(CHARLOTTE, N.C.)—Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP announced today that Josephine H. Hicks, a partner in the Firm’s Charlotte office, received a Gold Medal in the Independent Publishers Book Awards for her book, If There’s Anything I Can Do: What You Can Do When Serious Illness Strikes. More than 4,800 print books were submitted for this year’s Awards with Ms. Hicks’ book receiving a Gold Medal in the Aging/Death & Dying category.
The book, designed, produced and nominated by Matthews-based SPARK Publications, is born of Ms. Hicks’ experience as a caregiver for her partner during almost four years with pancreatic cancer. She turned her experiences into a real-world guidebook for those who have ever wondered how to help and what to say during the universal experience of navigating disease.
The winners of the 16th Annual Independent Publisher Book Awards will be celebrated on June 4th during the annual BookExpo America publishing convention in New York. Conducted each year to honor the year's best independently published books, the "IPPY" awards recognize excellence in a broad range of subjects and reward authors and publishers who "take chances and break new ground."
Ms. Hicks is a member of Parker Poe’s Litigation Department where she represents and advises clients on issues including insurance coverage disputes, products liability, industrial accidents and premises liability, defense of personal injury, death and property damage claims and damage claims unique to the defense of public utilities.
Ms. Hicks serves on the Anglican Consultative Council as a Lay representative from the United States and is a member of the Episcopal Church Episcopal Relief & Development Board. She also serves as Chair of Parker Poe's Diversity Committee. Following her partner’s death from pancreatic cancer, she founded Spell the End of Cancer, a Scrabble event to raise money for cancer research.
Ms. Hicks will donate part of the proceeds of her book’s sales to cancer research. For more information or to purchase a book, please click here.
About the Independent Publishers Book Awards
The Independent Publisher Book Awards (the “IPPYs”) are intended to bring increased recognition to the thousands of exemplary independent, university and self-published titles published each year. The awards are open to all members of the independent publishing industry, and to authors and publishers worldwide who produce books written in English and intended for the North American market.
About Parker Poe
Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP has 210 lawyers in six offices located in major markets across North Carolina and South Carolina. The Firm provides legal counsel to large commercial and public organizations on litigation, corporate and regulatory matters. It has been recognized in recent years as one of the fastest growing law firms in the United States and as an award-winning leader in the use of technology to provide better and more efficient service to domestic and international clients.