L. A. Tramwell Receives International Recognition Through the NYC Big Book Award®

Author L. A. Tramwell’s coming-of-age Young Adult novel, “Gretna Can’t Get Any Greener,” is honored as a Distinguished Favorite in the Teen Category.

NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA, September 15, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The NYC Big Book Award recognized Gretna Can’t Get Any Greener by L. A. Tramwell in the category of Teen as a Distinguished Favorite.

The competition is judged by experts from different aspects of the book industry, including publishers, writers, editors, designers, booksellers, librarians and professional copywriters. Winners and distinguished favorites are based on overall excellence.

Set in the backdrop of 1990s Jerusalem, Gretna Can’t Get Any Greener offers an emotionally charged exploration of first love, identity, and the heavy pressures of immigration, traditional family structures, and impending military conscription.

Book summary:
The draft doesn’t care who you love.

Vadim, an immigrant teen who feels too Russian for Israel, has only eight months before the Israeli army claims him. But then he meets Louise, a sweet seventeen-year-old from South Africa, and everything changes.

What starts as a spark ignites into a romance neither of them can walk away from. Their first love becomes a race against conscription, family expectations, cultural differences, and their own fears. Gretna Green, Scotland’s legendary haven for runaway weddings, feels like their only hope.

As their final school year slips away, Vadim and Louise must decide who they are, where they belong, and what’s truly right and wrong.

The world seems determined to tear them apart.

The NYC Big Book Award received book submissions worldwide. Attorneys, Doctors, Entrepreneurs, Film & Television writers, Historians, and Journalists, from well established authors to first time indie authors as well as small and large presses participated.

Entries this year were received from the United States as well as countries such as Australia, Canada, China, Dubai, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Cities represented among the entries were Auckland, Baltimore, Dallas, Frankfurt, Hollywood, Johannesburg, Manhattan Beach, New Orleans, NYC, Philadelphia, Sydney, and West Palm Beach.

Publishers included Beacon Press, Berrett-Koehler, Casemate, Edinburgh University Press, Forbes Books, Kiplinger Books, NYU Press, Palgrave Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Rizzoli, Routledge, The White House Historical Association, University of California Press, University of Nebraska Press, Weaving Influence Press, and Wiley.

We have an amazing list of authors from around the globe participating this year, said awards sponsor Gabby Olczak. I’m so excited to share these books with a worldwide readership!

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About the Author
L. A. Tramwell is an independent author whose first book arrived as a young adult novel. Gretna Can’t Get Any Greener, published in January 2026 by Crystal Tortoise Publishing, follows a coming-of-age romance shaped by identity, cultural friction, and the pressure of finding a place in the world. Noted for an observant, emotionally grounded narrative style, Tramwell achieved early international recognition for this debut work.

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About the Award
NYC Big Book Award, https://www.nycbigbookaward.com/, is announced every fall. NYC Big Book Award is open to all authors, publishers, and illustrators, and includes submissions from the big five publishers. Join us for the Awards Dinner on April 10th, https://www.nycbigbookaward.com/awardsdinner, held at the BookCAMP event, April 9-10, 2027, https://www.ipabookcamp.com, where recipients from both programs will walk on stage to receive their awards.)”

Gabby Olczak
NYC Big Book Award
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