Winner of the 2011 Florida Book Awards           

Bronze Medal for General Fiction

About

The Florida Book Awards, established in 2006, is an annual awards program that recognizes, honors, and celebrates the literature by Florida authors and books about Florida published in the previous year. Authors must be Florida residents, except in the nonfiction and visual arts categories, where the subject matter must focus on Florida.

The awards program is coordinated by the Florida State University Libraries and co-sponsored by the Florida Center for the Book, the State Library and Archives of Florida, the Florida Historical Society, the Florida Humanities Council, the Florida Literary Arts Coalition, the Florida Library Association, “Just Read, Florida!,” the Florida Association for Media in Education, The Center for Literature and Theatre @ Miami Dade College, Friends of the Florida State University Libraries, the Florida Writers Association, and the Florida Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America.

The call for submissions of eligible books is announced in mid-June and concludes in early January. By early March, medalists will be announced in each of the 11 categories. Awards will be presented to all award winners at a banquet in Tallahassee in April.

Florida Book Award winning books are on permanent display in the library at the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee, and in an exhibit case on the main floor of Florida State University’s Strozier Library.

Link to list of the 2011 Florida Book Award – General Fiction Bronze Award Winners:

floridabookawards.lib.fsu.edu/winners/2011_winners.html

What the Florida Book Awards had to say about Coming To: A Midwestern Tale:

February 3, 2012

Dear Ms. Umbarger,

We are pleased to report that your book, Coming To: A Midwestern Tale, has won the Bronze medal in the Florida Book Awards General Fiction category for 2011.  In this sixth year of the competition, 139 books were submitted across 8 categories.  Thank you for your submission and congratulations on your award!

Please accept our congratulations.  The Florida Book Awards exists to identify, honor, and profile Florida best books and their authors.  We wish you every success in the future.

Sincerely,

Gloria Colvin

Chair, Executive Committee

Florida Book Awards

Wayne Wiegand

Director