“Bee Club,” a novel by bee journalist Mea McNeil, has been awarded a gold medal at the 2025 Apimondia World Beekeeping Awards. The presentation ceremony was a highlight of the Apimondia International Apicultural Congress in Copenhagen. Entries came from countries around the globe, celebrating “innovators, artisans, and visionaries shaping the world of beekeeping.” Among 20 categories were meads, wax artistry, beekeeping inventions, books for science, children, and, for “Bee Club,” of interest to the general public.

The novel is about a club that is a microcosm of the joys and anguish of the wider beekeeping world. The beekeepers experience fascination and the challenges of keeping their bees. They face pests, pathogens and poor forage — and some irreconcilable convictions. Whatever the opinions of those who tend their boxes, the bees are independent; they mingle their genes — their strengths and their problems. The narrative follows, at bee’s-eye level, the lineage of one queen bee with a genetic advantage.

The Apimondia judges’ comments: “An entertaining story with an excellent plot that keeps the reader engrossed. It is unusual in that it is written by a beekeeper, and all the related facts are accurate. The plot flows, the characterization is good, and the story draws you in.”