Congratulations to the 2024 Florida Book Award Recipients!

After receiving more than 190 entries across 11 categories, the juries have made final selections for the 2024 Florida Book Awards.

Cooking
Gold—The Florida Vegetarian Cookbook, Dalia Colon
Silver—Modern Cuban, Ana Quincoces

Florida Nonfiction
Gold—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 Poole Kemp

General Fiction
Gold—Dressing the Saints, Aracelis Gonzalez Asendorf
Silver—The Best That You Can Do, Amina Gautier
Bronze—Bomb Island, Stephen Hundley

General Nonfiction
Gold—John Lewis: In Search of the Beloved Community, Raymond Arsenault
Silver—Melted Away, Barbara Drake-Vera
Bronze—You Paid for This, Richard Wickliffe
Honorable Mention—The Life and Death of Ryan White, Paul M. Renfro

Older Children’s Literature
Gold—The 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: A Stronghold of Nature, Ian Wilson-Navarro
Silver—Sunset Colonies: A Visual Elegy to Florida’s Mobile Home Communities, Diego Alejandro Waisman

Young Adult Literature
Gold—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

Recipients of the Florida Book Awards will be formally recognized at the Abitz Family Dinner, held in Tallahassee, on April 3rd, 2025.

See the winners of last year’s competition, and previous years, by going here. 

KEY DATES

July 2024: Entries Accepted

December 13, 2024: Entries Close

February 2025: Winners Announced

April 3, 2025: Abitz Family Dinner, Tallahassee

April 4—6, 2025: Word of South Festival