There I was, enjoying being with the engaging audience at CADDAC’s ADHD conference in Toronto. Meanwhile, my book was whooping it up in New York City—winning four national awards! The announcement read this way:
Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.?, by Gina Pera [that’s me], was twice-named a winner in both the Independent Book Publishers Association’s (IBPA) Benjamin Franklin Awards and ForeWord Magazine‘s Book of the Year Awards.
The Details
The awards came from two organizations:
IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards:
- Silver for best psychology book
- Silver Bill Fisher Award for Best First book (non-fiction)
ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards:
- Gold for best psychology book
- Silver for best book on family and relationship
What’s most exciting to me about these honors? The tremendous potential for the book to spread Adult ADHD awareness into new arenas. For that, I’m so grateful to both IBPA and Foreword magazine as well as the judges. They kept an open mind about a topic surrounded by more myth than fact.
Keep in mind: In 2008, when the book came out, there were about 3 books of any type on Adult ADHD. There were two blogs on adult ADHD: this blog and Jeff’s ADD Mind (no longer posted). Yes, Adult ADHD was on very few radars.
I could be biased, but I think this book is beautiful, too—cover to cover. I’m pleased to report that the design firm that helped me to package the contents so professionally and beautifully, TLC Graphics, snapped up their own awards at IBPA. Congratulations Tamara, Erin, and Monica! How lucky was I to find you! You made everything so much easier!
My Conference Lecture At The Time
As I mentioned, I was presenting at the CADDAC conference in Toronto when the awards were announced. What an honor, to share a stage with Russell Barkley, Ph.D. CADDAC kindly shared with me the videotape. In turn, I share it on my YouTube channel, breaking it down into sections. In the first video, I even share the news of the awards.
More About the Book Competitions:
From the two organizations:
—”The Benjamin Franklin Awards are sponsored by the Independent Book Publisher’s Association (IBPA) and celebrate excellence in editorial and design for titles published in the year 2008. Judges come from all areas of the industry: major newspapers and trade media reviewers, bookstore and library buyers and reviewers, non-competing publishers, artists and writers who serve the industry.”
—”ForeWord Magazine‘s Book of the Year Awards were established to bring increased attention to librarians and booksellers of the literary and graphic achievements of independent publishers and their authors. ForeWord is the only review trade journal devoted exclusively to books from independent houses.
“Our unique awards process brings readers, librarians, and booksellers together to select their top categories as well as choose the winning titles. Their decisions are based on editorial excellence, professional production, originality of the narrative, author credentials relative to the book, and the value the book adds to its genre.
And this is my favorite part:
“If your books expand a reader’s world, introduce a voice society needs to hear, offer practical knowledge where none existed before, or simply entertain so compellingly that all distractions fall away, they should be submitted for the Book of the Year Award.”
As usual, thanks to the hundreds of kind souls who’ve supported me in creating this guide. We did it!
Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.? is available at Amazon.com.
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Congratulations! Winning four book awards proves that this book is so amazing and well-loved by readers. Keep it up!
Thank you, Ria. 🙂
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Hey, I just saw this. How awesome are you!!!! Congrats.
Congratulations Gina. Whatever people want to argue with you about your opinions, your writing style is really top notch. It looks like this project stemmed from personal experience, however I think you have a great writing talent and I would encourage you to keep moving on and find another project to tackle, whatever interests you.
Good luck in the future!
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Way to go Gina – well deserved! I have to admit, I am not the least suprised 🙂
Bryan
Gina’s book, and the research behind it, is incredibly impressive to me, and not just because I’m her husband. In my opinion she has done about three PhD’s worth of research, and this is from someone with one of those.
Furthermore, she was managed to condense this information into highly readable and entertaining prose, a distinct achievement of its own. For these and lots of other reasons, I’m extremely proud of her, her book and its success, and not at all surprised of the prizes and kudos she is receiving.
Way to go Gina!
This is so well-deserved, Gina.
More than any physician, more than the many therapists I’ve seen in my life, you have helped me understand why I do the things I do and figure out how to solve lifelong insoluble challenges.
Your generous spirit, easy humor, and deep intelligence have made a profound difference in my life and thousands of others.
Thank you,
Al
Thanks for the kind words, everyone. They mean a lot to me.
Gina
Gina,
That is really awesome. I’m very happy for you!
It’s great that after all of that hard work, you and your book are getting the attention they deserve. As I’ve said time and time again, I really think “Is it you, me or adult ADD?” is one of the best books written about ADHD. And, as far as I know, it’s the most “real world” of them all.
I think the book will go down as a classic and will soon be referenced and talked about as “Driven to Distraction” and other famous books are. I think there will be many people in the future, who, looking back, will say that’s the book that turned their life around.
Again, mucho congrats!
-Brad
Congratulations Gina,
Without you, I would not have attended the CADDAC conference. The first I knew of the conference was seeing the Canadian flag prominently displayed on your site!!
And, as you know, I considered going but had decided against it, when your brief statement of admiration for Dr. Barkley in your email less than 36 hours before the conference pushed me over the edge. Everything worked out perfectly – great, inexpensive flight connections right from Vancouver Island (unusual) , stayed with my wonderful cousin about 10 minutes from the conference site, good movies both ways. (I must say I got more than bit teary watching both “The Reader” and “Last Chance Harvey” on the return flight. It did not go unnoticed by a very warm-hearted, cheery flight attendant.)
The conference was a completely life changing event for me.
I have not gone much past the introduction of your book, and you have already made a huge contribution to me and through me to the many others I am committed to touching with this message in coming years.
For example:
After the conference, I impersonated Dr. Barclay’s amusing demonstration of an ADDer’s circumlocutory speaking style for my cousin. She exclaimed emphatically, “One of my lawyer friends talks JUST LIKE THAT !!”.. after some discussion of how the friend manages to pull cases together and present them in court (with difficulty, as you can imagine!!) …she exclaimed “and she’s ALWAYS LATE!!”…. and so it goes….
We will meet again, I am sure.
I knew it when I first started reading it … haven’t finished it yet … but I will … you’re the best.
love, Donna (another struggling ADDer),
Dear Gina,
You deserve these awards and more for the groundbreaking work you took it upon yourself to publish. Your determination to set the record straight about ADD and brain function in relation to family dynamics is much needed. ADD is one of those issues that can have a splatter effect on those around them, and spouses can get really run down cleaning up so much. Teaching spouses how to advocate and when to have firm boundaries will no doubt assist many people in getting out of the fog and back to thriving.
Please keep up the good work in getting your book in the hands of people who need it, and for the advocacy you do in person in moderating support groups.
Congratulations, Gina! You’re a journalist in the best sense of the word: you’ve combined your morality, ethics, and passion with solid research, a strong commitment to your vision, smarts, and damn good writing, and as a result you’re changing many, many lives for the better. Several of my clients have reported how much your book has helped them. The book’s so reader-friendly, that only those who know you understand how much hard work, research, despair, and just plain grit went into the writing. The awards validate everything you went through.
Oh, Gina,
This is the best news. I agree with all who have written that you and your book are deserving.
I think you have another goal in mind – hence the years of labor – than acclaim. To me, the best part of critical acclaim is not to do with you, yourself, so much as it is to do with the increased potential for the book’s getting into the hands and minds of more people.
You set out to make a contribution, and to the extent your book gains attention, its sphere of influence will expand. As a fellow traveler in the writing world, and as a traveler in the AD/HD world, I can think of few other books I would rather see be taken up by many people who will only benefit from reading and digesting it.
For that and everything else, I congratulate you and celebrate your work. I am honored to be able to refer to you as “my friend who wrote that book.”
Way to go, Gina!
We are so lucky to have you as our local expert! Thanks for all your help to me, and my family.
D.P.
Hi Gina,
I never had a moment’s doubt.
Congratulations, blessings, and love,
Bob Johnson
Recognition that is incredibly well-deserved. I’m sure there will be more like this to come. Take it all in and enjoy it.
It is good to know that excellence still gets acknowledged. I hope you are thoroughly enjoying the recognition!! I hear so many good comments on the book; again kudos for a job well done.
Gina,
In a sea of writing on ADHD, in a morass of how and why and what – your lights from the rocky coast really do stand out. It’s quite satisfying, both as an ardent fan and person traveling parallel tracks with you, to see that the often ‘silent reader world’ is catching on to the enormity of the ADHD challenge. In fact, they really do appear to appreciate the several different ADHD perspectives you bring to the table!
Abiding ADHD symptom constructs, agreed upon by the cognoscenti as limited to a mere 3 subsets, then added to by other brain function folk as numbering 6, do little to personalize and help recognize the complexity and real pain of ADHD, – the real targets of human suffering beyond the simplicity of 3 casual descriptions.
Gina, you bring the awareness of real people to the page and to the complexity of potential solutions. At this important hour much is not right about ADHD diagnosis and treatment, we have much more to learn, and much effort remains to correct the inadequate, abundant treatment platitudes.
Very big congratulations for your trekking out on the frontier, where everyone actually lives.
Chuck
Bravo!! You earned it! You deserve it! Whereas in the past, Hallowell’s “Driven to Distraction” was the touchstone for all subsequent books on the subject of Adult ADD, your book has far surpassed Hallowell’s. Your book is the new touchstone in the field of Adult ADD.
Congratulations does not seem to be enough. I wish there was a stronger way of converying to you how very happy I am that your book has been recognized in this way. It has helped so many already and will continue to do so. You have been a fighter for spouses on the ADHD front. I am forever grateful.
You so deserve these awards and more. I keep a copy of your book in my office and often find opportunities to share it and its wisdom with people I see in my work day. Congratulations!
Oh, Gina, we’re so excited for you! These are top-notch national awards gaining more respect and exposure for your book. We’re incredibly proud to have been a part of your heartfelt project. Many more blessings to you!
Tam, Erin, and Monica
Congratulations! Fantastic news!
Christy
Wonderful! You did such an impressive job on your book, and so did the design firm. I’m so happy for you.
Kudos Gina! Heaven knows you’ve earned this.
You should be very proud of all you’ve done for the ADHD community. It staggers me to think of how you kept going through it all. Take care of yourself!
Jess