Southern Book Prize (formerly the SEBA Book Award and SIBA Book Award) is a literary award given by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA). It was first awarded in 1999.Summer, Bob (1999). "SEBA presents first book awards." Publishers Weekly, 246(20), 24. 1 Color Photograph. Last accessed Oct. 8, 2012. Nominated books must be Southern in nature or by a Southern author, have been published the previous year, and have been nominated by a SIBA-member bookstore or one of their customers. Voting categories include fiction, Nonfiction, poetry, cooking and children's literature. In 2016, the award was renamed the Southern Book Prize and awarded in honor of southern writer Pat Conroy, who died in March 2016.
The first awards were given in 1999. From 1999 through 2007 winners were chosen by popular vote through an online voting mechanism. Starting in 2008, winners were chosen from the list of finalists by a jury of SIBA booksellers. Since 2019 candidates have been nominated by Southern indie booksellers before the ballot of finalists in three categories is voted on by bookstore customers. According to SIBA, 1800 ballots were cast to select the winners of the 2023 prize.
Winners
Southern Book Prize +SIBA Book Award winnersYearCategoryAuthorTitleRef.1999Children Out of the OceanFictionNonfiction Confederates in the AtticPoetry Someone Will Go On Owing2000Children Bugs & Critters I Have KnownFiction Look Back All the Green ValleyNonfiction Ecology of a Cracker ChildhoodPoetry Elegy for the Southern Drawl2001Children Because of Winn-DixieFiction Jim the BoyNonfiction Somebody Told MePoetry Zinc Fingers2002Children How Animals Saved the PeopleFictionNonfiction Ava's Man2003Children HootCookbookFictionNonfiction My Losing SeasonPoetry Catching Light2004Children How I Became a PirateSteelman, Ben (2004, Jun 27). "Book marks; Edgerton Nabs SEBA Award for 'Piccadilly'". Star-News. ProQuest document ID 285439497. Last accessed Oct. 8, 2012.CookbookFiction Lunch at the PiccadillyNonfictionPoetry (ed.) Locales2005Children and Ridley Pearson Peter and the StarcatchersCookbook Frank Stitt's Southern TableFiction Saints at the RiverNonfiction We're Just Like You, Only PrettierPoetry2006Children (with Bryan Collier) RosaCookbook and Charlotte Hays Being Dead is No ExcuseFiction Gods in AlabamaNonfiction Marley & MePoetry What Travels with Us2007Children Alabama MoonCookbook I Like You: Hospitality Under the InfluenceFiction Thirteen MoonsNonfiction Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper LeePoetry Keep and Give Away2008Children with Brian Lies (illus.) Deep in the SwampCookbookFiction Garden SpellsNonfiction Animal, Vegetable, MiraclePoetry2009Children and Mary Nethery Two BobbiesCookbook Screen Doors and Sweet TeaFiction SerenaNonfictionPoetry Dear DarknessYoung Adult Graceling2010ChildrenCookbook and Matt LeeFictionNonfiction2011Children MockingbirdCookbook Southern My Way: Simple Recipes, Fresh FlavorsFiction Burning BrightNonfictionPoetryYoung Adult Countdown2012Children Jo MacDonald Saw a PondCookbookFiction Iron HouseNonfiction Lions of the WestPoetry Abandoned QuarryYoung Adult Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact2013ChildrenCookbookFictionNonfiction Stand Up That Mountain: The Battle to Save One Small Community in the Wilderness Along the Appalachian TrailPoetry DescentYoung Adult Three Times Lucky2014ChildrenCooking Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey: Recipes from My Three Favorite Food Groups and Then SomeFiction Whistling Past the GraveyardNonfiction Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged HospitalPoetryYoung Adult2015Children Brown Girl DreamingCooking HeritageFictionNonfiction Factory ManYoung Adult with Brett Helquist (illus.) League of Seven
Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize +Southern Book Prize winnersYearCategoryAuthorTitleRef.2016Cookbook Soul Food LoveFiction My Sunshine AwayHistory & Life Stories Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land GrabLiterary Above the WaterfallMystery Bull MountainNonfiction Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi DeltaThrillerYoung Adult MosquitolandYoungsters Serafina and the Black Cloak2017Biography, Autobiography & MemoirCooking Deep Run Roots: Stories & Recipes from My Corner of the SouthCreative Nonfiction Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in CrisisFiction (Coming of Age) CommonwealthFiction (Family Life)Fiction (Historical) Chasing the North StarFiction (Literary) Over the Plain HousesJuvenile Lily and DunkinSouthern Stories & Stories by SouthernersThriller Redemption Road2018Biography & History Coretta: My Life, My Love, My LegacyFiction (Literary)Fiction (Women & Family Young Jane YoungJuvenile FictionFlame in the Mist Tumble & BlueMystery, Thriller, Suspense Gradle BirdNonfiction Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White AmericaSouthern Fiction Before We Were Yours2019Children's Smack Dab in the Middle of MaybeFictionNonfiction2020Children'sFictionNonfiction Tell Me a Story: My Life With Pat Conroy2021Children's with Gordon C. JamesI Am Every Good ThingFictionNonfictionMemorial Drive2022Children's with Charly Palmer (illus.) Keep Your Head Up FictionWhen Ghosts Come HomeNonfictionGraceland, At Last 2023Children's with Gracey Zhang (illus.) Nigel and the Moon FictionLark AscendingNonfictionBomb Shelter 2024FictionAnn PatchettTom LakeNonfictionMargaret RenklThe Comfort of CrowsChildren's and YAGillian McDunnWhen Sea Becomes Sky2025FictionTaylor BrownRednecksNonfictionAnnabelle TometichThe Mango TreeYoung ReadersMeredith AdamoNot Like Other Girls
References
External links SIBA Book Award, official website SIBA Book Award at LibraryThing