The Iowa High School Book Awards (IHSBA) has been a competition since 2016, and well known books like “The Hate U Give” and “The Inheritance Games” have won in previous years. This school year, “What the River Knows” by Isabel Iñez won first place.

The process for choosing the 12 nominated books that are up for the award, is systematic. High school Librarians across Iowa compile a list of the best books, which then gets whittled down to the 12 that students get to vote from.

“I’m a reader for what books get put on the list, so we just got the list to read for next year,” Ankeny High School (AHS) Head Librarian Jennifer Wirtz said while gesturing to a paper with dozens of titles. “This is my reading list for summer, and I will rate these books for the 2027-2028 list. So [I am] reading like a year ahead, because next year’s books are already decided. This is how the list of 12 gets created.”

Members of the Iowa Association of School Librarians (IASL), the organization that sponsors IHSBA, compile a list of books recommended by themselves and students for other members to read and consider for the next IHSBA list.

“All of these titles came from people like me: high school librarians. When we turn in our votes, kids are asked to recommend titles, and I also can submit titles. I usually submit 10 [books],” Wirtz explained.

Wirtz describes that this functions sort of as her summer reading list so she can narrow down the double-sided list of books to just 12 nominated novels. Voters on this finalized list include students from ninth through 12th grade in Iowa, and they have to have read at least one of the books on the list.

This year’s nominated books included BookTok popular reads like “Divine Rivals,” “What the River Knows,” and “The Reappearance of Rachel Price.” However, there were a lot of lesser-known gems like “Accountable” by Dashka Slater.

Encouraging reading in high schoolers

According to the IHSBA home page, one of the main goals of this competition is to inspire more reading. It doesn’t specify students or staff, but sources who read from this list generally read a lot regardless.

Another goal IHSBA claims is to promote casual reading with a diverse, quality reading list. Junior Catherine Nelson is an avid reader, and the book awards seem to have helped her diversify the kinds of books she reads.

“When I participated, it was mainly [because] I was trying to hit a quota. In seventh grade, I had this reading challenge that I had to hit 100 books,” Nelson explains. “I don’t have time on my hands, but I participated because it was a great opportunity for me to get more books that I normally wouldn’t have read.”

From conversations with a handful of AHS readers, the IHSBA nominated list provides a few options for books, but it doesn’t take priority over a reader’s TBR (To be read). It is still a great reference for students.

English teacher and reader Karin Cowger explained, “[IHSBA] awards books that they find favorable and useful for students, and that they’re interesting to read. It’s kind of nice to have awards on things, so the kids will just say, ‘okay, this one, other people think is really good, so maybe I should read that one.’”

Barely influencing the vote

The 2025-2026 vote had a combined 323 votes across the state. Of those 323, AHS only contributed five.

“I’ve heard of the Iowa High School Book Awards, I always know that there’s something in the media center [for IHSBA],” Cowger said, referring to the blue letters spelling out IHSBA above the nominated books displayed on clear shelves. “[But] I haven’t heard too much about that at all from students.”

Not many students at AHS know about the book awards through IHSBA. However, the total participation across Iowa has had a drastic increase from the previous year.

“The number of total votes across the state [last year] was like 26 or something like that. It was incredibly low,” Wirtz recalls. “I remember the first meeting [of Books and Bagels], I’m like, we have that many kids in this room right now.”

26 votes in 2024-2025 to 323 votes this year, is a huge jump. Though the number of voters increased this year, the voting percentage at AHS has remained slim. Participation seems centered around a person’s previous dedication to reading.

“Occasionally, I think I pay attention to the winners after it happens,” Nelson said. “I kind of just look at it when I have the free time, and I go, ‘oh, that one, maybe I should give that a try.’”

This story was originally published on The Talon on May 5, 2026.