WINNER AT

26th ANNUAL IRWIN AWARDS!

Author Mark Kingston Levin and I at an earlier BPSC meeting pre-COVID.

Last night, I was co-host and award-winner at the prestigious Irwin Awards. 
My award was for “Best Media Kit.” 
This virtual event was the Book Publicists of Southern California’s first meeting on Zoom.
 

I’d like to congratulate all 12 of the “Irwinners” of last night’s 26^th Annual Irwin Awards, run by the Book Publicists of Southern California (BPSC). The Irwin Awards originated in 1976 to honor book publicist Irwin Zucker, founder of the book group. At age 93, he is still an active publicist. The awards are a way for book people to stand out with their projects.

I was very excited to receive the first award of the evening for Best Media Kit. When Irwin initially saw it, he said, “This is the best press kit I’ve ever seen. It covers all the angles.” I took that as quite a compliment coming from a veteran publicist like Irwin.

The media kit was written for the sci-fi series, 30^th Century, by author Mark Kingston Levin, PhD. A brilliant man with a PhD in quantum mechanics, Mark had been awarded over 30 US patents for his ideas. His dream was to become a science-fiction novelist in his retirement, and he did publish the three books in his trilogy before he passed away last year.

Here is the full list of winners:

B. Michael Antler, Author, Josephus: A Novel. Best Historical Fiction

Michael Bowker, Author, Gods of Our Time: A Paris Love Story, Best International Novel of Year   

Virginia Dale, Author, Rich White Americans, Best Fiction of the Year

Sarah Frank, Author, The One Chance Series, Teen Author of the Year

Lori Golden, Author, My House of Lies, Best Memoir of Year

Bo Lebo, Creative Director, New Health Options, Publicist of the Year

R.L. (Rick) Hann, Author, Executive Malice, Best Mystery Novel of Year

Robin Quinn, Lead Writer, Book Editor: Quinn's Word for Word, Best Media Kit for Mark Kingston Levin’s 30th Century Sci-Fi Trilogy

David Ruggiero, Author, Say Goodbye and Good Night, Most Romantic Book of Year

Lon E. Varnadore, Author, Junker Blues, Best Science Fiction Series

Sara Winokur, Author, Double-Blind. Best Mystery-Thriller of Year

Ron Zayas, Author, Lessons from the Len Master, Best Business Book of the Year 

It was an honor to help BPSC transition to the world of virtual meetings on Zoom. Because of my frequent use of the platform since COVID struck, I offered to host the group, and became a co-host of the evening. I was happy in this way to pay back to the group and Irwin Zucker for their support of my business over the many years.

We’ll be back with the BPSC’s next event in February. Visit the website for the Book Publicists of Southern California for more information about “How to Make the Media Fall in Love with You” in 2021.