BCALA Self-Publishing Literary Awards

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About This Project

Welcome, and thank you for your interest in the Black Caucus of ALA (BCALA) Self-Publishing Literary Awards. Through this contest, the BCALA honors the best self-published ebooks by an African American author in the U.S. in both fiction and poetry genres.

These awards acknowledge outstanding achievement in the presentation of the cultural, historical and sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora. The purpose is to encourage the artistic expression of the African American experience via literature and scholarly research including biographical, historical, and social history treatments by African Americans. The judging committee will be comprised of a BCALA-appointed panel, which will select one winner in each genre. Each genre prize winner shall receive: $2,500.00, formal recognition at the NCAAL conference in New Orleans, LA, and a BCALA Literary Award Seal to use in their marketing.

Submission Guidelines

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Submission Guidelines

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Additional Information

Submissions will be accepted through February 29, 2024. The awards will be presented during the National Conference Of African American Librarians (NCAAL) in New Orleans, Louisiana in July 2024. Authors will be advised of the Literary Award Committee’s decision in advance of the conference.

This contest is free and open to all self-published authors who meet the requirements. The submission process only takes about 10 minutes, and you are welcome to submit as many of your ebooks as you would like. All ebooks submitted to the contest must be:

  • In the poetry or fiction genres
  • A PDF or an ePUB file
  • In the English language
  • An original work that you own the rights to
  • Written by an African American author born in the U.S.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Will I lose the rights to my ebook when I submit?
    • No, the author retains full rights of their ebook after submitting, and their ebook may be removed from the contest at any time. 
  • What happens if I include my ebook in the Indie Author Project?
    • If you choose to opt-in to the Indie Author Project, you will still retain full rights of your ebook, and you will have the opportunity to have it distributed in libraries across the United States and Canada, increasing visibility and discoverability for your work. If you choose to remove your ebook from the Indie Author Project at any time, simply contact us and it will be removed. 
  • What happens if I choose not to include my ebook in the Indie Author Project?
    • If you choose to opt-out of the Indie Author Project, your ebook will only be distributed on the BiblioBoard platform so that the BCALA-appointed panel has access to judge your work. It will not be available to anyone outside of the BCALA-appointed panel and the technology support team, and once the contest has ended it will be removed. 
  • Is there a minimum publication date required to submit to the contest?
    • No, as long as your book meets the other contest criteria, it can be submitted, regardless of when it was published. 

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File Types Accepted

EPUB2, EPUB3, PDF

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