The book awards that break the rules
The Change Ninja
Book Awards
Uncovering the hidden gems in business and self-development. No self-nominations. No pay-to-play. No big publishing machines. Just real readers recommending real books.
Why These Awards Exist
The industry has an echo-chamber problem. The same names get spotlighted, the same algorithm-friendly titles get reviewed, and the genuinely useful books, written by independent thinkers without a PR machine behind them, get buried. TCNBA exists to fix that. These awards are reader-nominated and built to surface the books that actually change how people think and work. No one pays to enter. No one self-nominates. If a book is here, it's because someone read it and said "this matters."
We all get different things from books. If somebody says your book is worthy of the award, I trust them. That's the judging element: real readers who've actually read the thing and can vouch for it.
Meet the 2026 Sponsors
Six categories. Six brilliant partners already on board. Here's who's backing the hidden gems this year.
APMG International
Global home of change management qualifications and professional standards, championing the people who make change happen worldwide.
The world's leading examination and accreditation institute, with over 2 million exams delivered in 192 countries and home of the Change Management Certification.
Full of fresh insight and looking at things from different perspectives. The world doesn't need more of the same thinking. It needs people brave enough to see things differently.
Innovate21 makes innovation better, embedding it as a strategic imperative that creates real impact, not just activity.
Great facilitation creates the space for real thinking, real alignment, and real change. Not just a room full of Post-its.
Get Real Change helps leaders and organisations unlock their potential and build the capability to grow, develop and transform: change that actually lasts.
Understanding how we work, feel and behave as humans, so we can work smarter, not harder. Smarter humans make smarter businesses.
QUBE Unlimited uses the passion of your people to propel real transformation. Build your new world, and learn how in ours.
Personal development with edge. Not theory-bound or tied up in research. Practical things you can do, for you, that once you know them you simply cannot unknow them.
Led by Michelle Minnikin, Chartered Organisational Psychologist, and Executive Coach James Eves, helping organisations retain and develop high-performing women at pivotal leadership transitions.
Leadership gets diluted, rebadged and turned into something unrecognisable. These books strip it all back. No gimmicks, just the real stuff that makes people actually want to follow you.
DIN makes sense of the now and the future, helping social housing organisations harness innovation and technology to transform and make life better for their customers.
Not quite change. Not quite leadership. Not quite anything that slots neatly anywhere. But brilliant, useful, and exactly the kind of book a Ninja picks up and puts down three hours later thinking "I should tell X about this. They'll love it. Tell the world instead"
Sponsored by The Change Ninja, because the best ideas don't always come from where you'd expect and some books are simply too good to leave out.
The Anti-Rules
This is a Ninja awards programme. Focused on change and learning, breaking the rules, and most importantly being human.
Reader-nominated only
Every book is recommended by someone who's actually read it and can vouch for it.
No self-nominations
If you wrote it, you can't nominate it. Someone else has to believe in it first.
Independent and under-the-radar
Self-published or smaller publishing groups. No big PR machines allowed.
No bestsellers
Already in the big lists with heaps of reviews? You don't need the Ninja's help.
Completely free to enter
No fees, no pay-to-play, no catch. Just recognition and support for fellow authors.
No money-making schemes
No prizes given or fees charged. This is about good old recognition, not profit.
TCNBA 2026 Is Coming
Same rules. Same mission. More hidden gems to uncover. Here's what's on the horizon.
The 2025 Awards Brochure
Every winner, every category, every recommendation from last year: all in one place. Distributed digitally across the change, L&D and leadership community. 15 pages of hidden gems you won't find in the usual bestseller lists.
Download the Brochure (PDF)Got a Hidden Gem to Recommend?
Know a book that deserves a wider audience? An under-the-radar masterpiece that changed how you think or work? Entries open 14th September 2026. Each category is capped at 7 books, so don't leave it too late.