Dear publishers,

Each year at The Gospel Coalition, we review or spotlight more than 200 books, culminating with our annual book awards where we select winners in the following 11 categories:

• Popular Theology: Translates theological concepts for the average church member
• Cultural Apologetics: Investigates current events and cultural narratives to consider how they intersect with the truth, goodness, and beauty of the gospel
• Biblical Studies (Academic): Covers the academic disciplines related to New Testament, Old Testament, hermeneutics, and biblical theology
• Theological Studies (Academic): Focuses on academic exploration of disciplines related to systematic theology, philosophy, or ethics
• Ministry: Focuses on pastoral practice, evangelism, ecclesiology, and apologetic methods for the local church
• History & Biography: Explores events or individuals who have shaped our world
• Christian Living: Provides practical tools to encourage discipleship and sanctification in various areas of life
• Children’s (Picture Books): Aimed at early readers or prereaders and combines illustration and language to communicate deep truths about the Christian faith
• First-Time Author: Fits into any of the categories but is written by an author who hasn’t previously published a book
• Devotional Literature: Intended to be engaged incrementally as a means of encouraging discipleship
• Missions & the Global Church: Emphasizes the ongoing or historical work of God outside North America

Per TGC’s foundation documents, we seek books that meet the following criteria:

1. offers gospel-centered argument and application;

2. includes faithful and foundational use of Scripture, both Old Testament and New Testament;

3. fosters spiritual discernment of contemporary trials and trends; and

4. encourages efforts to unite and renew the church.

Books selected for an award will be featured at our 2026 TGC Women’s Conference in Indianapolis (June 11–13, 2026). (See the 2024 award winners.)

Publishers can submit up to two books per category; they can also nominate the same book in multiple categories, though no book will be chosen in more than one category.

We will only consider titles published between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2025, and only titles published in the United States. The deadline for publisher nominations is Thursday, July 3.

There is a $60 entry fee for each title nominated (in each category). To help streamline this process, we’ve set up an online form that will allow each publisher to nominate books online and submit all payments at the same time. Entry fees are nonrefundable. (Note that you can only submit up to 10 books in each form, though you can submit multiple forms.)

Once nominations are submitted on the form, please email a PDF of each title to BookAwards [AT] thegospelcoalition.org. (If the file size is too large, please send a link to Dropbox.) We may request physical copies of the books to facilitate the initial judging process. (Due to the nature of picture books, we will request physical copies for all nominations in the Children’s category.)

If your book is selected as a finalist, your publicist will be informed by Friday, August 22. Physical copies (galleys or ARCs accepted) will be requested for all finalists.

We will announce the winners near the end of the year.