As 2025 draws to a close, the University of North Georgia Press (UNGP) is delighted to mark another year of meaningful innovation, strengthening our role as a resource for authors, educators, students, and aspiring publishing professionals. This year, we had the privilege of working alongside authors whose work earned distinguished recognition, deepening our commitment to accessibility in publishing; contributing to broader conversations in publishing through participating in notable conferences and community events; expanding our educational resources for authors and fellow publishing professionals; and publishing five exceptional titles.
Book Awards and Honors
Pedagogy Opened Wins 2025 Open Education Award for Excellence
Pedagogy Opened: Innovative Theory and Practice, edited by Tiffani Tijerina, was named a 2025 Open Practices Award Winner for Open Pedagogy. Open Education Global praised Pedagogy Opened, edited by Tiffani Tijerina, for its commitment to furthering the discussion of open resources. According to the nominator:
“[Pedagogy Opened] doesn’t just describe open education—it lives it, inspiring sustainable, participatory change across diverse learning contexts.”
This recognition of Pedagogy Opened is a tangible achievement in our mission to promote affordable, accessible, open research and resources for students and faculty.
Cherokee History and the Spirit Family Wins Second Place Grand Prize for Nonfiction in 2025 Next Generation Indie Book Awards
The Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group (IBPPG) presented James Barnes’s Cherokee History and the Spirit Family with the 2025 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Second Place Grand Prize in Nonfiction. IBPPG hailed Barnes’s title as noteworthy in literary merit and historical value.
Now in its eighteenth year, the Next Generation Indie Book Awards highlight excellence across 80+ categories of independently published books. Winners were selected by a panel of industry professionals, including veteran editors and literary agents with experience at top publishing houses like HarperCollins and Penguin Random House (UNG Press Author James Barnes Wins International Award for Cherokee History and the Spirit Family).
Innovating Accessibility in Publishing
Expanding upon projects begun in 2024, the Press deepened our commitment to accessibility in publishing by developing best practices for remediating Open Textbooks into audiobooks with AI assistance to improve the experience for students and instructors who use our Open Education Resources (OER). Our Spring 2025 Student Assistants Nicole Clifton and Joshua Lann assisted with developing these best practices and remediating two of our existing Open Textbooks, World History: Cultures, States and Societies to 1500 (available for free on OpenALG Manifold), and Introduction to Art: Design, Context, and Meaning (forthcoming 2026). UNG Press will publish the best practices in full in 2026 as an open access brevigraph.
Press Community Engagement and Events
Piedmont Publishing Symposium
UNGP Managing Editor Corey Parson, on behalf of the Press, contributed to broader conversations in the publishing field through participating in notable events including the Piedmont Publishing Symposium and the PASCAL (Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries) presentation “Open Makes it Easy: Navigating Open Licensing and Copyright.
Lumpkin County Library’s 5th Birthday Bash
UNG Press was delighted to join the celebration of Lumpkin County Library’s 5th Birthday Bash held in Dahlonega, GA on May 2025. We hosted an interactive story-book-page scavenger hunt for young readers, which was a playful and fun way to introduce early literacy. The winners of the scavenger hunt received a book-themed stickers and a children’s book. We were grateful to celebrate with the local community and encourage a love of literacy.
Open Education Conference
Our team also attended this year’s Open Education Conference (OpenEd25), where UNGP Marketing and Content Manager Nicole Clifton and Spring 2025 Student Assistant Joshua Lann presented their work remediating Open Textbooks into audiobooks with AI at this year’s Open Education Conference in Denver, CO. Visit “Innovating for All: AI-Powered Audiobook Creation in Open Textbook Publishing” OpenEd25 Presentation to view Clifton and Lann’s full presentation script and slides.
AUSA Annual Meeting
UNGP attended the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting in October 2025 in Washington, D.C. During the meeting, our team represented many of our AUSA Book Program partnership titles, including recent releases NCO School and Green Berets, Clan Militia, and Blue Helmets. The Press also attended the AUSA Authors Panel where NCO School author Daniel K. Elder and an affiliate of Green Berets, Clan Militia, and Blue Helmets author Joseph D. Celeski shared insight about the books. It was a meaningful opportunity to support our AUSA authors.
Georgia Political Science Association Conference
UNG Press attended the Georgia Political Science Association’s (GPSA) annual conference in November 2025 at St. Simons Island, GA, representing our political-science-focused monographs and textbooks—including the newly released The Basics of American Government, Fifth Edition. Editor Carl D. Cavalli attended the event as well.
2025 Book Releases
World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 (Audiobook)
June 2025, UNG Press released our first audiobook created entirely in-house, developed utilizing AI-powered tools to remediate our existing open textbook into an alternative accessible format. This audiobook was a big step towards innovation for the Press, as now we can increase accessibility and efficiency in creating one of the most time-consuming book formats.
Listen to the audiobook for free on OpenALG Manifold.
NCO School: How the Vietnam-era NCO Candidate Course Shaped the Modern Army by Daniel K. Elder
NCO School is an AUSA title, developed as part of UNGP’s partnership with the AUSA Book Program—a book program designed to address such subjects as military land power and land warfare history, technology, combat, and strategy and tactics.
Released September 2025, Daniel K. Elder’s NCO School uncovers the overlooked stories of Vietnam-era NCO Candidate Course and those who led from the frontlines, offering a comprehensive narrative that honors those who served and provides critical insights for today’s military scholars and practitioners.
Green Berets, Clan Militia, and Blue Helmets: The Illustrated Guide of Special Forces in Somalia, 1992–1995 by Joseph D. Celeski
Another one of our AUSA Book Program partnership titles, Green Berets, Clan Militia, and Blue Helmets by Joseph D. Celeski, released October 2025. It explores the story of the U.S. Army in Somalia during the United Nations Peacekeeping mission to Somalia (UNOSOM), including rare pictures and interviews.
Dystopian Discord: Cold War Politics and Cambodian Communism by B.D. Mowell, Ph.D.
B.D. Mowell’s Dystopian Discord released October 2025, examining the Khmer Rouge’s rise and Cambodia’s unrest and revealing how nationalism, xenophobia, and Cold War tensions fractured the communist bloc and fueled one of history’s most catastrophic regimes.
The Basics of American Government, Fifth Edition, Edited by Carl D. Cavalli, Ph.D.
The Basics of American Government is a collaborative effort among current and former faculty members in the Departments of Political Science and Criminal Justice at the University of North Georgia (UNG) to offer a no-frills, no- to low-cost, yet comprehensive overview of the American political system for students taking introductory courses in American national government.
This updated edition includes the results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Resources for Authors and Aspiring Publishing Professionals
In addition to these feats, we expanded our educational resources with the launch of a new course, AI and Publishing, offered synchronously summer 2025 and asynchronously fall 2025. This program introduced students to the rapidly changing uses of artificial intelligence (AI) in publishing and the ethical implications of using AI in traditional and self-publishing for tasks such as drafting, editing, and marketing.
UNGP will be expanding upon our resources for authors in 2026 with the launch of a Certificate in Creative Writing, Editing, and Publishing with Digital Tools offered via UNG’s Evergreen Learning. This flexible, fully online program combines creative and practical publishing workflows to help participants develop their skills in writing, editing, and digital production. Additional program and enrollment details will be available January 2026.
Collectively, these accomplishments reflect our unwavering commitment to inspire learning, expand access to educational resources, publish noteworthy scholarship and stories, and advance innovative learning tools.
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