Details and Deadlines for the Storytelling World Awards

The 30-year Storytelling World Awards program
has ended, and the final year's honorees were
announced on January 31, 2024.
The PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS appear below.

PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS: Nominated storytelling resources may have been published DURING ANY YEAR. This differs from all past years when strict published-by deadlines were enforced. However, resources that have been previously nominated will not be eligible.

Thank you for sending your resources AS SOON AS THEY ARE PUBLISHED.

All nomination forms and resources should be mailed to:

Dr. Flora Joy, Storytelling World Awards
108 Oak Grove Boulevard
Johnson City, TN 37601
(Do not mail a package that requires a signature for delivery.)

Notification/Announcement Date: January 31, 2024

The 2024 awards will be posted on this site on January 31, 2024.

STANDARD Award Details

* Nominated resources can be any item (book, recording, etc.) pertaining to storytelling. It may be a single story, a collection of stories, or an informational publication. All items must be permanently available for potential listeners/users.

* There is no fee for these nominations and no limit to the number of resources that may be nominated.

* A nomination form will be needed from the contact person or publisher, and that form can be found elsewhere on this web site.

* Resources that have been routed through a previous awards cycle will not be considered.

* Only ONE COPY of each nominated resource will be required. These items are not returned.

* Mail these materials as EARLY as possible. Mailings may occur at different times--preferably as soon as the resources are published. Within two weeks of the receipt of your shipment, an e-mail message will be sent informing you of its arrival. To inquire about any shipment, send an e-mail to Dr. Joy at florajoy@comcast.net.

* Communication about the Storytelling World Awards RECIPIENTS will be sent BY EMAIL ONLY to the contact person identified on the nomination form. If that person's email address changes from the time of nomination, please let us know by sending the new address to us. No information is sent to nominators of resources not selected. This awards notification is typically emailed to the contact person on or before January 31.

* The nominated items may be published in any country, but the printed or performance language must be English.

* Submit final products only. Uncorrected or proof copies will not be evaluated.

* The winning award resources will be permanently posted on this web site.

Details for Nominating Digital Resources

Our focus is to evaluate physical copies only, but we make occasional exceptions for digital recordings. Resources with no physical product must be available to the public (either for purchase or for free) for an indefinite period of time in the future (rather than a class, program, individual story, or story concert that is offered only once or just a few times on specified dates). Nominators must complete the regular nomination form and must EMAIL a link to Flora (at florajoy@comcast.net) that can be used without charge by the judges for them to examine the product during a minimum of two months. After that time, the link can be removed by the nominator. ONE link will need to serve all judges (instead of a separate link for each judge). Judges will need to have access to the digital product without their identity (name, password, etc.) being revealed. Also, nominators will need to provide a .jpg image that can accompany the product if it is selected for an award.

Because there will be fewer awards given to individual stories, keep in mind that numerous examples of great storytellers and storytelling, both in-person and online, can be found in many places in addition to these posted awards. If you’re not sure where to start, check the information provided by related Internet sites. The following are just a few examples:

National Storytelling Network (NSN): storynet.org
The International Storytelling Center (ISC): storytellingcenter.net
The American School of Storytelling: americanschoolofstorytelling.com
StoryCenter (formerly The Center for Digital Storytelling): storycenter.org

Special Note:

Materials submitted for consideration in the Storytelling World Awards Program should be well written/crafted/delivered. The judging will be strict! These resources are expected to be models of correct grammar and usage in all aspects of the written/spoken English language, including punctuation, spelling, capitalization, and formatting. Our editors  recognize that some current forms of writing are quite abbreviated (as in text messaging), but that vernacular language is not considered professional writing. As the submitted resources are evaluated by our judges, these language standards will be considered. [Dialect deviations or grammatical inconsistencies in direct quotes are not considered “errors.”] We highly recommend using the skills of a knowledgeable proofreader before releasing your final product.