2012 Christy Awards

The 2012 Christy Awards were given out last night at the 13th annual gala. It was fun to "listen in" via liveblog.

Here's a copy of the press release:

ORLANDO—The 2012 Christy Awards were presented at a banquet Monday evening, July 16, 2012, at Orlando’s Rosen Centre Hotel during the International Christian Retail Show. The event featured a keynote address entitled “Captured by Story: Unpublished Thoughts on Finding True North in a Changing Landscape” by publishing industry icon Allen Arnold, late of Thomas Nelson. New York Times best-selling and Christy Award-winning author, Liz Curtis Higgs, emceed. Christian fiction fans not able to attend the event in person were able to participate via a liveblog on the Christy Awards website. An archive of the event can be accessed online at www.ChristyAwards.com.

The Christy Awards are proud to honor both Catherine Marshall and her novel through the annual presentation of the Christy Awards, which recognize novels of excellence. The Christy Awards Advisory Board is pleased to announce the following winners of the 2012 Christy Awards in nine categories.

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Wolfsbane by Ronie Kendig • Barbour Publishing
Demolitions expert Danielle Roark has been left behind in hostile territory during a
mission with Nightshade. Former Green Beret and medic, Canyon Metcalfe, beset
with memories of another mission gone bad, vows to rescue her, sacrificing
everything. As secrets unravel, will Canyon and Dani find healing, closure, and
each other?

Ronie Kendig, www.roniekendig.com, grew up in an Army household and married
a veteran. They now have four children and a Golden Retriever. She has a B.S. in
psychology, speaks to various groups, volunteers with American Christian Fiction
Writers (ACFW), and mentors new writers.


CONTEMPORARY SERIES
The Amish Midwife by Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould • Harvest
House Publishers
Adopted as a child, nurse midwife Lexie Jaeger learns the true meaning of the
Pennsylvania Dutch word demut—“to let be”—as she reaches out to her birth
family and is transformed from a woman who wants to control everything to a
woman who depends on God.

Mindy Starns Clark, www.mindystarnsclark.com, is the author of many books
(more than 450,000 copies sold), which include A Pocket Guide to Amish Life,
Shadows of Lancaster County, and Whispers of the Bayou. In addition, Mindy is a
popular inspirational speaker and playwright.

Leslie Gould, www.lesliegould.com, a former magazine editor, is the author of
numerous novels, including Beyond the Blue and Garden of Dreams. She received her master of fine arts degree from Portland State University and lives in Oregon
with her husband, Peter, and their four children.


CONTEMPORARY STANDALONE
Promises to Keep by Ann Tatlock • Bethany House, a division of Baker
Publishing Group
Eleven-year-old Roz Anthony and her family have just moved to Mills River, Ill., to
escape an abusive situation. Only days after settling into their new home, they
discover that the elderly former resident, Tillie, is determined to keep living there.
Out of sympathy, they agree to let her stay. When danger stalks the Anthonys, it’s
Tillie who exhibits unimaginable courage and selfless love in her determination to
protect the family she has adopted as her own.

Ann Tatlock, www.anntatlock.com, is the author of the Christy Award-winning
novel All the Way Home. She has also won the Midwest Independent Publishers
Association "Book of the Year" in fiction for both All the Way Home and I'll Watch
the Moon. Ann lives with her husband and daughter in Asheville, N.C.


FIRST NOVEL
Words by Ginny Yttrup • B&H Publishing Group
Ten-year old Kaylee Wren hasn’t spoken since her drug-addled mother walked
away, leaving her in a remote cabin with a dangerous and evil man. With silence
her only refuge, Kaylee collects words she might never speak from the only
memento her mother left behind: a dictionary. Sierra Dawn is a thirty-four-year-old
artist allowing the shame of her past to silence her present hopes. Together,
Kaylee and Sierra will discover the healing mercy of the Word—Jesus Christ.

Ginny Yttrup, www.ginnyyttrup.com, dreamt of becoming a writer most of
her adult life and pursued her dream by learning the craft and honing her
skills. Her debut novel, Words, is the fulfillment of that dream. Ginny is a
mother, friend, writer, life and writing coach, and dog lover.


HISTORICAL
Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin • Bethany House, a division of Baker
Publishing Group
Alice Grace Ripley lives in a dream world, her nose stuck in a book. Amid the
Great Depression, the happily-ever-after life she's planned suddenly falls apart
when her boyfriend breaks up with her and she loses her beloved job as a
librarian. Longing to run from small-town gossip, Alice flees to the mountains of
eastern Kentucky to deliver five boxes of donated books to the tiny and backwards
coal-mining town of Acorn where she discovers that real-life adventure, mystery—
and especially romance—may be far better than her humble dreams could have
imagined.

Lynn Austin, www.lynnaustin.org, a former teacher who now writes and speaks full
time, has won eight Christy Awards for her historical fiction. One of those novels,
Hidden Places, has also been made into a Hallmark Channel movie. Lynn and her
husband have raised three children and make their home near Chicago, Ill.


HISTORICAL ROMANCE
The Maid of Fairbourne Hall by Julie Klassen • Bethany House, a division of
Baker Publishing Group
To avoid marriage to a dishonorable man, Margaret Macy flees London disguised
as a housemaid. If she can remain unwed until her next birthday, she will receive
an inheritance and, with it, sweet independence. But she never planned on
actually working as a servant. And certainly not at Fairbourne Hall—the home of
two former suitors. As she fumbles through the first real work of her life, Margaret
struggles to keep her identity secret. When a trap is set to force her from hiding,
will love or danger find her first?

Julie Klassen, www.julieklassen.com, loves all things Jane—Jane Eyre and Jane
Austen. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Julie worked in publishing for
sixteen years and now writes full time. She has won the Christy Award for The
Silent Governess (2010) and The Girl in the Gatehouse (2011), which also won
the 2010 Midwest Book Award for Genre Fiction. Julie and her husband have two
sons and live in a suburb of St. Paul, Minn.


SUSPENSE
The Queen by Steven James • Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing
Group
While investigating a mysterious double homicide in an isolated northern
Wisconsin town, FBI Special Agent Patrick Bowers uncovers a high-tech
conspiracy that ties together long-buried Cold War secrets with present-day
tensions in the Middle East.

Critically acclaimed author Steven James, www.stevenjames.net, has
written more than thirty books, including Story, A Heart Exposed, and the
bestselling Patrick Bowers thriller series. He is considered one of the
nation's most innovative storytellers and versatile authors and is a
contributing editor to Writer's Digest.


VISIONARY
Veiled Rose by Anne Elisabeth Stengl • Bethany House, a division of Baker
Publishing Group
Rose Red has a secret that keeps her lonely and hidden away in a forest, wearing
a veil of rags, until a privileged young man sent to spend his summer in the
mountains befriends her and together they begin searching for the monster
rumored to be stalking the land. But the hunt, which began as a game, holds
greater risk than either imagines. Soon both are forced to test their trust in each
other as a far more terrifying scourge puts their entire land at risk.

Anne Elisabeth Stengl, anneelisabethstengl.blogspot.com, makes her home in
Raleigh, N.C., where she enjoys her profession as an art teacher, giving private
lessons from her personal studio, and teaching group classes at the Apex Learning
Center. She studied illustration at Grace College and English literature at
Campbell University.


YOUNG ADULT
Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren • David C Cook
Many American teens would consider an Italian vacation a treat, but the Bentarrini
sisters have spent every summer of their lives there with their archeologist parents,
and the novelty is gone. Stuck on yet another hot, dusty dig, they are bored out of
their minds until they place their hands atop handprints in an ancient tomb and
find themselves in the fourteenth century—and in the middle of a fierce battle
between knights of two opposing forces.

Lisa T. Bergren, www.lisatawnbergren.com, is the award-winning author of more
than thirty-five books, with more than two million copies sold. A former publishing
executive, Lisa now divides her time between writing, editing, parenting three
children with her husband, Tim, and dreaming of her next trip to Italy. She lives in
Colorado Springs, Colo.


The Christy Awards are online at: www.ChristyAwards.com
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