The Next Round was announced as the winner of the 2025 HOLT Medallion for the Best First Book category.

This second-chance, friends-to-lovers tale was named a finalist in two categories of the 2025 HOLT Medallion Award: Best First Book & Long Contemporary Romance.

Winners for all categories were announced on 7 June, with The Next Round (Winner: Best First Book) and Ana Huang's King of Sloth (Winner: Extra Spicy/Erotic category) among the winners.

The HOLT Medallion is hosted by the Virginia Romance Writers (USA). It was named for VRW’s first elected president, Cynthia Holt, and serves as the acronym for Honoring Outstanding Literary Talent. In the early 1990s, there were several contests available to unpublished romance writers, but only a few recognizing the achievements of published writers in romantic fiction. The HOLT has been awarded annually since 1995. Medallions are awarded to the authors whose books are selected by a panel of romance readers as the best in each of twelve categories.