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Faith-based fiction book awards
Recognition for novels and stories shaped by faith and belief, welcome from any tradition. Every book is read in full and measured against our published Standard of Excellence.
What this category recognizes
Faith-based fiction is fiction first. The story has to work as a story, and the faith has to be part of what the book is rather than a message attached to it. This category covers novels and story collections where belief, doubt, conversion, or religious life shapes the narrative, from any tradition. The most common weakness is a book that arrives at its conclusion because the author needs it to rather than because the characters got there. The strongest entries let belief be tested by the story rather than protected from it.
What the standard looks like in faith-based fiction
The ten pillars apply to every category. This is how each one is read when the book is faith-based fiction.
The Writing
Voice, Tone and Style
Whether the book sounds like a novel rather than a sermon in narrative form.
Craft and Technical Execution
Whether the spiritual turning points are dramatised on the page rather than reported.
Structure and Organization
Whether the story earns its shape, and whether the resolution follows from what came before.
The Substance
Originality and Concept Strength
Whether the book brings something to a genre with well-worn patterns.
Depth of Content and Insight
Whether doubt and difficulty are given real weight, or moved past on the way to the answer.
The Reader
Audience Impact and Purpose Fulfillment
Whether the book serves a reader who shares the faith and remains readable to one who does not.
Emotional and Psychological Impact
Whether the characters are people rather than positions.
Overall Impact and Distinction
Whether the book stays with a reader as a story, not only as a message.
The Finished Book
Production Quality and Presentation
Trade-standard editing, typesetting, and cover design.
Category Relevance
Whether faith is structural to the narrative rather than decoration on it.
Spirituality, Faith and Religion, Devotional, Inspirational, or Faith-Based Fiction?
Spirituality
Inner life and meaning, not bound to one tradition.
Tell: the subject is the interior, and no doctrine is assumed.
Faith and Religion
Theology, doctrine, practice, and religious history.
Tell: it teaches, and it assumes or explains a tradition.
Devotional
Read in pieces rather than through.
Tell: nobody reads it cover to cover in one sitting.
Inspirational
Encouragement and hope, for any reader.
Tell: the reader finishes steadier, not taught.
Faith-Based Fiction
A story shaped by faith or belief.
Tell: the author made it up.
Questions about entering faith-based fiction
Is this category only for Christian fiction?
No. Novels shaped by any faith tradition are welcome and are assessed on their own terms.
Does my novel need a conversion or a redemption arc?
No. Books about doubt, loss of faith, and unresolved struggle are assessed on the same standard.
My novel is set in a religious community but is not about belief. Where does it go?
Probably Literary Fiction or Contemporary Fiction. You may enter both.
Related categories
Submit your faith-based fiction book
Entry is $79 for your first category. Your complete manuscript is read in full and measured against the ten pillars.