2025 IALA Nominations

Entries for the Indie Author Legacy Awards® must meet all of the following criteria:

1. Author must be Black or a Person of Color.
2. Book was either self-published or released by a reputable independent publisher. 
3. Demonstrate a commitment to community (this can include an online community such as social media, podcast or other digital platform).

1. To enter, each nominee must be clearly and concisely complete all sections of the online application, which consists of a series of questions about the Entrant.
2. All entries must be received by 11:59 pm EST on December 31, 2024. Finalists will be notified via email by 5:00 pm EST on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. 

Limit: One one entry form (per title) is needed. Multiple nominations WILL NOT increase your chances of being selected as a finalist.

1. Self-nominations are accepted.
2. Work must have a 2022 or 2023 copyright date and verifiable release date.
3. Book genre must be within one of the categories listed in the entry form.
4. Work must be non-fiction and promote either social awareness, education or transformation.
5. Work must be available on Amazon (or) other accessible retailer sites.
6. For anthologies, entry must be for the main author, otherwise choose the co-author category.
7. The IALA Board may disqualify entries for books determined to contain any material that is indecent, obscene, hateful, discriminatory, defamatory, slanderous, libelous, unlawful, or otherwise inappropriate.
8. After an entry has been submitted, it cannot be modified in any way and judges are not responsible for any delayed entry, incomplete entry, or entry not received, recognized, or accepted for any reason.
9. Upon review, judges reserve the right to change submission category to one deemed more applicable.

The IALA Planning Board and Executive Producer will select all finalists and winners based solely on the following criteria: 

1. Clarity of how the author has/or is using their book to positively impact their community (20%).
2. Verified and demonstrated commitment of nominee to their community (40%).
3. The book is directly related to the demonstrated community work stated on the entry form (30%);
4. Work has been recognized by other credible sources including media, book reviews, awards and a list of other significant factors (10%).

Important: This is not a popularity contest. Popular voting and scoring from supporters or social media followers (vanity metrics) will not be used for the selections.