The Chrysalis BREW Project

Books, Reviews, and Everything Written (BREW) for you

The BREW Readers’ Choice Award

The BREW Readers’ Choice Award is a literary celebration of books our readers have rated among the best. With this distinction, reader response is at the heart of the recognition, honoring works that establish a strong emotional connection with their audience. The award acknowledges a broad spectrum of interests and preferences across genres, styles, and perspectives, recognising the close relationship between books and readers. Based on an official BREW review with a minimum rating of four out of five stars, the award reflects the meaningful impact a book has had on a reader.

Important dates

  • Nomination – ongoing
  • Consolidated announcement of winners for the year – 1st or second month of the following year

The prize

BREW Reader’s Choice Award Winner

As the BREW Readers’ Choice Award recipient, you’ll unlock a suite of exclusive perks:

  • 🎖️ A custom Award Badge (digital file) to showcase on your book and marketing
  • 📣 A featured announcement on the BREW website and across our social channels
  • 👑 Automatic inclusion in the BREW Laureate Council
  • 🎤 A free interview via The World’s Best Magazine or another partner platform
  • 🔑 Access to exclusive BREW winners’ resources, benefits, and growth opportunities

Award categories

Your book will be reviewed and evaluated for all applicable categories at no additional cost. The categories listed below represent those currently accepted, though other suitable categories may also be considered.

Fiction

  1. Literary Fiction
  2. Historical Fiction
  3. Mystery/Crime/Thriller
  4. Science Fiction
  5. Fantasy
  6. Romance
  7. Contemporary Fiction
  8. Adventure Fiction
  9. Horror (excluding extreme or gratuitous gore)
  10. Young Adult (YA) Fiction
  11. Middle Grade Fiction
  12. Children’s Fiction (including picture books and early readers)
  13. Graphic Novels and Comics
  14. Short Story Collections
  15. Humor and Satire

Non-Fiction

  1. Biographies and Memoirs
  2. History
  3. Science and Technology
  4. Self-Help and Personal Development
  5. Health and Wellness
  6. Business and Economics
  7. Politics and Current Affairs
  8. Travel and Adventure
  9. Cooking and Food
  10. Parenting and Family
  11. Education and Reference
  12. Spirituality and Religion (non-extremist, balanced perspectives)
  13. True Crime
  14. Arts and Culture
  15. Environmental and Sustainability Topics

Children and Young Adult (YA)

  1. Picture Books
  2. Chapter Books
  3. Middle Grade Fiction and Non-Fiction
  4. Young Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction

Specialized Categories

  1. Poetry
  2. Anthologies
  3. Essay Collections
  4. Experimental or Hybrid Works

Diverse and Emerging Voices

  1. LGBTQ+ Literature
  2. Diverse Cultures and Perspectives
  3. Indigenous Literature
  4. Debut Authors

Genre-Bending and Niche Categories

  1. Speculative Fiction (blending science fiction, fantasy, and dystopia)
  2. Inspirational Fiction/Non-Fiction
  3. Creative Non-Fiction
  4. Regional and Local Stories

Educational and Academic Works

  1. Textbooks (creative and innovative ones)
  2. How-To Guides
  3. Academic Research (accessible to general readers)

Other categories

Subject to our approval, you may nominate your book for a category not listed in our guidelines. Please note that we reserve the right to reassign your book to a different category if deemed more appropriate. We may or may not confer award titles in a given year.

How it works (From 2026 onwards)

Note: Policies for 2025 and earlier were different from the current guidelines.

Eligibility:

  • We accept submissions of self-published, independently-published, or traditionally-published books.
  • Unpublished manuscripts are accepted if an anticipated publication date is specified, and the book’s details are available on Goodreads or a prominent retailer website.
  • A book that receives at least a 4-star BREW review will receive the award.

Other Details:

To be considered for the BREW Reader’s Choice Award your book must have at least 4.0 out of 5 stars in all its BREW reviews on the BREW website. Thus, to qualify for the award, the book must satisfy all of the following:

  1. Number of reviews – It must have at least one BREW book review published on the BREW website.
  2. Review platform – The BREW review(s) for the book must be published on the BREW website.
  3. Star rating – The BREW review(s) for the book published on the BREW website must rate the book at least 4.0 out of 5 stars.
  4. Review type – The review(s) for the book must be BREW reader review(s) or BREW editorial review(s).
  5. Review source – The review(s) for the book must be BREW reviews.

Some websites only allow whole numbers for star ratings, so we tend to round-off ratings to the nearest whole number; for example, if a book receives 3.8 stars in its BREW review, we may be indicating that the book received 4 stars. In this case, the book would not be eligible for the BREW Reader’s Choice Award because:

  • The 4-star review appears on a non-BREW website and not on the BREW website.
  • The BREW review published on the BREW website rated the book less than 4.0 out of 5 stars.

If a book receives 4.0 out of 5 stars in all its BREW reviews posted on the BREW website but does not have any other reviews on other platforms, it will still be eligible for the BREW Reader’s Choice Award. This is because it only needs to have at least 4.0 out of 5 stars in all its BREW reviews posted on the BREW website (and not necessarily elsewhere).

BREW reviews posted on a non-BREW website do not make a book eligible for the award, even if the said reviews have at least 4.0 out of 5 stars ratings.

Book reviews posted on the BREW website that are not BREW reviews do not make a book eligible for the award, even if the said reviews have at least 4.0 out of 5 stars ratings and are posted on the BREW website.

There are cases where a book may get 5-star reviews in BREW partner websites but does not have at least 4.0 out of 5 stars in all its BREW reviews posted on the BREW website. Thus, the book will not be eligible for the BREW Reader’s Choice Award in this case.

Reviews posted on the BREW website by guest contributors do not make a book eligible for the award, even if the said reviews have at least 4.0 out of 5 stars ratings and are posted on the BREW website.

From 5 March 2023, a book can no longer have more than one BREW review. Thus, a book will only need to get at least 1 BREW review to qualify.

If you nominate for the award and your book still does not have a BREW book review, we will give your book a reader review at no extra cost to you.

Only books are eligible to receive the BREW Reader’s Choice Award. The award is currently NOT being given to authors, publishers, poets, bloggers, or other content creators.

Books that receive 5.0 out of 5 stars review ratings will also automatically receive the BREW Seal of Excellence.

Nominate a book

BREW Readers' Choice Award

Click here to lodge your book’s nomination.

Be in the Know

If we have further changes to our procedures, we will update this page. Stay tuned and bookmark this page for more details. Better yet, subscribe to our newsletter and be the first to know what’s new about our platform as well as our global literary and content creation community.

The Winners

Know the winners of the BREW Readers’ Choice Award.

Helpful Shortcuts