Indies triumph at Romantic Novel Awards 2024

Independent publishers dominated the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) Romantic Novel Awards 2024 with titles from Boldwood Books, Canelo and Hera Books among the 10 winners. 

The ceremony took place on Monday (20th May) at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in London and was compered by author Brigid Coady.

Sara-Jade Virtue, brand development director for fiction at Simon & Schuster UK, presented the Jackie Collins Award for Romantic Thrillers and Anton Du Beke, author and “Strictly Come Dancing” judge presented the rest of the awards. 

Sharon Ibbotson, the RNA awards co-ordinator, said: “Our reader-judges have once again selected beautifully written love stories as their favourites of the year, and their authors are worthy of their praise.” 

The full list of winners: 

The Fantasy Romantic Novel Award

Girl, Goddess, Queen, Bea Fitzgerald (Penguin) 

The Jackie Collins Award for Romantic Thrillers

The Dance Teacher of Paris, Suzanne Fortin (Embla Books) 

The Debut Romantic Novel Award

Be More Octopus, Suzanne Lissaman (Octosulis Publishing) 

The Christmas/Festive Holiday Romantic Novel Award

Only for Christmas, Tracy Corbett (Canelo)

The Shorter Romantic Novel Award

Cinderella’s Deal with the Colonel, Jenni Fletcher (Harlequin Mills & Boon)

The Romantic Saga Award

A New Start at the Beach Hotel, Francesca Capaldi (Hera Books)

The Romantic Comedy Award

You’ve Got this, Maxine Morrey (Boldwood Books) 

The Historical Romantic Novel Award

The Night She Met the Duke, Sarah Mallory (Harlequin Mills & Boon) 

The Contemporary Romantic Novel Award

Evergreens, Liam Brown (Legend Press) 

Readers who are interested in becoming a reader-judge for next year’s awards should contact Ibbotson at: rnaawards@romanticwriters.co.uk.