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TAA recognizes Cognella textbooks for their longevity, excellence, and impact in the academic market 

San Diego, CA – April 23, 2025 – Three Cognella titles have been honored with 2025 Textbook and Academic Authors Association (TAA) Awards. For more than 20 years, the TAA has supported emerging and veteran textbook and academic authors through its annual award program.

Fifty-four textbooks have been awarded 2025 Textbook Awards by the TAA, with nineteen earning William Holmes McGuffey Longevity Awards, nineteen earning Textbook Excellence Awards, and sixteen earning Most Promising New Textbook Awards.

The William Holmes McGuffey Longevity Award

Two Cognella titles received McGuffey Longevity Awards, which recognize works that have been in print for at least 15 years and continue to see significant sales. The award bears the name of William Holmes McGuffey, whose influential primers, which first appeared in 1836, helped bring the United States out of frontier literacy.

The award-winning Cognella titles are: 

Family Interaction: Multigenerational and Developmental Perspectives on Diversity Within and Between Families (Sixth Edition)

By Kari Adamsons, Ph.D. and Ronald M. Sabatelli, Ph.D.

https://titles.cognella.com/family-interaction-9798823337717

“When the book was first published, we wanted to focus on helping readers understand how the form and composition of the family, which was and still is the focus of most books about families, did not provide insights into the complex patterns and dynamics found within and between families,” said Dr. Sabatelli. “It has always been our contention that these patterns and processes inside the family are what makes each family unique and what influences the trajectories of individual family members and family systems development over time. Of course, the text has changed considerably over the past 30 years. While the conceptual framework for understanding family dynamics and functioning has remained fundamentally unchanged over time, the text has become significantly more invested in helping readers understand how contextual factors, like cultural diversity and social policies and practices, influence how families manage their critical family tasks.

I am extremely grateful to Steve Anderson, my original coauthor of the book, for his scholarly collegiality and investment in the development and publication of the first five editions of the book. I am, in addition, extremely grateful and honored to have had the opportunity to work with Professor Kari Adamsons on this latest edition of the book. Without her commitment and investment in the book, this latest edition would not have been possible.”

“It was truly an honor and a privilege to be able to collaborate with Ron on this most recent edition of the long-standing Family Interaction textbook,” said Dr. Adamsons. “Having utilized previous editions of this book for years in my own teaching, my initial motives for reaching out to Ron about creating a new edition were mostly selfish—I needed an updated version for my own classes! The task was a bit daunting at first, as I felt like an outsider who was going in and renovating a cherished family home that had been well lived-in and well-loved for decades. I worried about whether we could make needed changes and additions without taking away from the important original messages in the book, and about how the changes would be received by others, especially Ron. I needn’t worry. Ron was both consummately supportive of the efforts and excited to add his own new ideas that had been percolating since the last edition was published almost 15 years earlier.

I am deeply indebted to both Steve Anderson and Ron Sabatelli for all the knowledge, time, and love they poured into the first five editions of the book, without which this newest edition would never exist. I am especially indebted and grateful to Ron for his willingness to undertake this revision, engage in far-ranging philosophical conversations, and share insights and ideas that shaped this newest edition in crucial ways. Families are at the core of every society; to help families is to help society and, ultimately, ourselves. We hope that, in some small way, this book continues to contribute to our understanding in ways that both honor and benefit the well-being of allfamilies, in all their magnificent complexity and diversity.” 

Interpersonal Communication (Eighth Edition)

By Arthur Jensen and Sarah Trenholm

https://titles.cognella.com/interpersonal-communication-9781793542083

“We are deeply honored to be recipients of this year’s McGuffey Longevity Award recognizing our eight editions of Interpersonal Communication,” said Dr. Jensen. “We are grateful to the Textbook and Academic Authors Association for acknowledging our work and to Cognella for nominating our book.”

Textbook Excellence Award 

Human Trafficking: Applying Research, Theory, and Case Studies for Social Workers and the Helping Professions (Second Edition) by Noёl Busch-Armendariz, Maura Nsonwu, and Laurie Cook Heffron received the Textbook Excellence Award, which recognizes excellence in current textbooks and learning materials.

https://titles.cognella.com/human-trafficking-9781793587923

“Receiving the Textbook Excellence Award affirms our commitment to equipping social workers with the most current knowledge on human trafficking,” said Noёl Busch-Armendariz, Ph.D., LMSW, MPA, professor and associate dean for global engagement, The University of Texas Steve Hicks School of Social Work. “The second edition advances our foundation with real-world case studies that thoughtfully bridge research, theory and practice. Thank you, Cognella, for supporting us and TAA for honoring our work with this award.”

“This book is a culmination of the best scholarship, research, and theory that can be applied to understanding the complex issues and implications of human trafficking,” said Maura Nsonwu, Ph.D., MSW, LCSW, professor, North Carolina State University School of Social Work. “We are honored by this recognition of our work preparing future social workers to confront human trafficking with both compassion and evidence-based interventions across micro, mezzo, and macro practice.”

“The Textbook Excellence Award acknowledges the importance of preparing practitioners to address exploitation of diverse types and at all levels,” said Laurie Cook Heffron, Ph.D., LMSW, associate professor and social work program director at St. Edward’s University School of Behavioral and Social Sciences. “While this is a tough and complex subject, this award honors the scholarship that goes into translating this topic across all levels of practice and all contexts.”

Recipients of the 2025 Textbook Awards will be recognized and celebrated during a livestream award ceremony Friday, April 25, 4 – 5:30pm PT. Register to attend and celebrate this year’s award winners: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/g5iKFhAcQJ2jfzMWS3SYAg#/registration.

Read the TAA blog post to view the full list of 2025 TAA Textbook Awards recipients: https://blog.taaonline.net/2025/04/congratulations-to-the-2025-textbook-award-winners/

For a full list of award-winning textbooks published by Cognella, visit: https://cognella.com/award-winning-titles/

About Cognella®

Cognella® is redefining academic publishing by creating teacher-driven, student-centric higher education course materials in print and digital formats under three imprints: Cognella® Academic Publishing, Cognella® Custom, and Cognella® Active Learning. Cognella also publishes engaging nonfiction titles featuring modern perspectives as Cognella® Press. Learn more at www.cognella.com.  

About the Textbook & Academic Authors Association

The Textbook & Authors Association (TAA) provides a wide range of professional development resources, events, and networking opportunities for textbook authors and authors of scholarly journal articles and books. www.TAAonline.net  

For media inquiries please contact:
Natalie Piccotti
Director of Marketing, Cognella, Inc.
858-552-1120 x532

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