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The Hearten Awards are here for your Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction!

The Hearten Awards is one of our 6 Non-Fiction Divisions. Specifically, it covers Uplifting and Inspiring Memoirs. If you have written a book about yours, or someone else’s life story that can inspire others, Submit it to us!

The Categories for the Hearten Awards are:

• Humorous
• Motivational
• Advice/Inspiration
• Family and Chosen Family
• Self Discovery/Coming of Age

We are happy to Celebrate the 2023 Hearten Award Winners!

• Lisa Niver – Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty
  
• Lally Pia – The Fortune Teller’s Prophecy: A Memoir of an Unlikely Doctor
  
• Tony Jeton Selimi – A Path to Excellence
  
• Trudy Wells-Meyer – Some Things Are Simply Meant to Be
• Aurita Maldonado – The Zen of Dancing in the Rain: Becoming One with the Storm

The Grand Prize Winner of The 2023 Hearten Award is:

Running Away From the Circus

by Nove Meyers

Submit today to join this list of winners!

The Hearten Awards are open until the end of September! We’ll leave you with some of our favorite uplifting reads that have come through lately!

DIAMOND: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan
By Etsuko Diamond Miyagi

In a world ravaged by conflict and loss, Etsuko Diamond Miyagi’s memoir, Diamond: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan is a shining testament to the beauty of love and the human spirit’s ability to overcome adversity.

Etsuko enjoys a peaceful childhood on the Philippine island of Mindanao, where her father owns an abacá plantation. But they are not safe when guerilla forces destroy her village murdering everyone and leaving her as the sole survivor. This deeply personal narrative of grief chronicles Etsuko’s harrowing journey to find solace and joy after the death of her parents.

At first, passed from house to house, Etsuko is forced to work as a domestic servant until a kind family takes her in. However, her safety and survival is once again in danger when she’s forced to leave her adopted family and take a position at Chief Doming Apostol’s estate in Magpet. It is there Etsuko receives the name ‘Diamond.’

Read more here!

A PATH To EXCELLENCE
By Tony Jeton Selimi
Hearten First Place Winner

On the belief that life isn’t just the random cards one is dealt, A Path to Excellence by Tony Jeton Selimi offers a blueprint—the octagon of excellence—to succeed personally, professionally, and spiritually.

Transcending the pitfalls and spontaneous stumbling blocks along the path of life can open the door to self-actualization and progression. As someone who experienced bullying, sexual abuse, early disability, and homelessness, Selimi sets on to become a beacon of light to the hopeless and marginalized.

Within each soul lies a bud of genius waiting to blossom. This book focuses on purpose, vision, and persistence to clear the way to that fullest potential. Affirming challenges as immutable truths of life, Selimi employs Buddhist teaching and personal anecdotes to encourage a head-on confrontation with one’s struggles and promotes a feeling of gratitude. As a blend of philosophical wisdom and practical experience, the initial chapters help readers acknowledge their current life situation, perceiving challenges as epochs of potential.

Read more here!

DAWGS
By Diane Trull & Meredith Wargo
Hearten Grand Prize Winner

We love our dogs. We love our cats. But what do we do when people no longer want them, use them for cruel purposes, or release them into the streets with no thought for what will happen to them? Diane Trull’s memoir with Meredith Wargo, DAWGS, shines a light on these questions.

Trull begins the story as a fourth-grade teacher in Dalhart, Texas. One of her young students asks about an article in a local paper showing photos of adorable dogs at a shelter who were up for adoption, wondering what happened to those who weren’t adopted.

Instead of dodging the question, and with great trepidation, she answered it with the truth: those who weren’t adopted would be put to sleep. Her tiny students were understandably shocked. Then one of them said, “I don’t want any of those dogs to die. Isn’t there something we can do to save them?”

Read more here!

LOVE, LIFE and LUCILLE
By Judy Gaman
Hearten First Place Winner

Award-winning author, motivational speaker, and podcast host Judy Gaman befriends a fun-loving and feisty centenarian in her CIBA Grand Prize-winning novel, Love, Life, and Lucille.

The list of titles and accolades Judy Gaman has accrued begin to pale when she encounters Lucille Fleming for the very first time. The whole reason for the meet-up with the centenarian was specifically to get her opinions on “aging gracefully,” the featured topic of a new book Judy planned to write. What was scheduled as an hour-long interview turned into an absolutely delightful, near three-hour visit. Lucille turned the tables and began asking questions about Judy’s life with compelling earnestness—something Judy rarely experienced. She was unprepared yet exhilarated.

Judy couldn’t stop thinking about this “dressed to the nines” woman with an ear-to-ear smile and a sturdy, affectionate hug. Her contact with this larger-than-life woman was so infectious, Judy made up an excuse—so that she could see her again. During that second meeting, the two became fast friends as they set Fridays aside as their day to get together. Before their next planned meeting, Judy learned that Lucille had gone into cardiac arrest. She was dead for three minutes before she came back full of vim and vigor as if nothing had happened. Five months later, Lucille was more than ready for TV interviews. With that, Judy made plans to write a second book about Lucille and their relationship.

Read more here!