Former Prime Minister of Jamaica PJ Patterson won the prestigious Next Generation Indie Book Award in the memoir category.

Patterson, who served as the Caribbean nation’s

leader for 14 years, took the prize for his book My Political Journey: Jamaica’s Sixth Prime Minister which waspublished by The University of the West Indies Press.

The judges’

review of the book noted, “People often think autobiographies or

biographies of government officials must be primarily of scholarly or

historical interest. Depending on the writer, they can sometimes attract a

broader audience. PJ Patterson’s Political Journey issuch a book. Written with grace and style, Patterson describes the challengesof building community and national consensus in an era of growing internationalinterest in Caribbean and Latin American history.”

Patterson claimed the category, and its US$100 prize, after beating out other finallists including Chucky’s in Tucson, by Brant Vickers; Dramatic Measures: Lessons from a Life in the Theater, by Chris Angermann; Hummingbird in Underworld: Teaching in a Men’s Prison, A Memoir, by Deborah Tobola; Length of Stay, Psychiatric Case Studies, by James W Cole and The Pit: Memoir of an Emergency Physician, by Gary D. Conrad.

The winners and finalists will be honored June 26 in an online event which will stream live on Facebook

The Next Generation Indie Book Awards is the largest

International awards program for indie authors and independent publishers.