The Connecticut Center for the Book at Connecticut Humanities (CTH) hosted the 2021 Connecticut Book Awards to honor the best books from local authors and about Connecticut in a livestream on Oct. 22.
The award ceremony aimed to create awareness of libraries and authors in Connecticut, and CTH promotes more writing and reading throughout the state as a state affiliate of the National Center for the Book in the Library of Congress
“This is the first time that I served on one of the committees to do the judging,” said Margot Schilpp, a professor of English at Quinnipiac University. “My book won last year… it was interesting, the judging part of things.”
Authors were able to submit their books in April to be judged. This year, CTH chose 29 finalists.
“The committee is made up of five members, and we each had slightly different views on what should be the winner,” Schilpp said. “We had two fairly lengthy meetings and in between those meetings we read the books … we did some ranking[s] and tried to figure out, of the books, which ones [were] the most promising.”
The awards were set up in Five categories of stories: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, young readers and Spirit of Connecticut, an award in honor of former CTH Director Bruce Fraser for the story that best evokes the essences of Connecticut and deepens the understanding of the state.
Nonfiction Award winner: “The Alchemy of Us” by Ainissa Ramirez 
Fiction Award winner: “Musical Chair” by Amy Poeppel 
Poetry Award winner: “My Husband Would” by Benjamin Grossberg 
Young Reader Fiction Award winner: “Dress Coded” by Carrie Firestone 
Young Reader Nonfiction Award winner: “Accidental Archaeologist” by Sarah Albee 
Picture Book Award winner: “The All-Together Quilt” by Lizzy Rockwell 
Spirit of Connecticut award winner: “Paved Roads & Public Money” by Richard Deluca 
Spirit of Connecticut award winner: “The History of Steep Rock Association” by Carol Bergren 
Spirit of Connecticut award winner: “Creating Connecticut” by Walter Woodward
“I think to recognize the importance of the written word is, especially in this digital age,” Schilpp said. “It also feels somehow more personal to read a book by an individual than to read a blog post.”
With the award ceremony coming to an end, Connecticut authors can prepare for next year to nominate books written in 2021. CTH will post when submissions are open by Feb. 2022.