A local book took a top award Wednesday night at the Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MIPA) event in St. Paul.

Agate: What Good Is a Moose? by Joy Morgan Dey and Nikki Johnson and published by Lake Superior Port Cities Inc. was awarded “Best Children’s Picture Book at the association’s 18th  annual awards ceremony. The author, illustrator and publisher are all from Duluth.

The 167 nominees for these awards came from 12 states, 78 publishers and were divided into 25 categories. MIPA serves the upper Midwest publishing community in a collaborative sharing of information about publishing, promotion, marketing, production, education and networking. 

Agate: What Good Is a Moose? is about a moose with low self-esteem whose friends show him that just like his namesake, the agate, his true beauty comes from what’s inside.

The MIPA award is the second major honor for Agate: What Good Is a Moose? which received two Moonbeam Awards for children’s literature last October. Agate has also been named among the top 3 finalists for a prestigious national Benjamin Franklin award to be announced at the American Book Association gathering in Los Angeles later this month. It is also a nominee for several other upcoming honors.

Lake Superior Port Cities is a family owned publisher based in Duluth, Minnesota. It has 25 book titles and also publishes Lake Superior Magazine and the annual Lake Superior Travel Guide. Its offices are at 310 E. Superior St. You can contact the publisher at 1-888 BIG LAKE (888-244-5253), 218-722-5002 or log onto www.lakesuperior.com.