Stacy Padula’s Gripped series wins two 2026 Readers’ Favorite medals

Massachusetts author Stacy Padula earned Gold and Silver medals in the 2026 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards for two books in her Gripped young adult series. The wins spotlight a franchise built around teen life, football, addiction, faith, and redemption, with a TV adaptation already in development.

Why it matters: - The awards give Padula’s Gripped series broader visibility with readers, libraries, schools, and booksellers. - The wins also reinforce demand for young adult fiction centered on realistic teen struggles, including addiction, mental health, and family pressure. - The series is already moving toward television, adding momentum beyond the book market.

What happened: - Stacy Padula won two medals in the 2026 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards. - Gripped Part 4: Smoke & Mirrors won Gold in Young Adult – Coming of Age. - Gripped Part 6: The Dunkin Legacy won Silver in Young Adult – Social Issues. - Padula grew up in Pembroke and now lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The details: - Gripped Part 4: Smoke & Mirrors follows former star quarterback Taylor Dunkin as a desperate deal and a trail of clues put his life and his family’s safety at risk in Montgomery, Massachusetts. - The novel also tracks brothers Jordan and Marc as they put aside a feud to find him. - Cathy Kagelli risks everything to pull her boyfriend out of a hidden drug world. - Readers’ Favorite gave the book five stars and called it a teen drama-style story with cliffhangers and strong parallel storylines. - Gripped Part 6: The Dunkin Legacy continues the multi-generational Dunkin family story across football, addiction, faith, and redemption. - The sixth book includes a foreword by New England Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson. - Henderson’s foreword touches on faith, mental-health struggles, and purpose. - Henderson and Padula also appeared in a widely shared announcement video tied to the book. - The Gripped series launched in 2019 and serves as both a prequel and sequel to Padula’s earlier Montgomery Lake High novels. - The books are set in and around the fictional town of Montgomery Lake, Massachusetts. - The series follows Cathy Kagelli, Jason Davids, the Dunkin brothers, and their friends as football, first love, family pressure, addiction, and mental-health battles collide. - Padula is the author of 17 books and also co-created the faith-based children’s series On the Right Path with NBA coach Brett Gunning.

Between the lines: - Readers’ Favorite is a major review and award platform that draws thousands of entries from more than a dozen countries each year. - The contest includes titles from independent authors, New York Times bestsellers, celebrity writers, and major publishers such as Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster. - Readers’ Favorite recognition can extend into the Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database, which can widen exposure to libraries and schools. - The Gripped books are built to blend sports drama with harder social issues, which helps explain their appeal to both teen readers and adult gatekeepers. - Emmy Award-winning producer Mark Blutman is developing the series for television through BLE Pictures. - Blutman is writing the pilot and serving as executive producer. - Blutman has described the adaptation as having “a Friday Night Lights meets Euphoria vibe.” - Padula began writing as a teenager to fill a gap for realistic YA fiction that handles social challenges, substance abuse, mental health, faith, and redemption honestly.

What’s next: - The Gripped series remains available in paperback, hardcover, and ebook formats through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and Stacy Padula’s website. - Review copies, cover art, author photos, and interview requests are available on request. - Official award listings are posted on Readers’ Favorite. - The television adaptation is still in development through BLE Pictures.

The bottom line: - Padula’s latest award wins strengthen a growing YA brand built on sports, suspense, and social realism, while the TV project gives the series a larger audience runway.