Eligibility Criteria
NUTSHELL:
Published 2024–2026 • Primarily English • Christian • Published book • Worldwide • Traditional & Indie Welcome • PDF judging copy
2027 Life Book Awards is
Now Accepting Entries
2027 Entry Fee: US$30 per category • Maximum of two categories
2027 Awards Timeline
Date Milestone
Aug. 24, 2026 — Entries Open
May 31, 2027 — Regular Entry Deadline — US$30/category
June 1–30, 2027 — Late Entry Period — US$35/category
June 1–Aug. 31, 2027 — Official Judging Period
July 1, 2027 — 2028 Life Book Awards Entries Open
Sept. 15, 2027 — 2027 Finalists Announced
Nov. 15, 2027 — 2027 Category Winners Announced
Dec. 15, 2027 — 2027 Life Book of the
Year Announced
Late Entry Period: Entries received from June 1 through June 30, 2027 are subject to a US$35 entry fee per category to accommodate additional administrative processing during the active judging period. Late entries are subject to the same eligibility requirements, judging criteria, and evaluation standards as regular entries.
Please Note: The Life Book Awards reserves the right to adjust the awards timeline when reasonably necessary. Any material changes to published deadlines or announcement dates will be communicated through the official Life Book Awards website and channels.
General Guidelines
1. Be written primarily in English.
2. Be published or self-published. A work is considered published when it has been made publicly available for purchase, distribution, or legitimate public access in a completed book format.
We Accept
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Traditional publishing
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Independent publishing
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Hybrid publishing
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Self-publishing
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Small presses
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Ministry publishers
3. Be available in a readable published format, including paperback, hardcover, or eBook. Audiobook-only publications are not eligible for the Awards.
4. Have been published within a defined eligibility window.
For 2027 Life Book Awards
The submitted work must have been first published between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2026, subject to the Revised and New Editions provisions below.
5. Reflect, explore, or be meaningfully informed by a Christian message, worldview, moral vision, or thematic foundation.
6. Be compatible with the Life Book Awards Statement of Faith. Submitted works are not required to explicitly address or teach every doctrine contained in the Life Book Awards Statement of Faith. However, the work's central message must not intentionally promote teachings fundamentally contrary to the core Christian convictions upon which Life Book Awards is founded.
7. Be submitted by the author, publisher or authorized representative.
8. Be an original work for which the entrant holds the appropriate rights.
9. Meet reasonable standards of editing, readability and presentation.
10. Books published in any country are eligible, provided they satisfy all other requirements.
Content and Disqualification Standards
A book may be deemed ineligible or disqualified from the Life Book Awards if its central message, content, or authorship substantially conflicts with the principles and standards of the Awards. Grounds for disqualification include, but are not limited to, the following:
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Denial of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. The work explicitly denies the divinity or humanity of Jesus Christ, His atoning death, or His bodily resurrection while presenting itself as Christian teaching or Christian doctrine.
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Salvation Apart from Christ. The work presents salvation or reconciliation with God as attainable apart from Jesus Christ while claiming to teach or represent the Christian faith.
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Works-Based Salvation. The work explicitly teaches that salvation can be earned through human merit, religious performance, or good works rather than received by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Promotion of Occult Practices. The work promotes occult practices, witchcraft, divination, or similar practices as spiritually desirable, redemptive, or an appropriate alternative to faith in God.
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Pornographic or Gratuitously Explicit Sexual Content. The work glorifies pornography or contains sexually explicit material presented in a manner inconsistent with the Christian values and standards of the Awards.
Literary Context Exception: Fiction, memoir, autobiography, biography, and other narrative works may address difficult or sensitive subjects—including sexual sin, abuse, violence, addiction, occultism, trauma, and other realities of human brokenness—when reasonably necessary to the literary, historical, testimonial, or redemptive arc of the work. The depiction of sinful or difficult behavior does not, by itself, constitute endorsement. Authors are nevertheless encouraged to exercise restraint and avoid unnecessarily graphic or explicit descriptions of sensitive material. -
Hatred or Dehumanization. The work promotes hatred, cruelty, or the dehumanization of individuals or groups. The thoughtful portrayal or examination of prejudice, persecution, conflict, or other difficult subjects for legitimate literary, historical, theological, or redemptive purposes will not by itself constitute grounds for disqualification.
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Plagiarism. The work contains material substantially copied from another author or source without appropriate attribution or lawful authorization.
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False Claims of Authorship. The entrant knowingly misrepresents the authorship, ownership, originality, or publication status of the submitted work.
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Undisclosed Substantial AI-Generated Authorship. Works that are substantially written or generated by artificial intelligence without meaningful human authorship are not eligible. The use of AI-assisted tools for proofreading, grammar correction, editing assistance, formatting, cover design, illustration, or other supportive production purposes is permitted, provided that significant use is appropriately disclosed where requested. The author must remain responsible for the intellectual, creative, and literary substance of the submitted work.
Life Book Awards reserves the right to decline, remove, or disqualify an entry that materially violates the published eligibility requirements, Statement of Faith, submission rules, or integrity standards of the Awards. Where practicable, such decisions will be based on documented grounds and communicated to the entrant.
Literary Freedom and Christian Discernment
Life Book Awards recognizes that meaningful Christian literature does not need to avoid the realities of human sin, suffering, doubt, injustice, or brokenness. Authors may portray morally complex characters, difficult circumstances, and sensitive subjects when these elements serve a legitimate literary, historical, theological, testimonial, or redemptive purpose.
Judges will therefore consider a work in its overall context, including its central message, treatment of sensitive subjects, literary purpose, and whether the work ultimately promotes or fundamentally contradicts the Christian principles expressed in the Life Book Awards Statement of Faith.
The presence of flawed characters, sinful behavior, difficult themes, or morally troubling events does not automatically render a book ineligible. Depiction will not automatically be treated as endorsement.
Additional Eligibility and Submission Rules
The following provisions apply to all entries submitted to the Life Book Awards and form part of the Awards' official eligibility and submission requirements.
1. ISBN Requirements
Books with a valid ISBN issued by an authorized ISBN agency are eligible for submission.
Self-published books that do not have an ISBN may also be considered, provided that the work has been legitimately published and made publicly available in a completed book format.
An ISBN does not, by itself, determine eligibility or influence a book's judging score.
Entrants may be required to provide evidence of publication, such as a publisher listing, retailer page, official author website, or other reasonable proof that the book has been publicly released.
2. Multiple-Category Submissions
A book may be entered into a maximum of two award categories, provided that the work reasonably satisfies the definition and eligibility requirements of both categories.
Each category entry will be treated as a separate submission and requires a separate entry fee.
Life Book Awards may recommend that an entry be transferred to a more appropriate category. Where a category reassignment is considered necessary, the entrant will ordinarily be notified before the transfer is finalized.
Entering the same book in more than one category does not increase or decrease its judging score within either category.
3. Category Viability and Award Thresholds
Life Book Awards reserves the right to combine, suspend, or decline to confer an award in a category where there are insufficient eligible entries or where the submitted works do not meet the standard required for recognition. Entry into a category does not guarantee that a finalist or winner will be selected. Where categories are combined, affected entrants will ordinarily be notified before judging is finalized.
4. Translated Works
Translated books are eligible provided that the submitted edition is primarily in English and otherwise meets all eligibility requirements.
The original author and translator must be properly credited.
The entrant must hold, or have authorization from the appropriate rights holder to use, the translation and submit the translated edition for consideration.
The publication eligibility period will ordinarily be determined using the first publication date of the submitted English-language edition, rather than the publication date of the original work in another language.
Where the quality of translation materially affects readability or literary quality, judges may consider the quality of the English-language presentation as part of their evaluation.
5. Co-Authored Books
Books written by two or more authors are eligible.
One author, publisher, or authorized representative may submit the work on behalf of all co-authors.
All authors must be properly identified in the entry.
If a co-authored book receives an award, the award belongs to the submitted work and recognition will be extended to the credited authors of that work.
The entrant is responsible for ensuring that all necessary permissions or authorizations have been obtained from the other authors before submission.
6. Posthumously Published Authors
Books written by authors who are deceased are eligible provided that the work otherwise satisfies the Awards' eligibility requirements.
The submission must be made by the author's lawful representative, estate, publisher, rights holder, or another person
authorized to submit the work.
If the book receives an award, the recognition may be presented posthumously in the author's name.
7. Revised and New Editions
A book originally published outside the applicable eligibility period will not ordinarily become eligible solely because it has been reprinted, reformatted, assigned a new ISBN, given a new cover, or converted into another format.
However, a substantially revised edition may be considered eligible when significant new material, rewriting, restructuring, or other substantial editorial changes distinguish the new edition from the previously published work.
Entrants submitting a revised edition must disclose:
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the original publication date;
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the publication date of the revised edition; and
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a brief description of the substantive revisions made.
Life Book Awards reserves the right to determine whether a revised edition contains sufficient substantive changes to qualify as a new eligible edition.
8. Submission Format
For the inaugural 2027 Life Book Awards, judging copies should preferably be submitted digitally.
The accepted digital submission format for the Life Book Awards is PDF only. PDF files should be text-readable and searchable wherever reasonably possible and must not be password-protected.
Files must contain the complete published work and should substantially correspond to the edition being entered.
Where a physical judging copy is specifically requested, the entrant will be responsible for printing and shipping costs unless otherwise stated by Life Book Awards.
Submitted digital or physical copies will not ordinarily be returned.
Life Book Awards will use submitted files solely for administration and judging purposes and will not distribute,
reproduce, sell, or publicly share the submitted book except as permitted by the entrant or required for administration of the Awards.
Judging copies will be made accessible only to authorized Life Book Awards personnel and assigned judges as reasonably necessary for administration and evaluation. Judges and personnel with access to submitted works will be required to treat those materials as confidential and must not reproduce, distribute, or use them for purposes unrelated to the Awards.
9. Entry Fees and Refunds
Payment of an entry fee entitles an eligible submission to consideration under the applicable judging process; it does not guarantee finalist, winner, or other award status.
Regular Entry Fee: US$30 per category
For entries received through May 31, 2027.
Late Entry Fee: US$35 per category
For entries received June 1–30, 2027.
A book may enter a maximum of two eligible categories. Each category requires a separate entry fee.
Entry fees are generally non-refundable once a complete and eligible submission has entered the administrative review or judging process.
A refund may be considered when:
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Life Book Awards cancels the applicable award category or competition;
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an entrant accidentally makes a duplicate payment;
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a technical or administrative error attributable to Life Book Awards prevents the submission from being processed; or
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another exceptional circumstance is approved by Life Book Awards.
Entry fees will ordinarily not be refunded because an entrant:
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changes their mind after judging has commenced;
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disagrees with the judges' evaluation;
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fails to become a finalist or winner;
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withdraws an otherwise eligible book after administrative review or judging has commenced; or
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fails to comply with published submission requirements.
Any applicable payment-processing charges may be excluded from the refundable amount where such charges cannot reasonably be recovered.
10. Withdrawal of an Entry
An entrant may request to withdraw a book by contacting Life Book Awards through its official communication channel.
A withdrawal becomes effective once acknowledged by the Awards.
Withdrawal does not automatically entitle the entrant to a refund.
A withdrawn book will no longer be considered for finalist or winner recognition once the withdrawal has been processed.
If an entrant requests withdrawal after finalists or winners have already been publicly announced, Life Book Awards may retain historical records of the announcement for administrative and archival purposes.
11. Incomplete Entries
Entrants are responsible for ensuring that all required information, files, declarations, and payments are submitted by the applicable deadline.
Life Book Awards may contact an entrant to correct a minor omission or administrative error and may provide a reasonable period within which the deficiency can be corrected.
However, Life Book Awards is not obligated to extend submission deadlines for incomplete entries.
An entry that remains incomplete after the correction period or final submission deadline may be deemed ineligible.
Entry fees associated with incomplete submissions may be non-refundable where administrative processing has already occurred.
12. International Eligibility
Life Book Awards is based in the Philippines and welcomes eligible books and authors from around the world.
Books may be published in any country and by publishers located anywhere in the world, provided that the submitted work satisfies all applicable eligibility, language, publication, content, and submission requirements.
Authors are not required to be Philippine citizens or residents.
Publishers are not required to be registered or headquartered in the Philippines.
For the 2027 Awards, submitted books must be primarily in English unless a particular award category expressly permits another language.
All entry fees, deadlines, judging requirements, and award policies apply equally to Philippine and international entrants unless otherwise expressly stated.
13. Entrant Responsibility and Certification
By submitting a book to Life Book Awards, the entrant certifies that, to the best of their knowledge:
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the information provided in the application is accurate;
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they are the author, publisher, rights holder, or an authorized representative of the submitted work;
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the submission does not knowingly infringe another person's copyright or intellectual property rights;
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all required permissions relating to the submitted edition have been obtained;
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all significant use of generative artificial intelligence has been truthfully disclosed where requested; and
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they have read and agreed to the applicable eligibility requirements, submission rules, and competition terms.
Life Book Awards reserves the right to request reasonable supporting information, reject an ineligible entry, or withdraw recognition where material misrepresentation, plagiarism, rights infringement, or another serious violation of the Awards' rules is subsequently established.
Founder & Judge Eligibility
Books authored or co-authored by the founder of Life Book Awards, its active judges, or individuals directly involved in the evaluation and selection of winners are not eligible for entry during any award year in which they serve in those roles.