The Black Caucus of the ALA (BCALA) and BiblioLabs announce a $5,000 increase in financial support for the annual BCALA Self-Publishing Ebook Awards. The awards honor the best self-published ebooks in fiction and poetry by African American authors in the United States. BiblioLabs and BCALA’s six-year partnership continues to highlight and support diverse voices in digital content as well as recognize self-published works.

The Black Caucus of the ALA (BCALA) and BiblioLabs announce a $5,000 increase in financial support for the annual BCALA Self-Publishing Ebook Awards. The awards honor the best self-published ebooks in fiction and poetry by African American authors in the United States. BiblioLabs and BCALA’s six-year partnership continues to highlight and support diverse voices in digital content as well as recognize self-published works.

Authors entering the contest can opt into the SELF-e program and their own Indie State module, providing them with an invaluable resource for promotion and exposure of their work. SELF-e is a partnership between BiblioLabs and Library Journal and is aimed at finding the best self-published books and making those books seamlessly available to library patrons. “I have seen first-hand the benefits of this level of support for the Indie authors,” says Tiffany Duck, the Chair of the Ebook Award Committee. “Some have gained a lot of exposure through the curated collections from BiblioLabs.”

Winning authors receive:

• Cash prize
• Formal recognition at the BCALA Literary Awards
• BCALA Literary Award Digital Seal to use in marketing
• Write up in Library Journal

As an organization that is celebrating over 50 years of championing African American librarians and literature, BCALA is excited to continue its partnership with BiblioLabs to foster relationships between authors and our communities.

The BCALA Ebook Self-Publishing Award submission period began in March 2021 and will extend through February 28, 2022. Final selections will go to a BCALA-appointed panel, who will select the winners of the Best Fiction and Best Poetry awards in March 2022. Winners will be announced in April 2022 and formally recognized at the 2022 ALA Annual Conference.

About the Black Caucus of the ALA (BCALA)

Established in 1970, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association serves as an advocate for the development, promotion, and improvement of library services and resources to the nation’s African American community and communities of color; and provides leadership for the recruitment and professional development of African American librarians. In addition, BCALA has sponsored literary awards for African American authors since 1994 and hosts events with the prestigious Coretta Scott King Book Award.

About BiblioLabs

BiblioLabs is the PatronsFirst™ mobile library. The folks behind BiblioLabs are a powerful team based in Charleston, S.C. They aim to transform access to information by providing a world-class user experience that thrills library patrons and is profitable for publishers. BiblioLabs is moving library content delivery into the future in a sustainable way. BiblioLabs, used by 3,000 libraries and multiple statewide eBook projects, reaches 30 million patrons. BiblioLabs has won numerous design and product awards including the 2015 Modern Library Award. BiblioLabs was acquired by Lyrasis in 2021.