The POZ Awards spotlight the best representations of HIV/AIDS in media and culture. The POZ editorial staff selects the nominees, but the winners are voted most popular by POZ readers.

Eligibility is performed, published or accomplished between October 1, 2015, and September 30, 2016. Deadline for voting has been extended past World AIDS Day, which is Thursday, December 1, by one week to Thursday, December 8.

UPDATE: VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

CLICK HERE FOR THE WINNERS.

Here are the 2016 nominees for best in literature, nonfiction:

AIDS and Memory  

Here’s the thing about memory — it changes over time and no two people’s memory of something is the same. This volume of essays and “thought experiments” from Drain magazine hopes to recollect the evolution of AIDS in both our individual and collective memories and find out what the acts of memory and commemoration mean for people living with HIV and for those documenting the epidemic.

Let’s Shut Out the World

Sit in between the timelines of his other Lambda Literary Award-nominated books, World focuses on Kevin Bentley’s first few years in San Francisco, where he left the world of Jesus freaks and Texas to enter the world of oddballs and sexual exploration. The author shares his experiences being HIV positive and losing two lovers to AIDS.

Lust, Men and Meth: A Gay Man’s Guide to Sex and Recovery  

Though written as a guide for gay men struggling to overcome meth addiction, which affects many living with HIV, and for the doctors that support them, David Fawcett, PhD, and his sociological eye make this an amazing read for anyone, not just those struggling with or helping someone with an addiction. Through reading this book, the reader becomes more intimately familiar with the many psychological, emotional and social traumas haunting gay men today.

Now Everyone Will Know

Maggie Kniep’s husband passed away from an AIDS-related illness and she didn’t speak about it for over 25 years. Taking on the secrecy that many of those who lived through the epidemic understand, Kneip talks about the struggle to protect herself and her children from stigma and the pain of secrecy. 

You Only Live Twice: Sex, Death and Transition

Chase Joynt transitions from female to male, Mike Hoolboom from near-death because of AIDS to fully alive. This co-written memoir sees two artists exchange tales about transitioning in their own bodies and getting the chance to live a second time.


The POZ Awards in Media and Culture

Read about the nominees:

Best Celebrity Advocate

Best in Film or Television

Best Actor or Actress in Film and Television

Best Documentary

Best Web Series

Best in Performing Arts

Best in Visual Arts

Best Literature, Fiction

Best Literature, Nonfiction

Best Journalism