Ogden wins £20k Kindle Storyteller Award for Forsaken Commander

Gareth J Ogden has won the £20,000 Amazon’s Kindle Storyteller Award for his science fiction novel Forsaken Commander.

Inspired by the mythical stories of Ancient Egypt, the novel is the first in The Artenian Wars series which blends space opera with militaristic science fiction following Master Commander Carter Rose, a bio-engineered officer, as he battles against a post-human enemy determined to destroy humanity.

Ogden was given his award by Baroness Floella Benjamin who was joined by celebrity judge Sue Perkins at an event held at the Houses of Parliament on 13th November 2023.

In addition to the £20,000 prize money, Ogden will receive a marketing campaign to support the book on the Amazon UK website.

Ogden wrote his first novel when he was 40 years old and, since 2018, has published over 35 science fiction books via Kindle Direct Publishing. He commented: "I’m blown away to have won this year’s Kindle Storyteller Award. When I started my indie author journey five years ago, success seemed like a pipe dream, but KDP has allowed me to reach and entertain thousands of readers all over the world, and now this. It just shows what’s possible, and I’m grateful to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, not only for this award, but for helping to make my dream a reality."

The 2023 judging panel included Benjamin, Perkins and last year’s winner Peter Gibbons. Roz Morris, author and representative of the Alliance of Independent Authors, Lisa de Meyer, Amazon UK Books Country Manager and Darren Hardy, author and editorial programmes manager at Amazon were also on the panel.

They commended how "events in history were woven throughout the novel, while carrying the reader along with an incredible plot and fully formed characters".

Ultimately, Forsaken Commander took the gold as many of the judges felt it was "a great story that had all the elements of a blockbuster sci-fi in the making and left them wanting the next instalment in the series".

Hardy commented: "We received some fantastic submissions this year, making it so difficult to whittle down the thousands of submissions into a shortlist, and then finally a winner. G J Ogden’s winning novel excited me as soon as I read the first page. It is strongly written, has an incredible story and well thought out characters. It’s always a pleasure seeing talent being supported by Kindle Direct Publishing, because authors get to take charge of their publishing from editing to marketing, and they also earn great royalties on their sales."