Chandler, AZ (July 2021) — Story Monsters LLC has announced the winners of the 2021 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards, including Grand Prize Winner untold: defining moments of the uprooted by Gabrielle Deonath and Kamini Ramdeen, and $100 Drawing Winner I Love You… Bigger Than the Sky by Michelle Medlock Adams.

The annual Purple Dragonfly Book Award contest is a global competition that was created in 2009 to celebrate excellence in children’s books across 55 different categories ranging from environment and cooking to sports and family issues to marketing collateral such as bookmarks and media kits.

Kamini Ramdeen is a Guyanese-American editor, graphic design artist, photographer and small business owner based in New York City, and Gabrielle Deonath is a Guyanese-American Muslim writer, editor and content creator based in New York. The grand-prize-winning book, untold: defining moments of the uprooted, is a collection of 31 real stories that explore the South Asian experience in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada through the lens of identity, being and relationships. Deonath and Ramdeen highlight 32 different voices who share deeply personal moments relating to immigration, infertility, divorce, mental health, suicide, sexual orientation, gender identity, racism, colorism, casteism, religion and much more, all while balancing the push and pull of belonging to two cultural hemispheres. The book is recommended for ages 16 and up.

Ramdeen and Deonath were also selected for first place awards in three categories: Cultural Diversity, LGBTQ+ and Young Adult Nonfiction.

Michelle Medlock Adams, winner of the $100 first place drawing, is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author. Her children’s book, I Love You… Bigger Than the Sky, a sweetly illustrated padded board book that portrays animals and humans expressing their immeasurable love for their kids, was also selected for a first-place award in the Board Books category.

A complete list of this year’s award winners is available on the Purple Dragonfly Book Award contest website.

“Every year I am amazed by the number of phenomenal submissions to the Purple Dragonfly Book Award contest we receive, and this year is truly no exception,” said Linda F. Radke, contest director and president of Story Monsters LLC. “I want to extend my sincerest congratulations to Kammini Ramden and Gabrielle Deonath and all the winning authors.”

For complete rules and submission forms for the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards, Royal Dragonfly Book Awards or Story Monsters Approved, visit www.dragonflybookawards.com. To learn more about Story Monsters LLC visit www.StoryMonsters.com, email info@storymonsters.com or call 480-940-8182.

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