10/15/2025
Meet Jude Berman (featured in the middle), the creative force behind Shot: A Dictionary of the Lost — and a proud Gold Medalist in the 2025 Living Now Book Awards! 🥇
With decades of experience as a professional nonfiction writer and editor, Jude has recently found a new home in fiction. Her award-winning book presents 26 short stories—one for each letter of the alphabet—exploring the human stories that surround gun violence in all its complexity.
“I’ve won numerous awards for my 3 published works of fiction, but the Living Now Awards is uniquely important because of its explicit recognition for a work of social justice,” Jude shares. “Virtually all existing books on the subject of gun violence prevention are nonfiction. I went out on a limb to address this subject through fictional short stories because storytelling has inherent power to move readers, and I wanted to harness that.”
Since receiving her medal, Jude has proudly featured the Living Now seal across her author platforms and social media, using her voice to bring awareness to the issue at the heart of her book.
Well done, Jude! Your courage to blend storytelling with purpose inspires us all, we can’t wait to see what’s next.