“Derby Girl: A Memoir,” written by Austin native Sammi Jones, has been named a 2017 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards finalist in two categories.

The book, published by North Dakota State University Press made the announcement earlier this week. This year marks the 20th annual Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards.

Independent media company Foreword Magazine, Inc. hosts its annual awards program each year. Finalists represent the best books published in 2017. After more than 2,000 individual titles spread across 65 genres were submitted for consideration, the list of finalists was determined by Foreword’s editorial team. Winners will be decided by an expert team of booksellers and librarians—representing Foreword’s readership—from across the country.

The complete list of finalists can be found at: www.forewordreviews.com/awards/finalists/2017/

“We are ecstatic that Sammi Jones’s debut work,’Derby Girl: A Memoir,’ has been named a finalist in two categories: Autobiography/Memoir and LGBT,” said Suzzanne Kelley, editor in chief at NDSU Press. “The announcement follows news that Jamie Hohnadel Trosen has won two awards—the 2017 Silver ADDY and the 2017 Hermes Creative Awards Gold—for her Derby Girl cover design.”

Winners in each genre — along with Editor’s Choice Prize winners and Foreword’s INDIE Publisher of the Year—will be announced June 15.

Jones was a featured author during the 2017 Austin ArtWorks Festival.