The IPPY awards are given to books published by “independent” publishers. The titles are by both self-published authors and those published by academic presses. So books published by Harvard University Press compete with those published by iUniverse (for more on the awards, see the Independent Publishers website.)

One of this year’s regional IPPY winners is “Movers and Shakers, Scalawags and Suffragettes: Tales from Bellefontaine Cemetery” by Carol Ferring Shepley. It tied for a gold award in the Mid-West Regional Nonfiction category.

The other gold winner is also about Missouri: “Mystery of the Irish Wilderness” by Leland and Crystal Payton (Lens & Pen Press). 

A publication by Bkmk Press, based at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, was honored in the short story category.

Here is the list of all of the Midwest honorees.

Mid-West – Best Regional Fiction

Gold: The Confederate War Bonnet: A Novel of Civil War in Indian Territory, by Jack Shakely (iUniverse)

Silver: The Mystery of Tree Rings, by Mark Meierhenry and David Volk (South Dakota State Historical Society Press)

Bronze: Beginnings, by Lorraine Theall (BookSurge)

Mid-West – Best Regional Non-Fiction

Gold (tie): Mover and Shakers, Scalawags and Suffragettes: Tales from Bellefontaine Cemetery, by Carol Ferring Shepley (Missouri History Museum) and Mystery of the Irish Wilderness, by Leland and Crystal Payton (Lens & Pen Press)

Silver (tie): The West as I Lived It, by Ed Lemmon (State Publishing Company) and What Does Justice Look Like?, by Waziyatawin (Living Justice Press)

Bronze: They Know Who They Are, by Mike and Martha Larsen (Chickasaw Press)

 Short Story Fiction

Gold: The Cult of Quick Repair, by Dede Crane (Coteau Books)

Silver (tie): Evidence, by Ian Colford (The Porcupine’s Quill) and Our People: Stories, by Ian MacMillan (BkMk Press, University of Missouri)

Bronze (tie): Based on a True Story, by Hesh Kestin (Dzanc Books) and Things That Pass for Love, by Allison Amend (Other Voices Books)