When Chet started this wonderful organization, his mission was to spur on the San Diego writer. As an Association, we have been examining the ways in which we might be able to further this mission. The awards we give out celebrate writers and help recognize achievement, but we know there is more we could do to help our writers flourish.

Typically, we host an awards ceremony to honor winners. This year, after much deliberation with volunteers, entrants and past winners, we have decided to dispense with the ceremony and use our resources to instead give cash prizes to our winners.

We will also be using competition funds to pay for tables and booths at writers events in order to showcase our winners and help them find a broader audience. We hope this will further encourage their writing efforts.

We appreciate everything our writers do from book entries to judging comments, volunteer hours, and sending emails. We want to support you, encourage you, and inspire you to do more with your writing. And we are confident that this decision is in keeping with Chet’s idea to celebrate the San Diego writer.

Sincerely,
San Diego Book Awards Association