead Horse Canyon" Marcha Fox wanted to confirm her portrayal of Native American culture and the story's protagonist, Charlie Littlewolf, was accurate as well as not offensive in any manner. She was fortunate enough to find Pete Risingsun, an enrolled member of the

Claire Merchant is an Australian author and storyteller. She is best known for her collection of fantasy, contemporary, and romance novels set in fictional South Coast. In 2019, Claire won ‘Top Female Author’ in the Fantasy and Romance categories as voted by The Authors Show.

Cristina started her career as a newspaper reporter for L’Eco di Biella and La Provincia di Biella, in Piedmont, Italy. After a spell running the press office of an MP, she moved to London, where she worked for several years as a public affairs and media relations professional, advising major

Autistic author Nicole Adrianne is a full-time volunteer, cat lover, and tech enthusiast. She lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with her four cats. When she’s not busy creating lush dystopian worlds, she’s probably cooking an adventurous new recipe, learning a foreign language, reading a thrilling novel

Joe Chacko is a doctor turned writer. He was born in India, then moved to the UK after graduating from medical school. After twenty odd years as a hospital doctor, he decided it was time to change tack. His wife convinced him to enter a writing competition at a Scottish literary festival. That pitch

Simone Heng is a human connection specialist and former international broadcaster for Virgin Radio Dubai, HBO Asia, and CNBC, among others. She is an accredited certified speaking professional. With over 20 years of experience around the world as a communicator on-air, on stage, and one-on-one

Naomi V. Dunsen-White is a children's author who writes books that represent children of Color. She has a passion for closing the diversity gap that exists in the children’s literature industry and believes that ALL children deserve to have books with characters who look a lot like themselves. She

Dehradun-born and naturalized American research scientist, Neerja Raman has now assumed a new avatar as an iconic storyteller. Her fourth book, a memoir, The Chemistry of Belonging: Stories of Inheritance and Upbringing was published in January 2005. Her fiction The House on East Canal Road (2022)

Elizabeth Leigh Daniel (E.L. Daniel) is the author of the new historical fiction novel All the Gold in Abbotsford. Inspired by the lives and loves of people in times long past, Elizabeth Leigh has crafted stories since childhood, carrying this passion into her B.A. degree in English and

Tom Joyce will neither confirm nor deny having any association with persons, living or dead, that have worked for intelligence gathering agencies, in the United States or abroad, in any capacity. He can, however, confirm that he has spent time in Northern Afghanistan and most of the other places

A small-town Georgia girl, Shannon finds no greater joy than stepping into the lives and worlds created by the written word. Despite a severe aversion to reading as a child, Shannon's passion for literature started with her first young adult read at the age of seventeen, which she has since nurtured

Louise writes novels, short stories and flash fiction, which have won prizes, placed on shortlists, and have been read out on BBC radio. Her short fiction has appeared in more than twenty print anthologies and magazines. Some of these are also online, links to which can be found on her website. She

Since the debut of her award winning book, The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Conscious Living, Lorie Givens has been inspiring her community of readers to do just that. With a friendly down-to-earth style and a commitment to making a difference, she's now focused on authoring a series of children's books

Merrick Rosenberg is a keynote speaker, author, and entrepreneur who teaches people how to tap into the power of their personality. In 1991, he founded Team Builders Plus, one of the first team building companies in the United States. After helping hundreds of thousands of people to build teamwork

Rohit Bhargava is is on a mission to inspire more non-obvious thinking in the world. He is an innovation and marketing expert, skilled facilitator, and keynote speaker. After a successful 15 year career as a brand and marketing strategist at two of the largest agencies in the world (Ogilvy and Leo

Award-winning author and Mobile Literary Festival founder Jodie Cain Smith spent her childhood exploring the shores of Mobile Bay. She is a graduate of the University of South Alabama and Northern Michigan University because earning a degree on both the southern and northern border happened by

Scribando is a membership site for book authors that helps publishers and authors to achieve bestselling- and award-winning status with their books.

T. L. Coughlin is a dreamer. One who loves to imagine and explore new worlds. As a child, she would often get in trouble for staying up until the bright hours of the morning to read books. She would consume novels upon novels, jumping from one land to the next. Her hope is to deliver that same

Claire Merchant is an Australian author and storyteller. She is best known for her collection of fantasy, contemporary, and romance novels set in fictional South Coast. In 2019, Claire won ‘Top Female Author’ in the Fantasy and Romance categories as voted by The Authors Show.

John Espie holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing, as well as a few other "higher up" pieces of paper for less interesting matters. In addition to spending the past 25 years as a public educator, he has roamed the corridors of Hollywood, broken his left arm on a snowboard, gotten lost while

Battalion Chief David Hollenbach (retired) is the author of “Fireproof: Your Grand Strategy for Transforming Failure into Fuel for Your Future.” He is a motivational speaker, coach, and mentor. He owns and operates David Hollenbach Consulting, LLC, and hosts the popular podcast “From Embers to