2025 SWBDA Recipients

Below are the finalists and winners in the 2025 SWBDA competition. Winners were announced on August 21, 2025 at the NMBA Summer Gala held at The Club at Las Campanas in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The event included a guitar performance by Nacha Mendez and special guest Deborah Jackson Taffa. 

Books are judged according to the SWBDA criteria. Note that SWBDA judges, at their discretion, may re-assign entries to other categories and may award or not award finalist and/or winner honors in any category. Not every category announced will have a winner. Some may have one or more winners and no finalists; some may have one or more finalists and no winner.

​Links for most books are to NMBA's shop at Bookshop.com. NMBA may earn a small commission for purchases made there, and purchases also benefit your local bookstore. In cases where books are not available from Bookshop.com, we have linked to additional information or purchase pages as available.

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General Fiction

FINALIST

• Dear Virginia, Wait for Me by Marcia Butler (Central Avenue; Coral Black, designer)​

WINNER

• ​The Half-Life of Guilt by Lynn Stegner (University of New Mexico Press; Felicia Cedillos​, designer)

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Mystery / Thriller

FINALIST

• The Dark Side of Grace by Ronald Chapman (Mango Moon Media) ​

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Science Fiction / Fantasy / Speculative Fiction

FINALIST

• The Light of Wounds by Diane Hatz (Whole Healthy Ground; Robin Vuchinich, designer) ​

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Biography / Autobiography / Memoir

FINALISTS

• Beyond Fear: A Woman's Path to Enlightenment by Karen Chrappa (Mango Moon Media; Janet Angulo and Miriam Zavala, designers) 
• Moonlight Elk Time: One Woman's Hunt for Food and Freedom by Christie Green (New Mexico University Press; Felicia Cedillos, designer) ​

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History / Political Science

FINALIST

• America's Most Dangerous Jobs: More Tales from a Working Man's Shrink by Bob Larsen (Working Man's Press; Graphic Sky Printing, cover design; Jordan Jones, book design) 

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Scholarly / Technical

​​FINALIST

• America's Most Dangerous Jobs: More Tales from a Working Man's Shrink by Dr. Bob Larsen (Working Man's Press; Graphic Sky Printing, cover design; Jordan Jones, book design) 

WINNER

• Unforgotten: Ancient Cities from a Distant Past by William Frej (George Thompson Publishing; David Skolkin, designer)​​

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Guides

​​FINALISTS

• Growing a Sensational Garden in the Southern Rocky Mountains: A Monthly Guide by Nan Fischer (University of New Mexico Press; Isaac Morris, designer)

WINNERS

• A Guide to the Common Plants of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area by Elizabeth A. Powell, Frederick H. Landau, and Lawrence R. Walker (University of Nevada Press; Diane McIntosh, cover designer; John McKercher, book designer)​
• Cooking for Halflings and Monsters, Volume 3: Celebrating Cozy, Comfy Foods from North America  by Astrid Tuttle Winegar (Multitudes Press; Astrid Tuttle Winegar, designer)

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Body / Mind / Spirit

WINNERS

• Movement and Identity: Multiculturalism, Somatic Awareness, and Embodied Code-Switching® ​by Marcia Bonato Warren (Singing Dragon; Singing Dragon, designers)
• Thresholds of Change: The Way Through Transformational Times ​by Rebecca Borland Reynolds (Peter Gloege, Look Design Studios, designer Connolly Fox)

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Poetry

FINALIST

• Wamponomon: The Place of Shells by Karen Petersen (Finishing Line Press)
• What Comes from the Night: Poems by John Taylor (Coyote Arts, Jordan Jones, designer)

WINNERS​

• Free Hugs: Selected and New Poems by Jefferson Carter (Coyote Arts; Jordan Jones, designer)
• ​Free Speech: poem sequences by Eric Paul Shaffer (Coyote Arts; Jordan Jones, designer)

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Children's

FINALIST

• I Know What You Do When I Go to School by Siona Talekar (Story Monsters Ink)​

​WINNERS

• The Blue Dog and the White Horse: Best of Friends by Haven Lindsey (Brandylane Publishers)
• The Weather-Teller's Tale by Sandi Wright (Art Academy Publishing; Pat Golden, designer)

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LGBTQ+

WINNER

• Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art by C. Ondine Chavoya and David Evans Frantz (Vincent Price Art Museum / Williams College Museum of Art  / Independent Curators International / Inventory Press; Kimberly Varella, Content Object, Designer)

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Bilingual

WINNER

• Howard Smith by Howard Smith (Radius Books; David Chickey and Inga Hendrickson, designers). English / Finnish​

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Art

​​FINALISTS

• Dichos en Nichos by Sage Vogel (University of New Mexico Press; Felicia Cedillos, designer)
• Horizons: Weaving Between the Lines with Diné Textiles Hadley Welch Jensen, Editor (Museum of New Mexico Press; David Skolkin, designer) 
• Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art by C. Ondine Chavoya and David Evans Frantz (Vincent Price Art Museum / Williams College Museum of Art  / Independent Curators International / Inventory Press; Kimberly Varella, Content Object, Designer)

WINNERS

• Broken Boxes: A Decade of Art, Action, and Dialogue  by Ginger Dunnill and Josie Lopez (University of New Mexico Press; Isaac Morris, designer)
• Debi Cornwall: Model Citizens by Debi Cornwall (Radius Books; David Chickey and Debi Cornwall, designers)
• RE: Carrie Yamaoka by Carrie Yamaoka (Radius Books; David Chickey, Inga Hendrickson, and Nick Larsen, designers)
• Ruth Duckworth by Ruth Duckworth (Radius Books; David Chickey, Inga Hendrickson, and Nick Larsen, designers)
• Sticks by Patrick Dougherty and James Florio (Radius Books; David Chickey and Inga Hendrickson, designers)​
• Printing the Spirit: Gustave Baumann's Santos by Thomas Leech and Carmella Padilla (Museum of New Mexico Press; David Skolkin, designer)

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Photography

FINALISTS

• The New Mexicans: 1981–83 by Kevin Bubriski (Museum of New Mexico Press; David Skolkin, designer)
• Tristan Duke: Glacial Objects by Tristan Duke (Radius Books; David Chickey, Inga Hendrickson, and Nick Larsen, designers)

• Unforgotten: Ancient Cities from a Distant Past by William Frej (George Thompson Publishing; David Skolkin, designer)
  

FINALISTS

• Victoria Sambunaris: Transformation of a Landscape by Victoria Sambunaris (Radius Books; David Chickey and Inga Hendrickson, designers)​​​​

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