Indie Goldie Award Winners at GCLS 2024
Indie authors had their best year ever at the 2024 Goldie Awards presented by the Golden Crown Literary Society at their annual conference which was held this year in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Books eligible for consideration for 2024 Goldies had to be published in 2023 and submitted for consideration by established deadlines.
Historically, indies have submitted dozens of books each year and have had some success becoming finalists. Wins were considerably harder to come by. We can talk about all sorts of reasons why that may be, but this year was different with lots of wins.
Let’s talk about the books!
Nominees and Goldie Winners
I intended to write this post a couple of weeks ago. I’d annotated my program throughout the awards ceremony in mid-July. When I got home from Minnesota, I sat down, researched (because no longer do I know everybody), and made a handwritten list of all the indie winning books, and their authors. I can’t find the list. I have kids who won’t stay out of my office, so… yeah.
I went back through my program and created the list again. Here are your winning indie books, by genre or category:
Audiobook Narrator: There were a lot of entries and 12 finalists. There were 5 overall winners, and indie produced audiobooks were 3 of those. The top winner in the category, who narrated an indie book, received a Goldie and a $1,000 monetary award.
- Abby Craden narrating Jen Lyon’s book, Caught Sleeping: Book 2 – The Senator’s Wife – Abby won the $1,000 monetary award for the category
- Angela Dawe narrating Emily Banting’s book, Broken Beyond Repair
- Juanita McMahon narrating E.V. Bancroft’s book, Warm Pearls and Paper Cranes
Fiction Anthologies/Collections: There were two finalists. One was indie.
- The Beginning of Goodbye by Lark Sullivan – Won the $1,000 monetary award for the category
Contemporary Romance – Mid-Length Novels: There were 11 finalists out of dozens of entries. There were 5 overall winners. One was indie and the indie won the $1,000 monetary award.
- Fragments of the Heart by Ally McGuire
Paranormal/Occult/Horror: There were 8 finalists and 4 overall winners. Two of the winners were indie.
- Dark Haven by Brey Willows
- Midlife is the Cat’s Meow by T.B. Markinson and Miranda MacLeod
General Fiction: There were 4 finalists and 2 overall winners. 1 winner was indie.
- The Flight List by Macon Leigh
Contemporary Romance – Long Novels: There were 11 finalists and 6 overall winners. 2 winners were indie and one of the indies won the monetary award.
- Meeting Millie by Clare Ashton – won the $1,000 monetary award for the genre category
- On the Same Page by Haley Cass
Historical Fiction: There were 6 finalists and 3 overall winners. One winner was indie and the indie won the $1,000 monetary award
- In the Shadow of Victory by J.E. Leak
Science Fiction and Fantasy: There were 12 finalists and 5 overall winners. Two of the winners were indie.
- Outcast by KJ
- Rhapsody in Flames by Ryann Fletcher
Debut Novel: There were 13 finalists and 5 overall winners. Two of the winners were indie and one of the indies won the $1,000 monetary award
- The Flight Risk by Macon Leigh – won the $1,000 monetary award in the category
- Paper Daffodils: A Dawn and Rosie Adventure by Titania Tempest
Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award: This is a reader chosen award. Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards are given. There were 25 finalists this year, many of whom were indie. Two of the three winners were indie and both won monetary awards.
- Meeting Millie by Clare Ashton – Silver Award and a $10,000 cash prize
- On the Same Page by Haley Cass – Bronze Award and a $5,000 cash prize
That’s quite a list!
The addition of monetary prizes thanks to gifts and grants over the last several years has increased interest in and entries for the Goldie Awards. The competition is a lot tougher and you would have thought that would have made it even harder for indies, but they’re share of the awards has increased to be even with some of the bigger publishing houses that publish sapphic works (Bella, Bold Strokes, Bywater, Ylva, etc) and some of the major publishers who publish sapphic books under specialty divisions and their authors submitting more books.