2011 WHITNEY AWARDS FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

What are the Whitney Awards? That's a good question. From the official WEBSITE:

"The Whitneys are an awards program for novels by LDS authors. Elder Orson F. Whitney, an early apostle in the LDS church, prophesied “We will yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own.” Since we have that as our goal, we feel that we should also honor those authors who excel and continually raise the bar.

The Whitney Awards honor novels in the following categories: General Fiction, Romance, Suspense/Mystery, Speculative Fiction, Youth Fiction, Historical, Best Novel of the Year, and Best Novel by a New Author. Novels can be nominated by any reader (via this website or by mail), and nominees are voted on by an academy of industry professionals, including authors, publishers, bookstore owners, distributors, critics, and others.

The awards were founded in 2007 and operate as an semi-autonomous subsidiary of LDStorymakers."

For a novel to be eligble, it must meet the following criteria:

a. Must be a work of fiction that is at least 50,000 words in length. (Exception for Best Youth Fiction, 20,000 words)
b. Publication date must be between January 1st and December 31st of the award year.
c. Novels must be written by a member or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
d. Novels are eligible whether or not the author is a member of LDStorymakers, Inc.
e. Novels are eligible whether or not they have been published by traditional LDS publishers.

Also...

Anyone can nominate a book, as long as:

• The nominator is at least twelve years old.
• The nominator of a book is not the author of the book, the publisher of the book, a publisher’s employee, or anyone else with a monetary interest in the book.

Why is this so exciting?

Because #1)  I AM LDS!!!  and #2) My first book comes out this year!!!  Whoo hoo! In other words, if you like The Rock of Ivanore, you may (if you wish) nominate it for the 2012 Whitney Awards.  To nominate my book, or any other eligible title, please click HERE.

Here are the Youth Category finalists for 2011 (For a list of all 2011 Finalists, click HERE.) The winners will be announced in May:

YOUTH-SPECULATIVE CATEGORY:

My Unfair Godmother by Janette Rallison

Shifting by Bethany Wiggins

Slayers by C.J. Hill

Tuesdays At The Castle by Jessica Day George

Variant by Robison Wells

Also, YOUTH - GENERAL CATEGORY:

Girls Don't Fly by Kristen Chandler

Miles From Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams

Pride & Popularity by Jenny James

Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsay Leavitt

With A Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo

Here are some past winners and finalists:

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White (2010 Winner)
Matched by Ally Condie (2010 Winner)
The Maze Runner by James Dashner (2009 Finalist)
The Host by Stephanie Meyer (2008 Finalist)
Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card (2008 Finalist)
Fablehaven Books by Brandon Mull (2007, 2008,2009, 2010 Finalist)