If you are an author or publisher interested in submitting a book for the 2013 California Book Awards, please check back in July to make the submission or receive a submission form. 

Since 1931, the California Book Awards have honored the exceptional literary merit of California writers and publishers. Each year a select jury considers hundreds of books in search of the very best in literary achievement. Eligible books must be written while the author is a resident of California, and they must be published during the year under consideration.

Awards are presented in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, First Work of Fiction, Poetry, Californiana, Notable Contribution to Publishing, Juvenile Literature and Young Adult Literature.

The ceremony for books published in 2012 will take place place on Thursday, June 6, 2013, in San Francisco. 

Winners of the 82^nd annual California Book Awards

This year's California Book Awards program is sponsored by Bank of the West.

Gold Medals Awarded to:

FICTION
Adam Johnson: The Orphan Master's Son, Random House

FIRST FICTION
Jennifer duBois: A Partial History of Lost Causes, Random House

NONFICTION
Victoria Sweet: God’s Hotel: A Doctor, A Hospital, and A Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine, Riverhead Books

POETRY
Etel Adnan: Sea and Fog, Nightboat Books

JUVENILE
Katherine Applegate: The One and Only Ivan, Harper Collins

YOUNG ADULT
Morgan Matson: Second Chance Summer, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLISHING
Ken and Melanie Light: Valley of Shadows and Dreams, Heyday Press

CALIFORNIANA
John Laslett: Sunshine Was Never Enough, University of California Press

Silver Medals Awarded to:

NONFICTION
Anne-Marie O’Connor: The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, Alfred A. Knopf

FIRST FICTION
Mariah K. Young: Masha'allah and Other Stories, Heyday Press

YOUNG ADULT
Marissa Moss: A Soldier’s Secret: The Incredible True Story of Sarah Edmonds, a Civil War Hero, Amulet Books