Book Excellence Award

“It is with great pleasure to announce that you have been selected as a Book Excellence Award Winner for your book A Bug-Lightful Discovery in the Picture Book Category ages 4-8.”

This is what showed up in my inbox on April 16th. At first I thought it was just one of the handful of emails I get each day that are book-related scams. Then I went to the Book Excellence Awards website and found my way to the Honorees page. I clicked on 2025 Winners and sure enough, there was A Bug-Lightful Discovery poised amongst all the winners for 2025.

Woohoo!!! Now it felt real and what an exciting honor!

Out of thousands of books that were entered into the Book Excellence Awards competition, my book was selected for its high quality writing, design and overall market appeal.

When writing a book you invest a lot of time, energy and commitment. There is no guarantee your book will be a success. Once the book is out in the world, you do all you can to promote it and support it.

Book reviews are always helpful.

Book awards are always welcome.

Having won this award I can now say I am an award-winning author. That is a pretty hefty tag line to add to an author’s bio. I have to admit, it feels really great and looks even better!

Karen B. Shea, Award-Winning Author

The Book Excellence Award comes with many perks, but there is one you can actually hold in your hand in the way of a Gold Medal. It is beautiful and when I hold it I feel as if I have won an Olympic Gold Medal. Which isn’t all that far-fetched because we all know Olympians train for years to achieve award-winning status. Writing a book is not that much different.

The story line for A Bug-Lightful Discovery came to me rather effortlessly, thanks to a spunky seven-year-old girl named Emelia. The process from start to completion, however, took some time. A year to be exact, which is rather fast in the book world. The phase to completion involves self-editing (x 100+), professional editing, finding an illustrator, working with the illustrator, book design, sizing, printing, ordering and distribution.

My first book, Clark the Mountain Beaver and His Big Adventure, took about four years from start to publication. I wanted to say finish instead of publication, but there is no finish when publishing books. There is always something more to do in way of promoting and getting the word out about your book.

Having won this Book Excellence Award, it gives me the opportunity to FORMALLY thank all those that helped me along the way. For even though writing is a solo endeavor, getting a book to publication is a team sport.

So I’d like to FORMALLY THANK: My entire team at Miriam Laundry Publishing; Illustrator, Luella Jane Wright; Emelia and her parents; Gramma Jane; my husband, Rick; my fellow G13 authors; and my book launch Ambassadors.

Now I get to promote A Bug-Lightful Discovery as an award-winning book. I’d better get on that!

To view the complete award listing, you can visit: Book Excellence Awards Honorees 

As for A Bug-Lightful Discovery, it was released in July 2024. It is a story about discovery, exploration and growth as only seven-year-old Emelia can show us. Based on a real life experience, A Bug-Lightful Discovery teaches kids everything has a purpose whether we know it or not – even bugs! 

A Bug-Lightful Discovery is perfect for the nature lover in your life, bug enthusiasts, anyone fearful of bugs and anyone who wants to learn more compassion for the world around us.

You can get a copy for yourself at karenbshea.com

THE END (for now)!