Heartland Booksellers Award

Submit your titles for the Heartland Booksellers Award!

The Heartland Booksellers Award is a reflection of handselling at its best, as all the books are selected directly by our independent booksellers and celebrate exceptional literature throughout the Greater Midwest with content either about the region or an author from our region. β€‹

Administered by the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association and the Great Lake Independent Booksellers Association, celebrating our book awards as one industry force amplifies the impact of the award for booksellers, publishers, authors, and consumers, as 12 states and 300 bookstores throughout the Greater Midwest celebrate the same set of titles. ​Our award-winning titles often remain on our bestseller lists for weeks, months, and even years to come.

​To support the titles germane to each of our regions, both GLIBA and MIBA conduct separate submission processes with publishers, allowing books that have been popular in each of our regions to receive the attention they deserve. We celebrate the winners at an awards ceremony in October each year.

Learn more about the criteria and submission process


Previous winners

2022 Heartland Booksellers Award Winners


2021 Heartland Booksellers Award Winners

Fiction Winner

Nonfiction Winner

Poetry Winner

YA MG Winner

Picture Book Winner

Watch the awards celebration


2020 Heartland Booksellers Award Winners
  • Fiction: Everywhere You Don't Belong, Gabriel Bump
  • Nonfiction: In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado
  • Poetry: Homie, Danez Smith
  • Young Adult/Middle Grade: The Fountains of Silence, Ruta Sepetys
  • Children's Picture Book: A Map Into the World, Kao Kalia Yang