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2019 Living Now Medalist & Press Page
Recognizing the Year's Best Books for Better Living
Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 Living Now Book Awards!
The Living Now Book Awards celebrate the innovation and creativity of newly published books that enhance the quality of our lives, from cooking and fitness to relationships and mature living. The awards are open to all books written in English and intended for the North American market. The gold, silver and bronze medalists in this year’s Living Now Book Awards offer a list of books representing some of the fastest-growing segments of book publishing today, and the Living Now Book Awards publicize the importance of these books to readers and their vitality in the marketplace.
Below is the 2019 Living Now press release, followed by helpful links and blurbs.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A Call to Action from Medal-Winning Authors
2019 Living Now Book Awards Results Announced
(Sept 12, 2019 - Traverse City, MI) Jenkins Group is proud to announce the winners of the 2019 Living Now Book Awards, recognizing the year’s best “Books for Better Living." For the eleventh year, winning books were chosen for their ability to enrich readers’ lives, provide spiritual inspiration, and promote global sustainability.
If scientists who study the health of the Earth are to be believed, the human race may well be at a crossroad, and voices of reason and soulful guidance could be vital to our survival. This year's 92 award-winning books are dedicated to "changing the world, one book at a time" by helping us heal ourselves and our planet.
“Many of this year’s medal-winning authors have taken on a new urgency,” says Awards Director Jim Barnes. “Books can instruct, books can inspire, and books can sound an alarm that brings about action and positive results.”
To see the full list of Living Now medalists, visit the results pages here.
Each year, special awards are presented in the categories of Mind, Body, and Spirit. This year, in response to the "calls to action" we added the category "Action," and the winner is A Politics of Love: A Handbook for a New American Revolution, by presidential hopeful Marianne Williamson. "It should not be considered radical that, in the richest nation on earth, our government serves the health and well-being of its citizens before the health and well-being of multibillion-dollar corporations," she writes. "We need to shift our thinking, and our organizing principles, from an economic to a humanitarian bottom line."
The other three special award-winners -- also by female authors -- follow the theme of focus on community and connection. "Mind" category winner, Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks, author Diana Butler Bass says, "To compare love and gratitude underscores one of the most important things about gratefulness -- it is ultimately about connection." The "Body" category winner, Squeaky Wheels: Travels with My Daughter by Train, Plane, Metro, Tuk-tuk and Wheelchair, author Suzanne Kamata, after explaining the fraught relationship between France and the U.S., has a diverse group of Parisian strangers help carry her daughter up and down the stairs. "In that moment I am filled with feelings of fraternité," she writes. "For a few heartbeats, at least, it seems that we are all brothers and sisters, that there are allies everywhere."
Finally, the "Spirit" winning book, A Counting of Crows, written and beautifully illustrated with paintings by Betsy Kuhn, offers these three "principles for a well-lived life":
First, heal your wounds.
Second, find our own way to God, and
Third, give away your gifts
Living Now Book Award winners are all about changing lives, and changing the world. Congratulations to all of the 2019 medalists!
To learn more about any of the winning books and their authors, contact awards director Jim Barnes.
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About the Living Now Awards
The Living Now Book Awards celebrate the innovation and creativity of newly published books that enhance the quality of our lives, from cooking and fitness to relationships and mature living. The awards are open to all books written in English and intended for the North American market. The gold, silver and bronze medalists in this year’s Living Now Book Awards offer a list of books representing the fastest-growing segments of book publishing today, and the Living Now Book Awards help demonstrate the importance of these books to readers and their vitality in the marketplace. The awards are presented by Jenkins Group of Traverse City, Michigan. Jenkins Group has been involved in book packaging, marketing and distribution since 1988, and is dedicated to promoting books that improve readers’ lives, bring families together, and make the world a safer, healthier place.
LIVING NOW MERCHANDISE
You may purchase extra seals, certificates, medals, and electronic versions of the medal artwork at the Living Now Awards merchandise page:
•Seals are available in rolls of 250 and 1000
•You may order additional certificates with customized wording.
•Hi-res versions of the seal artwork are available for reproducing on book covers and promotional materials
Other helpful links:
2019 Living Now Awards results page: http://www.livingnowawards.com/153/2019-winners
2019 Evergreen and Mind/Body/Spirit/Action Medals page: http://www.livingnowawards.com/154/2019-evergreen
Basic Living Now logo artwork: http://www.independentpublisher.com/LNSepia.jpg
Living Now medal artwork – low res for Web use:
Evergreen Medal artwork - low res for Web use:
Living Now Awards blurbs:
“The Living Now Book Awards recognize books that help readers help themselves, to learn about enriching their lives in wholesome, Earth-friendly ways. Lifestyle publishing categories such as home, health, family and personal development are the fastest-growing segments of book publishing today, and the Living Now Book Awards help demonstrate the importance of these books to readers and their vitality in the marketplace.”
“Books are an important tool for gaining knowledge about life-improvement goals, and the Living Now Book Award results announcement is a must-read list for helping us achieve those goals.”
“Authors and publishers all over the planet are helping readers sense the need to slow down, see and feel the natural world around them, and to find balance in their lives. The Living Now Book Awards are intended to recognize and promote newly-published lifestyle books that help us keep ourselves, our families, and the Earth healthy – today, and for future generations.”
Books for Better Living!
Candidates for the Living Now Book Awards are books written and designed to help improve and enhance our lives through creative ideas, inspiring advice and time-saving tips. These awards are conducted in the same spirit as Earth Day, which for 40 years has celebrated taking care of Planet Earth. Great books can help us take better care of ourselves, our communities, and the world around us.
Thank you for your support of the Living Now Awards and congratulations on your great work!
Jim Barnes, Awards Director - jimb [at] bookpublishing.com