Our two programs
Both begin with your book, and both are assessed against the same IIBA Standard of Excellence. The difference is what happens next.
One is a standard. Your book is measured against it, and against nothing else.
One is a competition. The strongest books are named finalists, and one wins each category.
The International Impact Book Awards runs all year. Your book is read in full, measured against ten published pillars, and compared to nothing else. Meet the standard and your book receives the International Impact Book Award in its category, and you become a Distinguished Author.
The bar does not move. It is not raised in a strong cycle or lowered in a quiet one, and it is not adjusted to fill a quota, which is why some categories recognize several books in a cycle and others recognize none at all. What the award says about your book is that it was read cover to cover and held to a fixed standard, not that it happened to be stronger than whoever else entered that month.
Author of the Year runs once a year on a closing window. Books are read against the same ten pillars, and the strongest in each category are named finalists. Those finalists are then considered against one another, and one Author of the Year is named per category. Most finalists do not win, which is what makes the title worth having.
The same book, entered into each program, would travel two different routes.
Meet the standard
Win the category
What it is
International Impact Book AwardsA standard your book is measured against.
Author of the YearA competition your book is entered into.
How your book is measured
International Impact Book AwardsAgainst the published standard and nothing else. Never against other books.
Author of the YearAgainst the same standard first. Finalists are then considered against one another, within their category.
How many are recognized
International Impact Book AwardsEvery book that meets the standard, and only the books that meet it. No quota in either direction. Some cycles recognize several books in a category, some recognize none.
Author of the YearFinalists in each category, then one winner per category.
What you receive
International Impact Book AwardsThe International Impact Book Award in your category, the title Distinguished Author, a certificate, an emblem, and an entry in the honoree archive.
Author of the YearFinalist standing in your category. If your name is read: the title Author of the Year, your trophy presented on stage, your acceptance speech, and a live red carpet interview straight afterwards.
Submissions
International Impact Book AwardsOpen all year. Enter whenever your book is ready.
Author of the YearAn annual window. The 2027 cycle closes February 28, 2027.
Entry
International Impact Book Awards$79 for your first category, then $139, $189, $229, and $259 for up to five.
Author of the Year$79 for your first category and $59 for each additional, or $299 for all five. Rates rise on October 10, 2026.
When you hear back
International Impact Book Awards10 to 12 weeks from submission.
Author of the YearFinalists are announced April 30, 2027. Winners are not known until gala night, read live from the stage.
Where it is celebrated
International Impact Book AwardsThe Impact Honors & Gala Weekend, Phoenix, twice yearly.
Author of the YearThe Hollywood Grand Gala, each October.
If your book is not recognized
International Impact Book AwardsYou are never listed publicly. You receive your outcome for every category entered, and an open invitation to submit again.
Author of the YearYou are never listed publicly. Entrants who are not named finalists are notified directly.
The evaluation does not change between programs. Only what happens with the result does.
Your complete manuscript is readNot a synopsis, not a sample, not a description. The whole book.
The same ten pillarsGrouped into four families: The Writing, The Substance, The Reader, The Finished Book.
The same assessment systemThe Literary Metric Assessment System reads every manuscript in both programs.
The same lead reviewerAn instrument produces consistency, not judgment. A person makes the determination in both programs.
The same fifty categoriesYour book is read against the expectations of the category you entered, not against books in general.
The same eligibilityBooks published in 2020 or later, in English, in any format.
The same privacyYour manuscript is used for evaluation only. It is never published, excerpted, or shared outside the review process.
The same rule on who is recognizedRecognition goes to the author who submits. One certificate, one emblem, one archive entry.
Mostly this comes down to timing, and to what you want the recognition to do for your book.
One thing worth saying plainly. Neither program sells recognition. No ticket, no add-on, and no event purchase affects whether your book meets the standard or whether it is named a finalist. Those decisions are made before any of it comes up, and they are made on the book.
Yes. They are separate submissions with separate fees, and each is assessed on its own. Being recognized in the year-round program does not make you a finalist for Author of the Year, and being named a finalist does not make you a Distinguished Author. Nothing carries across in either direction.
They carry different kinds of weight. Author of the Year is a competition with one winner per category, so the title is scarce by design and there is a night in Hollywood attached to it. The International Impact Book Award says something more specific: that your book was read cover to cover and held to ten published pillars, and met them. Readers can look up what that standard is. Which matters more depends on whether you want the rarer title or the one that explains itself.
No. Author of the Year is open to any eligible book, whether or not it has been through our year-round program. There is no qualifying step.
Yes. Both programs use the same ten pillars, the same assessment system, and the same lead reviewer, and both read your complete manuscript against the expectations of the category you entered. The difference is entirely in what happens after the reading. In one program, your result is measured against the standard. In the other, the strongest results are then measured against each other.
No, in either program. Recognition is complete whether or not you travel. Distinguished Authors who cannot attend the Phoenix weekend receive their award and their stickers by post, and Author of the Year winners who cannot travel to Hollywood are recognized and receive their award regardless. Attendance is never a condition of the outcome.
Because in a competition with a fixed number of winners, the same book can be recognized one year and turned away the next depending on who else happened to enter. That makes the result partly about the field rather than about the book. Measuring against a published standard removes it. Your book is read against ten pillars, and if it meets them it is recognized, whatever else arrived that month.
Reading a full manuscript against ten pillars in every category entered takes time, and the entry fee is what pays for it. It is not a donation and it does not buy an outcome. The fee is the same whether your book meets the standard or does not, and it is non-refundable either way.
With your complete manuscript, read in full, in the category you chose.
© 2025 International impact book awards
