North Caroliniana Society award-winner

I am honored and thrilled to announce that “Step It Up and Go” has picked up another very nice accolade — the annual book award from the North Caroliniana Society, a group that is “Dedicated to the Promotion and Increased Knowledge and Appreciation of North Carolina’s Heritage.”

The North Caroliniana Society Book Award recognizes “the book that captures the essence of North Carolina by contributing powerfully to an understanding of the state.” It is also to be one that “makes a positive contribution and appears to have the best chance of standing the test of time as a classic volume of North Caroliniana.”

This award was established in 2003 and comes with an engraved silver cup, to be presented in a ceremony on Oct. 6. Notable past winners include the 2004 historical memoir “Blood Done Sign My Name” by historian Timothy B. Tyson, and 2014’s “Talkin’ Tar Heel: How Our Voices Tell the Story of North Carolina.”

In another first for me, this makes makes two awards that “Step It Up and Go” has won. Last month, it was First Runner-Up in the “Culture” category of the Eric Hoffer Awards.