Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards

Since its creation in 1998, the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards has served to showcase established university and independent press titles, as well as emerging authors who self-publish. Well aware of the challenges faced by small publishers, our goal is to highlight deserving books—those that not only meet our editorial standards, but also blow our minds—to our audience of librarians, booksellers, industry professionals, and other book lovers, domestically and internationally.

By entering your book into the awards program, you will be offered a free subscription to Foreword Reviews, covering six issues of our print magazine.

The Judging Process

The INDIES are distinguished by an intense judging process utilizing professional editors, booksellers, and librarians. Our final judging process sees each book evaluated by a librarian and a bookseller, the decision makers for millions of book buys a year. They carefully appraise finalist titles using the following criteria: editorial excellence, professional production, originality of the narrative, and the value the book adds to its genre. Foreword Reviews reserves the right to withhold awards should any book not meet our criteria of editorial excellence and professional production standard.

What to Expect

We’ve streamlined the entry process to make it as quick and simple as possible. It is managed through our website, and notifications are sent to your email along the way (be sure to verify your email address). Here’s the timeline you can expect, starting with registration and through the winners announcement:

  1. Register your book for the Foreword INDIES by January 15, 2027
  2. We’ll send you an email with instructions for claiming your complimentary 1-year subscription to Foreword Reviews
  3. Send a PDF of your book(s) to the email address on the receipt by January 22, 2027
    (Optional) Send two physical copies in addition to the PDF for each category a title is entered. Physical books are handled as supplemental materials and do not replace the digital submission record.
  4. We’ll send you an email letting you know we’ve received your book
  5. Finalists will be announced in March 2027 on our website, Facebook, and Twitter
  6. Finalist seals for your book cover, a Foreword INDIES marketing toolkit, and Foreword-exclusive advertising opportunities for finalists will immediately become available to finalists
  7. Winners will be announced June 4, 2027 on our website, Facebook, and Twitter
  8. Gold, silver, bronze, and honorable mention seals for your book cover and Foreword-exclusive advertising opportunities for winners will immediately become available to winners
  9. Winners will be sent a packet containing a winner certificate, 500 seals for your book cover, and marketing tips soon after the announcement