Literacy of America (LOA) is a not-for-profit organization established to recognize and encourage exceptional writing, illustrating, and photography across America. LOA Reader’s Choice Awards are presented in the categories of autobiography, business, children’s books, cookbooks, fiction, health, non-fiction, parenting & family, photography, religion, self-help, spirituality, and travel.
Quarterly Grants NOW OPEN!
Adjudication Process
Our program has very high standards of fairness and objectivity. Each LOA Reader’s Choice Award is chosen by a panel of readers who read the books in isolation without any conferring with other panel judges. LOA judges are invited from dedicated librarians, writers, editors, teachers, artists, photographers, and also by readers—who apply to be judges. We do not make public exactly who our volunteer judges are in each category. We ask judges to maintain confidentiality about their volunteer service and recuse themselves if they have a conflict of interest.
How do Submissions Work?
Each submission must be written by an American citizen or approved through the petition process. The book must be published by an American publisher. We are currently accepting literary works written by American authors who self-publish. Submissions are due within 7-10 business days after receiving the LOA Letter of Acceptance via mail or through email. An entry fee of $116.00 per title is required and two copies of each book sent to LOA.
Quarterly Award Grants
We understand as an author, funds to submit for an award can be a financial barrier from having your work receiving the recognition it deserves. This is why each quarter, LOA offers grants which are available to authors to help apply for our Reader’s Choice Awards.
Our regular entry free for the Reader’s Choice Award is $116. For a limited time, we offer our quarterly grant which provides 75% off. If your grant is approved, you will be able to submit for our LOA Reader’s Choice Award for only $29. Grants are first come first serve. and as soon as we receive the limit, we will shut down the application process.
There is no obligation and the process is straight forward. Simply complete the grant application by clicking here and in as little as 4-7 business days, you will receive a response from our Grants Department.
To see if you qualify for an award grant, click here.