The Somerset Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Contemporary and Literary Fiction. The Cygnus Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring contemporary stories, literary themes, adventure, magical realism, or women and family themes. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

These titles have moved forward in the first look rounds from all 2024 SOMERSET Contemporary Fiction entries to the 2024 Somerset Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2024 Somerset Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC25.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 in beautiful Bellingham, WA at the Bellingham Yacht Club sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2024 Somerset Book Awards novel competition for Contemporary and Literary Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!

Conon Parks – Down and Out in Omaha
Samantha Schinder – Loud Voices
Rachel Valencourt – Twilight’s Brightest Star
Deonna Kay – The Measure of Enough
Torres & Firsht – Tell Me Your Plans
Robert Steven Goldstein – Golda’s Hutch
Natalie Musgrave Dossett – Sarita
Robert Gwaltney – Sing Down the Moon
Ann Bancroft – Almost Family
Kat Caldwell – Bended Loyalty
Christina Boyd – Woman in the Painting
Lisa Gruwell Spicer – Radio Smokva a Croatian American Story
David B. Seaburn – Until It Was Gone
Maryann Clarke – Secrets at the Aviary Inn
Craig Allen Heath – Killing Buddhas
Wesley J. Wildman – The Winding Way Home
Leslie Wibberley – The Unraveling of Emma Hill
Leslie Kain – What Lies Buried
Melissa Connelly – What Was Lost
Abbe Rolnick – The Underpainting
Alissa Butterworth – To Die Is Different Than Supposed
Jonna Lyons Johnson – Tapping Light
Neroli Lacey – The Perfumer’s Secret
Rupert Taylor – Please Let Me Destroy You
Zelly Ruskin – Not Yours to Keep
Donna Norman-Carbone – Of Lies and Honey
Julie Weary – Never, Ever, Always
D. L. Whipple – The Outcast
John W. Feist – Edged in Purple
Graydon Dee Hubbard – Network Apprentice, Behind the Scenes in Talk Television
William Robert Reeves – The In-House Politician
Judith Krummeck – The Deceived Ones
Leilana Rae – The Meaning Between Us
Tamara Hart Heiner – Of Life, Love, and Other Noble Pursuits
Ruth F. Stevens – The Unexpected Guests
Reenita M. Hora – Vermilion Harvest – Playtime at the Bagh
Allan Ishac – The Mystic In The Mews
Keith McWalter – Lifers
Ben Gonshor – The Book of Izzy
J. Drew – On the Surface of the Sun
Joy Ross Davis – The Goddess of Weaver Street
Dianne C. Braley – The Summer Before
Phyllis Gobbell – Prodigal
Stephanie Alexander – Mean Low Water
S.M. Stevens – Beautiful and Terrible Things
Natia Khaduri – A Soldier’s Burden
Kay Smith-Blum – Tangles
Jeff Hartman – How To Win The Nobel Peace Prize
Rich Miller – It Rhymes With Truth
Anthony Horton – Unpaved
Anne Heinrich – God Bless The Child
Tamar Anolic – Like Water and Ice
Patricia Averbach – Dreams of Drowning
Antonia Gavrihel – Back to One: Take 4 Slating Magic Hour
John David Graham – Running As Fast As I Can
Meredith Walters – This Animal Body
Woody Woodburn – The Butterfly Tree: An Extraordinary Saga of Seven Generations
Cheryl Grey Bostrom – Leaning on Air
Erika Shepard – Abomination Child
Leslie DeBrock – The Frog-Eyed Gospel, A Texas Exodus
Mary Behan – Finding Isobel
Linda A Lavid – Quigley Tree: A Novel
Chris Chan – She Ruined Our Lives
Ann Bancroft – Almost Family
Jeffrey Blount – Mr. Jimmy From Around the Way
R.w. Meek – The Dream Collector: Sabrine & Sigmund Freud
Mary Elizabeth Gillilan – Confluence
Holly C LaBarbera – All I Know

Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

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We will also be promoting this list in our Newsletter, which you can sign up for here!

Congratulations once more to the 2023 Somerset Grand Prize Winner

You Can’t Fool A Mermaid

By Judy Keeslar Santamaria

Click here to see the full list of 2023 SOMERSET Book Award Winners for Contemporary Fiction.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2025 SOMERSET Book Awards for Contemporary Fiction.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2024 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 3 – 6, 2025! Save the Date for Registration!

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our annual conference as we enter our second decade and discover why!