I’m thrilled to announce that Chained Birds has been recognized as a True Crime finalist in the 2025 National Indie Excellence Awards! Thank you, NIEA, for this literary honor and for adding to my Spring collection of True Crime awards! 🌸📚🏆
The NIEA is a prestigious program that celebrates independent publishing across a wide variety of genres. With a mission to recognize exceptional books that demonstrate excellence in presentation, content, and overall quality, the NIEA provides a platform for authors and publishers to shine. It’s an honor to see Chained Birds acknowledged by a program so highly regarded in the indie publishing world.
This recognition is especially meaningful to me because of NIEA’s commitment to amplifying unique and diverse voices that might not otherwise find a spotlight in mainstream publishing. To have Chained Birds stand out in the True Crime category among so many talented authors is deeply humbling.
This has been an unforgettable season of accolades for Chained Birds, and I’m so grateful for every reader, reviewer, and award program that has supported it. It means the world to have Chained Birds recognized once again as an award-winning story of justice, survival, and redemption.
Congratulations to all the other finalists and winners in this year’s NIEA awards, and especially to my fellow True Crime prize writers! 🎉 Here’s to celebrating more stories that captivate, inspire, and shed light on the truth 🙌🥳🏆
As always, thank you for supporting Chained Birds and spreading the word about this story. If you haven’t read it yet, now’s the perfect time to check it out!
Carla Conti is an award-winning true crime journalist, storyteller, and prison reform advocate. Her debut book, Chained Birds: A Crimemoir, won multiple 2025 national book awards, including 1st Place in True Crime from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Winner in True Crime from the Indie Reader Discovery Awards, Silver in True Crime from the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY), and a 1st Place Nellie Bly Journalism award from the Chanticleer International Book Awards. Carla lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, who tolerates her true crime habit.
