Global Compact International Yearbook Becomes a Medalist for US Book Award
The latest edition of the Global Compact International Yearbook 2015, with Leonardo DiCaprio as one of its prominent authors, has won the bronze medal at the 20th Independent Publisher Book Awards. The publishers macondo publishing and United Nations Publications finished third in the category “Finance/Investment/Economics” behind Stanford University Press.
“The award is a big plaudit and underlines the quality and work of the entire team,” says Dr. Elmer Lenzen, Chair and Editor-in-Chief of macondo publishing. “In addition to the unique honor and the more than 400,000 editions of the Global Compact Yearbook distributed globally, this award serves as an additional recommendation from the US book market.”
Independent publishing has always been a voice for deserving causes, and the medal-winning books in this year’s Independent Publisher Book Awards highlight many of today’s pressing issues, including the long struggle for women’s equality. The results of the 20th annual awards ceremony are a testament to the significant contributions that women are making in publishing today.
As gold medalist Peter Freed writes in the preface of Prime: Reflections on Time and Beauty, his photo-essay book featuring the portraits and words of 130 women, “Women are born storytellers gathering information and insights the way a bee gathers pollen, totally immersed and coated in their experiences.” The experiences portrayed in the array of award-winning books are both diverse and nuanced, showing the range of these powerful storytellers.
The Independent Publisher Book Awards were launched in 1996 and are conducted each year to honor the year’s best independently published books, offering an alternative to “the big five” conglomerated media publishers. Thanks to small presses, university presses, and self-publishing services that give experimental and entrepreneurial authors a platform, the independent publisher universe is rapidly expanding.
The medal-winning books were celebrated on May 10, 2016, during the annual BookExpo America publishing convention in Chicago, where gold, silver, and bronze medallions were awarded. This year’s contest drew nearly 5,000 entries, with winning medalists in 42 US states plus DC, six Canadian provinces, and nine countries overseas.