Voting categories include fiction, Nonfiction, poetry, cooking and children's literature.
In 2016, the award was renamed the Southern Book Prize and awarded in honor of southern writer Pat Conroy, who died in March 2016.
[3] Starting in 2008, winners were chosen from the list of finalists by a jury of SIBA booksellers.
[3] Since 2019 candidates have been nominated by Southern indie booksellers before the ballot of finalists in three categories is voted on by bookstore customers.
According to SIBA, 1800 ballots were cast to select the winners of the 2023 prize.