King of Soca among American book fest winners

King of Soca, the biography of Machel Montano written by his mother Elizabeth Montano has won top honours in the 14th annual International Book Awards.

A media release said, the awards feature publications submitted from international organisations which include Penguin Random House, Wiley, Hachette Books, McGraw-Hill, Routledge, Rowman & Littlefield, Tor Books, HCI Press, Hay House, among others and hundreds of national along with international independent houses and authors.

King of Soca was self-published by EESM Publishers, Elizabeth Montano.

Announced in Los Angeles in June by the American Book Fest, King of Soca won the Best Interior Design category. King of Soca was also among the finalist in four other categories: Best Cover Design Nonfiction, Biography General, Nonfiction Cross Genre and Performing Arts, Film, Theatre, Dance and Music.

Designed by local design company Praktis Design Ltd, which is headed by Marlon Darbeau and Blayne Clarke, King of Soca was printed by Office Authority in Trinidad and Tobago, the release said.

This is the second international award for King of Soca coming after the announcement of an Addy Award for Best of Print and Overall Best in Show. The book has also won the Gold Addy for Book Design and Silver for Publication Cover Design.

The International Book Awards (IBA), is one of the world’s largest international book award programmes for mainstream, indie, and self-published titles. Over 500 winners and finalists were announced in over 100 categories. Awards were presented for titles published in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

King of Soca the first biography of Machel Montano tells the story of his career from birth and incorporates all phases of his musical and artistic development featuring many of the artists’ collaborations along with his impact and influence on the soca music genre internationally over a period of 40 years. Machel started in 1982 at the age of seven and after four decades he is still on the cutting edge of the industry, the release said.

Jeffrey Keen, president and CEO of American Book Fest, said this year’s contest yielded thousands of entries from authors and publishers around the world, which were then narrowed down to the final results.

Keen said, "Over our 15-year history, thousands of self-published and indie authors have leveraged the promotional power of their International Book Award to increase online recognition, enhance their title’s credibility, and garner more attention in the crowded book buying marketplace."

Winners and finalists of this year’s contest join a prestigious group of past laureates, including Pope Francis, Amy Tan, Anne Lamott, George Sanders, Julie Andrews, Clive Barker, Vanessa Williams, Shark Tank’s Daymon John, Brad Thor, Kitty Kelley, and many others.

Full results for the 14th Annual International Book Awards can be found at: http://internationalbookawards.com/2023awardannouncement.html