On last Wednesday, I received an email from the staff of The BookFest, The BookFest is an online literary book festival that began in 2020. It honors authors who create outstanding works of fiction and nonfiction. I knew my novel, Operation Nightfall: The Web of Spies, had been submitted for awards in two categories. The email went on to say the festival organizers would notify award winners by email in the coming days. So, I waited. Anxiously.
Thursday. Nothing.
Friday. Nothing.
Saturday. Still nothing. I even checked my email one last time before I retired for the night. Nothing. So, I resigned myself by thinking, “It doesn’t look like it is going to happen. Oh well. That’s alright.”
And then I said to myself, “Wait a minute. The winners of the Academy Awards do not know if they win until their name is called out. Perhaps the festival organizers simply want to wait until the last minute.” Yeah. That’s what I told myself. And I went to sleep.
I awoke on Sunday morning, and as I often do, I checked my email to see if any messages had come in the night before. And this is the first message I read.
“Congratulations!
Your BookFest Award Submission for Operation Nightfall: The Web of Spies has been carefully evaluated by The BookFest judging team and the executive BookFest Awards judging committee. We are honored to bestow you with a BookFest Award in recognition of your achievement.“
My book received awards in two categories.
- Second Place: Literary Fiction, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, and
- Third Place: Fiction, Thriller/Espionage
I never sought recognition when I started writing. Honestly, I never thought it was possible. My only hope was that a few people might find my stories enjoyable and that I wouldn’t embarrass myself. And now here I am. It hasn’t even been two years after I published Grown Men Cry Out at Night (which was longlisted in the 2022 Millennium Book Awards), a group of experts including writers, literary agents, and publishers, read and evaluated my work and they thought it was worthy of an award. Damn. That’s amazing.
Here’s the official announcement page, created by The BookFest for all to see.
Sunday was a very, very good day.