Southern Book Prize

Southern Book Prize (formerly the SEBA Book Award^[1] and SIBA Book Award^[2]) is a literary award given by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA). It was first awarded in 1999.^[1] 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.^[2]

The first awards were given in 1999.^[3] From 1999 through 2007 winners were chosen by popular vote through an online voting mechanism.^[3] Starting in 2008, winners were chosen from the list of finalists by a jury of SIBA booksellers.^[3] 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.^[4]

Winners

Southern Book Prize

SIBA Book Award winners

Year	Category	Author	Title	Ref.
1999	Children	Debra Frasier	Out of the Ocean	[1]
	Fiction	Tim Gautreaux	The Next Step in the Dance	[1]
	Nonfiction	Tony Horwitz	Confederates in the Attic	[1]
	Poetry	Andrew Glaze	Someone Will Go On Owing	[1]
2000	Children	Ann Heiskell Rickey	Bugs & Critters I Have Known
	Fiction	Fred Chappell	Look Back All the Green Valley
	Nonfiction	Janisse Ray	Ecology of a Cracker Childhood
	Poetry	Rodney Jones	Elegy for the Southern Drawl
2001	Children	Kate DiCamillo	Because of Winn-Dixie
	Fiction	Tony Earley	Jim the Boy
	Nonfiction	Rick Bragg	Somebody Told Me
	Poetry	Peter Meinke	Zinc Fingers
2002	Children	J.J. Reneaux	How Animals Saved the People
	Fiction	Doug Marlette	The Bridge
	Nonfiction	Rick Bragg	Ava’s Man
2003	Children	Carl Hiaasen	Hoot
	Cookbook	Sara Foster	The Foster’s Market Cookbook
	Fiction	Sue Monk Kidd	The Secret Life of Bees
	Nonfiction	Pat Conroy	My Losing Season
	Poetry	Kathryn Stripling Byer	Catching Light
2004	Children	Melinda Long	How I Became a Pirate	[5]
	Cookbook	Edna Lewis	The Gift of Southern Cooking	[5]
	Fiction	Clyde Edgerton	Lunch at the Piccadilly	[5]
	Nonfiction	Deborah Ford	The GRITS Guide to Life	[5]
	Poetry	Fred Chappell (ed.)	Locales	[5]
2005	Children	Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson	Peter and the Starcatchers
	Cookbook	Frank Stitt	Frank Stitt’s Southern Table
	Fiction	Ron Rash	Saints at the River
	Nonfiction	Celia Rivenbark	We’re Just Like You, Only Prettier
	Poetry	Maurice Manning	A Companion for Owls
2006	Children	Nikki Giovanni (with Bryan Collier)	Rosa	[6]
	Cookbook	Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays	Being Dead is No Excuse
	Fiction	Joshilyn Jackson	Gods in Alabama
	Nonfiction	John Grogan	Marley & Me
	Poetry	Darnell Arnoult	What Travels with Us
2007	Children	Watt Key	Alabama Moon
	Cookbook	Amy Sedaris	I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence
	Fiction	Charles Frazier	Thirteen Moons
	Nonfiction	Charles J. Shields	Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee
	Poetry	Susan Meyers	Keep and Give Away
2008	Children	Donna Bateman with Brian Lies (illus.)	Deep in the Swamp
	Cookbook	Jean Anderson	A Love Affair with Southern Cooking
	Fiction	Sarah Addison Allen	Garden Spells
	Nonfiction	Barbara Kingsolver	Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
	Poetry	David Kirby	The House On Boulevard Street
2009	Children	Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery	Two Bobbies
	Cookbook	Martha Hall Foose	Screen Doors and Sweet Tea
	Fiction	Ron Rash	Serena
	Nonfiction	Rick Bragg	The Prince of Frogtown
	Poetry	Kevin Young	Dear Darkness
	Young Adult	Kristin Cashore	Graceling
2010	Children	Hester Bass	The Secret World of Walter Anderson
	Cookbook	Ted Lee and Matt Lee	The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern
	Fiction	Kathryn Stockett	The Help
	Nonfiction	Rick Bragg	The Most They Ever Had
2011	Children	Kathryn Erskine	Mockingbird
	Cookbook	Gena Knox	Southern My Way: Simple Recipes, Fresh Flavors
	Fiction	Ron Rash	Burning Bright
	Nonfiction	Jim Minick	The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family
	Poetry	Janisse Ray	A House of Branches
	Young Adult	Deborah Wiles	Countdown
2012	Children	Mary Quattlebaum	Jo MacDonald Saw a Pond
	Cookbook	Sheri Castle	The New Southern Garden Cookbook
	Fiction	John Hart	Iron House
	Nonfiction	Robert Morgan	Lions of the West
	Poetry	John Lane	Abandoned Quarry
	Young Adult	A. J. Hartley	Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact
2013	Children	William Joyce	The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
	Cookbook	Cheryl Day	The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook
	Fiction	Wiley Cash	A Land More Kind Than Home
	Nonfiction	Jay Erskine Leutze	Stand Up That Mountain: The Battle to Save One Small Community in the Wilderness Along the Appalachian Trail
	Poetry	Kathryn Stripling Byer	Descent
	Young Adult	Sheila Turnage	Three Times Lucky
2014	Children	J. E. Thompson	The Girl from Felony Bay
	Cooking	John Currence	Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey: Recipes from My Three Favorite Food Groups and Then Some
	Fiction	Susan Crandall	Whistling Past the Graveyard
	Nonfiction	Sheri Fink	Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital
	Poetry	Cathy Smith Bowers	The Collected Poems of Cathy Smith Bowers
	Young Adult	Sarah Dessen	The Moon and More
2015	Children	Jacqueline Woodson	Brown Girl Dreaming
	Cooking	Sean Brock	Heritage
	Fiction	Sue Monk Kidd	The Invention of Wings
	Nonfiction	Beth Macy	Factory Man
	Young Adult	Alan Gratz with Brett Helquist (illus.)	League of Seven

Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize

Southern Book Prize winners

Year	Category	Author	Title	Ref.
2016	Cookbook	Alice Randall	Soul Food Love	[7][8]
	Fiction	M. O. Walsh	My Sunshine Away	[7][8]
	History & Life Stories	Steve Inskeep	Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab	[7][8]
	Literary	Ron Rash	Above the Waterfall	[7][8]
	Mystery	Brian Panowich	Bull Mountain	[7][8]
	Nonfiction	Richard Grant	Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta	[7][8]
	Thriller	Greg Isles	The Bone Tree	[7][8]
	Young Adult	David Arnold	Mosquitoland	[7][8]
	Youngsters	Robert Beatty	Serafina and the Black Cloak	[7][8]
2017	Biography, Autobiography & Memoir	J. Drew Lanham	The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature	[9]
	Cooking	Vivian Howard	Deep Run Roots: Stories & Recipes from My Corner of the South	[9]
	Creative Nonfiction	J. D. Vance	Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis	[9]
	Fiction (Coming of Age)	Ann Patchett	Commonwealth	[9]
	Fiction (Family Life)	Mary Alice Monroe	A Lowcountry Christmas	[9]
	Fiction (Historical)	Robert Morgan	Chasing the North Star	[9]
	Fiction (Literary)	Julia Franks	Over the Plain Houses	[9]
	Juvenile	Donna Gephart	Lily and Dunkin	[9]
	Southern Stories & Stories by Southerners	Fannie Flagg	The Whole Town's Talking	[9]
	Thriller	John Hart	Redemption Road	[9]
2018	Biography & History	Coretta Scott King	Coretta: My Life, My Love, My Legacy	[10]
	Fiction (Literary)	Wiley Cash	The Last Ballad	[10]
	Fiction (Women & Family	Gabrielle Zevin	Young Jane Young	[10]
	Juvenile Fiction	Renée Ahdieh	Flame in the Mist	[10]
		Cassie Beasley	Tumble & Blue	[10]
	Mystery, Thriller, Suspense	J. C. Sasser	Gradle Bird	[10]
	Nonfiction	Michael Eric Dyson	Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America	[10]
	Southern Fiction	Lisa Wingate	Before We Were Yours	[10]
2019	Children's	Jo Hackl	Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe	[11]
	Fiction	David Joy	The Line that Held Us	[11]
	Nonfiction	Rick Bragg	The Best Cook in the World	[11]
2020	Children's	Roshani Chokshi	The Gilded Wolves	[12][13]
	Fiction	Jessica Handler	The Magnetic Girl	[12][13]
	Nonfiction	Cassandra King Conroy	Tell Me a Story: My Life With Pat Conroy	[12][13]
2021	Children's	Derrick Barnes with Gordon C. James	I Am Every Good Thing	[14]
	Fiction	Carter Sickels	The Prettiest Star	[14][15]
	Nonfiction	Natasha Trethewey	Memorial Drive	[14]
2022	Children's	Aliya King Neil with Charly Palmer (illus.)	Keep Your Head Up	[16][17]
	Fiction	Wiley Cash	When Ghosts Come Home	[16][17]
	Nonfiction	Margaret Renkl	Graceland, At Last	[16][17]
2023	Children's	Antwan Eady with Gracey Zhang (illus.)	Nigel and the Moon	[18][19]
	Fiction	Silas House	Lark Ascending	[18][19]
	Nonfiction	Mary Laura Philpott	Bomb Shelter	[18][19]
2024	Fiction	Ann Patchett	Tom Lake	[20]
	Nonfiction	Margaret Renkl	The Comfort of Crows
	Children's and YA	Gillian McDunn	When Sea Becomes Sky
2025	Fiction	Taylor Brown	Rednecks	[21]
	Nonfiction	Annabelle Tometich	The Mango Tree
	Young Readers	Meredith Adamo	Not Like Other Girls