2025 AAMBC Awards to Honor Audre Lorde + 17th Annual Nominees Announced!

Founder, Tamika Jamison (formerly Newhouse) WILL HOST THE AWARD SHOW HIGHLIGHTING AFRICAN AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENTS IN LITERATURE & FILM

(Atlanta, GA) The seventeenth annual AAMBC Literary Awards will be held virtually via AAMBC’s YouTube channel on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. The awards will honor the legacy of the late literary icon, Audre Lorde with the Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award. During her life, Lorde dedicated her creativity to confronting racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. Some of her notable work includes her poetry collection, “The Black Unicorn,” and her essay collection, “Sister Outsider.” AAMBC creator, Tamika Newhouse, spoke highly of the legend stating, “For those that have never been connected or read anything by Audre Lorde, you are kinda behind…She has created stories that [are] timeless and that we’re going to be reading and enjoying for many years to come.”

The AAMBC Awards will also honor, author, Colson Whitehead, with the Eric Jerome Dickey Award to celebrate Black male authors. Whitehead is also nominated in the Book to Screen Adaptation of the Year category for the historical drama, Nickel Boys.

The categories for this year’s ceremony include Breakout Author of the Year, Health & Wellness Author of the Year, Literary Activists of the Year, Screenwriter of the Year, and Motion Picture of the Year. Some nominees include Kennedy Ryan, Etta Easton, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for Romance Author of the Year, Aja Monet and Amanda Gorman for Poet of the Year, and Sistas, Paradise, and Harlem for Television Show of the Year. Voting opens from March 24, 2025, through April 24, 2025.

The AAMBC Awards was created in 2008 to honor and celebrate literary creatives and after almost two decades of success and celebration, the awards continue to uplift writers, filmmakers, and activists in the industry by creating and highlighting opportunities for growth and professional development. AAMBC founder, Tamika Newhouse, has dedicated her career to providing a platform for new and emerging Black voices and connecting them with relevant opportunities. “To understand the importance of AAMBC’s presence in the book industry is to understand the value of supporting our Black writers. We celebrate the very people we elevate. The awards serve as the premier event the industry talks about, and literary artists strive to be,” Newhouse explains.

Following this year’s virtual ceremony, winners and nominees are invited to attend a mixer during AAMBC’s annual Black Writers Weekend in Atlanta, GA on August 2, 2025. Black Writers Weekend is the ultimate literary festival that is held to connect authors, screenwriters, and luminaries with their audiences and one another while enjoying film viewings, live discussions, workshops, and games. This year’s experience will be held from July 31, 2025, through August 2, 2025.

See the full list here:

Sci Fi/Fantasy Writer of the Year

1. Nnedi Okorafor
2. Tomi Adeyemi
3.  Namina Forna 
4.  Ibi Zoboi 
5. Ayana Gray

Urban Book of the Year

1.  Chevy’s Promise (Zoo Boyz: Street Chaos Book 6)  by Tatiana Timmons
2. The Filth Kings by Authoress Masterpiece
3.  Capri 3 (Season Three: Delgato Family: Capri) by Jahquel J.
4. All The Smoke by T’Lyn
5.  Wrongfully Yours by Connie Easton

Best Podcast

1. Therapy for Black Girls
2. Grits & Eggs Podcast
3. The Mama’s Den Podcast 
4. Hardly Initiated
5. What Had Happened Was

Television Show of the Year

1. Harlem
2. Paradise
3. Ms. Pat Show
4. Sistas
5. How to die alone

Reader’s Choice Award

1. Murder in Berkeley Square by Vanessa Riley
2. A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
3.  Good Dirt: A Novel Charmaine Wilkerson
4.  Bad Influence: A Psychological Thriller Kindle Edition by Brandon Massey
5. The Queen of Sugar Hill by Reshonda Tate BillinGsley

Screenwriter of the Year

1. Ramell Ross
2. Syreeta Singleton
3. Nakia Stephans
4.  Briana Cole
5. John Ridley

Motion Picture of the Year

1. The Six Triple Eight
2. The American Society of Magical Negroes
3. One of Them Days 
4. The Rebel Girls
5. Rob Peace

Christian Fiction Author of the Year

1. Toni Shiloh
2. Neesh Santiago
3. Vanessa Miller
4.  Cole Arthur Riley 
5. Priscilla Shirer

Romance Author of the Year

1. Vanessa Riley
2. Kennedy Ryan
3. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
4. A.E Valdez
5. Etta Easton

Male Author of the Year

1. Te Nehisi Coates
2. Derrick Barnes
3. JaQuavis Coleman
4. K’wan Foye
5.  LaDarrion Williams

Female Author of the Year

1. Tia Williams
2. Charmaine Wilkerson
3. Ashley Antoinette
4. Jayne Allen
5. Tomi Adeyemi

Non- Fiction/Self Help Book of the Year

1. Who Better Than You?: The Art of Healthy Arrogance & Dreaming Big by Will Packer
2. Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative by  Keke Palmer
3. What Do You Need?: How Women of Color Can Take Ownership of Their Careers to Accelerate Their Path to Success by Lauren Wesley Wilson
4. Abundance Now: Amplify Your Life & Achieve Prosperity Today by Lisa Nichols
5. Protecting My Peace: Embracing Inner Beauty and Ancestral Power by Elizabeth Leiba

eBook of the Year

1. Big Nick Energy (Tales from Hamilton University) by  Danielle Allen
2.  Big Jim and the White Boy: An American Classic by David F. Walker , Marcus Kwame Anderson 
3.  The De Santis Cartel: The Inc by K.C. Mills 
4. Another word for love: A Memoir by Carvell Wallace
5.  This Could Be Us (Skyland Book 2) by Kennedy Ryan

Publisher of the Year

1. Atria Books
2. Penguin/Random House
3. Kensington
4. Little, Brown and Company

Independent Publisher of the Year

1. Akashic Books
2. Dafina
3. Third World Press Foundation
4. RedBone Press
5. Urban Books

Vanguard of Urban Media

1. Blavity 
2. The Grio
3. Jasmine Brand
4. Roland Martin Unfiltered
5. Urban One

Children Books/YA Author of the Year

1. Kekla Magoon
2. Kwame Alexander
3. Tracy Deonn 
4.  Kamilah Cole
5. Joelle Wellington

Literary Activists of the Year

1. Lisa Harrison
2. Janet Mock
3. Kimberle Crenshaw
4. Patrisse Cullors
5. Wagatwe Wanjuki

Breakout Author of the Year

1. Myah Ariel
2.  Channelle Desamours
3. Lee Hawkins
4.  Tanya Smith

Book Club of the Year

1. Ru Paul’s book club
2. Mocha Girls Read
3. Noname Book Club
4. Tanya Time Book club
5. Left Unread Books

Bookstore of the Year

1. Reparations Club
2. Kindred Stories
3. Harriets Book Shop
4. Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery
5. Lit Java

Reviewer/Critic of the Year

1. Keith Lee
2. @shelleys.corner
3. @introtoeclecticism
4. Literarycorner

LGBTQIA+ Novel of the Year

1. House of Frank by Kay Synclaire
2. Prince of Palisades by Julian Winters
3. Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I’d Known Kindle Edition by George M. Johnson
4. A Little Kissing Between Friends by Chencia C. Higgins
5. Sleep Like Death by Kalynn Bayron

Mystery/Thriller Author of the Year

1. Wanda Morris
2. Robert Justice
3.  Walter Mosley
4. Toni Larue’
5.  Brandon Massey

Health & Wellness Author of the Year

1. Dr. Stacii Johnson
2. Tabitha Brown
3. Queen Afua
4. Brandi Sellerz-Jackson

Poet of the Year

1. Detrick Hughes
2. Aja Monet
3. Amanda Gorman
4. WJ Lofton

From Books to Screen

1. Survival of the Thickest
2. The Family Business 
3. Queenie
4. The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat
5. Nickel Boys

Influencer of the Year

1. Brit And Her Books
2. @readsbymurcielago
3. Michael LaBorn
4. Zai Sylla
5. @blackgirltiredbooktok

Indie Author of the Year

1. Ebony Bowser
2. J. R. Mason
3. Tanisha Stewart
4. Joan Vassar
5.  Granger

Historical Fiction Author of the Year

1. Beverly Jenkins
2. Sadeqa Johnson
3. Victoria Christopher Murray
4.  Rochelle Alers

 Audiobook of the Year 

1. Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell
2. Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson
3. The Dividing Sky by Jill Tew
4. Long After We Are Gone: by  Terah Shelton Harris
5. One of Us Knows: A Thriller by  Alyssa Cole

To vote for your favorite creative, visit www.theaambcawards.com

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