Have a favorite book published in 2011 that happens to be written by an LDS author? Have more than one? Awesome! Nominate them for a Whitney Award! The Whitney Awards are annual awards given to LDS authors for their fiction books published within that year. The awards were conceived by awesomesauce author Robison Wells (Variant, see post here) in 2007 and have now become a great celebration of LDS writers. There is even a special banquet/gala hosted each year in connection with the LDStory Makers conference to announce and honor the Whitney winners. *Here are the RULES for eligability(From the Whitney Awards website)What are the Whitneys?
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.
*And here's a FAQ
(You have until December 31, 2011. But don't wait!)
*For more information about the Whitney's please visit author Annette Lyon's post from earlier this year, and author Tristi Pinkston's more recent post.
WHAT ARE THE 2011 BOOKS BY LDS AUTHORS THAT YOU HAVE LOVED?
Here's a list of youth books eligible for a Whitney this year:
(sorry! They're not in any order and I didn't put links!)
(If you know of others, please list them in the comments section below! Thank you!)
Entwined by Heather Dixon
The Last Archangel by Michael Young
Wings of Light by Laura Bingham
My Unfair Godmother and Slayers by Janette Rallison
I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells
Variant by Robison Wells
Crossed by Ally Condie
The Death Cure by James Dashner
Beyonders: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull
Janitors by Tyler Whitesides
Miles From Ordinary by carol Lynch Williams
The Forgotten Locket by Lisa Mangum
The Fairy Godmother Dilemma, books 1-3 by Danyelle Leafty
Hazzardous Universe by Julie Wright
How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr (wait, is she LDS? Must verify)
No Angel by Theresa Sneed
Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans
The Key of Kilenya, books 1&2 by Andrea Pearson
Geek Girl by Cindy C. Bennett (not sure if this is eligible because it is revised and reprinted)
Pride & Popularity by Jenni James (also not sure if this is eligible, for the same reason as above)
Insight by Terron James
Infinity Blade: Awakening and Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson (can this be considered YA?)
The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
The Armor of Light and Two Souls are Better than One by Karen E. Hoover
Tiger's Voyage by Colleen Houck
Veiled by S. B. Niccum
Seers by Heather Frost
Cinder & Ella by Melissa Lemon
The Wild Queen by Cheri Chesley
Witch Song by Amber Argyle
Jabberwocky by Daniel Coleman
Muirwood, books 1&2 by Jeff Wheeler
Independance Rock by Debra Terry Hulet
Illusions by Aprilynne Pike
Supernaturally by Kiersten White
Circle of Secrets by Kimberly Griffiths Little
Drawing Out the Dragons by James A. Owen
The Horn of Moran by Mark L. Forman
The Golden Cup of Kardak by Annette Lyon (but I'm pretty sure Annette's not eligible because she's one of the judges)
Gifted by Karey White
Girls Don't Fly by Kristen Chandler
Possession by Elana Johnson
Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick
Geth and the Return of the Lithens and Wonkenstein: The Creature from My Closet by Obert Skye
Flames of Redemption by Michelle Thompson
Elliot and the Pixie Plot by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Daughter of Helaman by Misty Moncour
Black Dragon, Mist Warriors, I Took a Burp, and I Lost my Head by Rebecca Shelley (and maybe one other one)
Bitter Blessings by Christine Mehring
Behind the Mist by M. J. Evans
The Guardians of the Hidden Scepter by Frank L. Cole
Mark of Royalty by Jennifer K. Clark
Second Sight by Sherry D. Ficklin
A Demon's Kiss and When Kyle Came Back by Melanie Marks
The Hidden Sun by Jason Lloyd Morgan
Darkspell by Elizabeth Mueller
Bound by C. K. Bryant
Become by Ali Cross
Cutting Cords and The Black Bridge by Jo Ramsey
Picture books are NOT eligible at this point, but here are a few written by LDS authors that came out this year:
Jane & Mizmow by Matthew Armstrong
8 different Language Adventures books and Baby's First Year by Rick Walton
The Queen of France by Tim Wadham
A Pice of Silver: A Christmas Story by Clark Burbidge
What about The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale by Carmen Agra Deedy (not LDS) and Randall Wright (LDS). Is it eligible even though it was half-written by a non-lds person? Or is it only half eligible?
ReplyDeleteEr... It may not be 50,000 words long. Ah, well.
ReplyDeleteEr... again. Reading further in the rules, I see that for youth fiction the novel must be at least 20,000 words. So I repeat, "Is it eligible?"
ReplyDeleteThanks for your question, Randall. i sent a message to the Whitney committee and this is the response I received:
ReplyDelete"If a book is co-authored, both authors are required to be members of the LDS church. Thank you for asking,
Josi S. Kilpack
2011 Whitney Award President"
I hope you get this comment! And I'm sorry that The Cheshire Cheese Cat isn't eligible. But I'd like to feature it on this blog at some point! Are you the co-author Randall Wright by any chance?