Monday, June 18, 2007

Prestigious Award for LDS Authors


Today it was announced that the 2007 Whitney Awards are now open for nominations. In its first year, the Whitney Awards will recognize excellence in fiction by LDS authors. The 2007 winners will be announced in March 2008 at the annual LDStorymakers Writers Conference (http://www.ldstorymakers.com/).
The Whitney Awards honor novels in the following categories: Romance/Women’s Fiction, Suspense/Mystery, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Historical, Novel of the Year, and Best Novel by a New Author. Novels can be nominated by any reader (via http://www.whitneyawards.com/), and nominees are voted on by an academy of industry professionals, including authors, publishers, bookstore owners, distributors, critics, and others. Out of the nominations, five will be chosen as category finalists. The Whitney Award will be the first of its kind to honor excellence in literary achievement in fiction by LDS authors.
So far this year, I've read three excellent novels by LDS writers, and I'm looking forward to checking out the late summer and fall releases. Read what's new this year, then nominate your favorite!

7 comments:

Tristi Pinkston said...

How cool that readers can nominate their favorite books -- although sometimes it's hard to choose!

Heather Moore said...

Yeah, I need to write down my favorites so that I don't forget by the end of the year. You can nominate anytime, but I know there are some great ones still on their way.

Aneeka said...

What exactly is defined as LDS fiction? For instance, concerning the category of Science Fiction/Fantasy, to be called LDS fiction, does it need to have that faith in it (such as a character being LDS) or is it the author that needs to be LDS?

Anonymous said...

Hi Aneeka,

I'm Rob Wells, the president of the Whitney committee. To answer your question: The rules state that the book itself doesn't need to be LDS specific--the only requirement is that the author is LDS. So, for example, Brandon Mull is eligible for Fablehaven, even though there's nothing LDS about it. Even Brandon Sanderson or Stephanie Meyer, who are published nationally and are not affiliated with LDS publishers in any way, are eligible.

Thanks!

Aneeka said...

Thanks for taking the time to explain! That makes more sense now.

Thanks again!

Jennifer said...

Heather, I tried to reply to your e-mail and it keeps bouncing back to me. I would love to read you books.

Heather Moore said...

Thanks, Jennifer. I'll contact you.