2017 Winners & Finalists
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Raymond L. Atkins
POSTHUMOUS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Judith Ortiz Cofer
BIOGRAPHY
Winner: Ted Geltner, Blood, Bone, and Marrow: A Biography of Harry Crews
Finalist: Patricia Bell-Scott, The Firebrand and the First Lady
CHILDREN’S BOOK
Winner: Marcia Hawley Barnes, Tobijah
Finalist: Susie Gardner, 1, 2, 3 TEAM!
DETECTIVE/MYSTERY
Winner: Trudy Nan Boyce, Out of the Blues
Finalist: Carole Townsend, Blood in the Soil
ESSAY
Winner: Kathy A. Bradley, Wondering Toward Center
Finalist: Raymond L. Atkins, South of the Etowah: The View from the Wrong Side of the River
FIRST NOVEL
Winner: Gray Stewart, Haylow
Finalist: Anne Corbitt, Rules for Lying
HISTORY
Winner: Kaye Lanning Minchew, A President in Our Midst: Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Georgia
Finalist: Dan A. Aldridge, Jr., To Lasso the Clouds: The Beginning of Aviation in Georgia.
INSPIRATIONAL-RELIGIOUS
Winner: R. Kirby Godsey, The God Particle: God Talk in a “Big Bang” World
Finalist: J. Steve Miller, Faith That’s Not Blind: A Brief Introduction to Contemporary Arguments for the Existence of God
INSPIRATIONAL–SECULAR
Winner: Jane K. Ashley, Cancer: The Light at the End of the Tunnel
Finalist: Barry Pencek: The Millennial’s Guide to Wealth: Learn About Saving, Investing, Spending and Living While Drinking Beer
LITERARY FICTION
Winner: Julia Franks, Over the Plain Houses
Finalist: Terry Kay, The King Who Made Paper Flowers
Honorable Mention: Ann Hite, Sleeping Above Chaos
MEMOIR/AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Winner: John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and artist Nate Powell, March
Finalist: Susan Lindsley, Possum Cops, Poachers and the Counterfeit Game Warden
Honorable Mention: Molly Brodak, Bandit: A Daughter’s Memoir
POETRY
Winner: Sandra Meek, An Ecology of Elsewhere
Finalist: James Davis May, Unquiet Things
ROMANCE
Winner: Susan Sands, Love, Alabama
Finalist: Marilyn Baron, Stumble Stones
SPECIALTY BOOK
Winner: Sonny Seals and George S. Hart, Historic Rural Churches of Georgia
Finalist: Judson Mitcham, Michael David Murphy, and Karen L. Paty, Inspired Georgia
YOUNG ADULT
Winner: Marsha Mathews, Growing Up With Pigtails
Finalist: None