Calling all Texas authors and publishers! We’re proud to announce the Second Annual Texas Association of Authors Book Awards, conducted to honor the year's best that Texas Authors have written and published. We are now accepting entries for books with 2012 or 2013 copyrights, or released between January 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013.

The Book Awards were conceived in 2011 as a broad-based, unaffiliated awards program open to all Texas citizens and publishers, who produce books written in English and that are intended for the North American market.

The awards are intended to bring increased recognition to the thousands of exemplary independent, university, and self-published titles published each year in Texas and by Texans.

The TAA Book Awards reward those who exhibit courage, innovation, and creativity. Independent spirit and expertise comes from publishers of all sizes and budgets, and books are judged with that in mind. National entries will be accepted in 24 categories, with an early-bird entry fee of $50 good through April 15, 2013, then $75 until our final deadline of May 15, 2013.