FSU Libraries announces 2024 Florida Book Awards winners 

The Florida Book Awards (FBA), a statewide book awards program coordinated by Florida State University Libraries, has announced its 2024 awards program winners. This year, a panel of jurors honored 31 books with awards and gave two additional titles honorable mentions.

The 19th annual competition featured 190 eligible publications submitted across 11 categories for books published in 2024. Each winner will be featured in an article published by FORUM Magazine, as part of the FBA’s ongoing partnership with Florida Humanities.

“Florida has always been a creative hotspot for literature,” said Keith Simmons, executive director of the Florida Book Awards. “This program is an annual opportunity to recognize and share the hard work and creativity of Florida authors, as well as to help connect them with new audiences, both in and out of Florida.”

While most categories require entrants to be Florida residents, three categories—Florida Nonfiction, Visual Arts, and Cooking—do not have a residency requirement and must focus their subject matter on Florida.

Authors from across the state will be honored at the annual Abitz Family Dinner & Awards Banquet Thursday, April 3, at Cascades Park in Tallahassee.

Additional events include an author’s gathering at Midtown Reader in Tallahassee on Friday, April 4. The celebrations coincide with the Word of South Festival, held throughout the weekend of April 4-6.

For more information, visit floridabookawards.org.

Florida Book Awards 2024 winners by category:

Cooking 

• GOLD: The Florida Vegetarian Cookbook, Dalia Colón

• SILVER: Modern Cuban, Ana Quincoces

Florida Nonfiction 

• PHILLIP AND DANA ZIMMERMAN GOLD MEDAL PRIZE: Florida Springs: From Geography to Politics and Restoration, Christopher Meindl

• SILVER: Tampa Bay: The Story of an Estuary and Its People, Evan Bennett

• BRONZE: Tracing Florida’s Journeys: Explorers, Travelers, and Landscapes Then and Now, Leslie Kemp Poole

General Fiction 

• GOLD: Dressing the Saints, Aracelis González Asendorf

• SILVER: The Best That You Can Do: Stories, Amina Gautier

• BRONZE: Bomb Island, Stephen Hundley

General Nonfiction 

• GOLD: John Lewis: In Search of the Beloved Community, Raymond Arsenault

• SILVER: Melted Away: A Memoir of Climate Change and Caregiving in Peru, Barbara Drake-Vera

• BRONZE: You Paid for This: My 25 Years Investigating Insurance Crimes, Richard Wickliffe

• HONORABLE MENTION: The Life and Death of Ryan White: AIDS and Inequality in America, Paul M. Renfro

Older Children’s Literature 

• JEAN E. LOWRIE GOLD MEDAL:  The Lost Forest: An Unexpected Discovery Beneath the Waves, Jennifer Swanson

• SILVER: Make A Little Wave, Kerry O’Malley Cerra

• BRONZE: Grow up, Luchy Zapata, Alexandra Alessandri

Poetry 

• GOLD: 2000 Blacks, Ajibola Tolase

• SILVER: Bright Life, Animal Heart, Laura Minor

• BRONZE: Homeland of Swarms, Oriette D’Angelo

Popular Fiction 

• GOLD: Terra Incognita, Steph Post

• SILVER: Edison’s Last Breath, Patrick Kendrick

• BRONZE: Diamond Cut, Thomas B. Cavanagh

• HONORABLE MENTION: Murder of a Dead Man, Holly Newman

Spanish Language 

• GOLD: El tren de los invisibles, Gabriela Caballero

• SILVER: Hampi, River Coello

• BRONZE: 45 de Agosto y otras obras dramáticas, Carmen Duarte

Visual Arts 

• GOLD: Dry Tortugas: Stronghold of Nature, Ian Wilson-Navarro

• SILVER: Sunset Colonies: A Visual Elegy to Florida’s Mobile Home Communities, Diego Alejandro Waisman

Young Adult Literature 

• GWEN P. REICHERT GOLD MEDAL PRIZE: What We Wish For, Melody Maysonet

• SILVER: Covalence: The Bonded Series, Book One, Andie L. Smith

• BRONZE: Worth It, Amy Nielsen

Young Children’s Literature 

• GOLD: Mango Memories, Sita Singh

• SILVER: We Are a Class, Rob Sanders

• BRONZE: Goodnight School, Catherine Bailey

The Gold Medal winner for the Young Adult Literature category will be awarded the “Gwen P. Reichert Gold Medal for Young Children’s Literature.” This special award is in memory of Gwen P. Reichert and serves as a lasting tribute to honor her accomplishments as a rare book collector, nurturer of authors and their audience and her commitment to children’s education. 

The “Jean Lowrie Gold Medal for Older Children’s Literature” was established by Wayne and Shirley Wiegand to honor one of Wayne’s mentors.  Jean Lowrie was a tireless advocate for effective school librarianship through her career as a school librarian, faculty member and director of the Western Michigan University School Librarianship. 

The “Phillip and Dana Zimmerman Gold Medal for Florida Nonfiction” was established by former FSU Libraries Dean, Julia Zimmerman in honor of her parents. 

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