This past Thursday we had the privilege of announcing LIVE our Serious Writer Award winners. We had literally hundreds of entries for these contests, and all the entrants made the decisions very difficult for our judges this year. Some entries differed in scores between fractions of points.

At our awards ceremony, we announced top finalists (who will receive a certificate in the mail) and the award winners. We called out five names per contest, including the winners. In the case of one contest, this meant two winners and three top finalists.

In this blog post, in alphabetical order by author last name, we will announce the top finalists and then the winners of each contest.

Stay tuned for announcements soon about next year’s contests.

Writer of the Year Award Winners

Our only contest for unpublished writers, the Writer of the Year, by far had the most entries. Judges had to nitpick even minor details to differentiate the finalists, top finalists, and the award winners.

Below are the Top Finalists for this Category:

Tammy Kennington for Conquering the Giants: Overcoming PTSD and Child Abuse

Michele McCarthy for A Funny Thing Happened on My Way from Here to There

Kenzi Nevins for Rosewilde

Patsy Reiter for Story of the Year

Other Finalists for this Category:

Pamela Glover for Tightly Strung

Annette Griffin for Mama Mantra

Kaci Hindman for Honorable Mention Trophy Wife

Renee Hodges for Saving Dusty

Nancy Hull for A Puppet for PFC Eldon

Julie Lavender for A Gingerbread House

Seralynn Lewis for Forgiving Shannon

Patsy Reiter for An Open River

Sarah Rexford for The Convergence

Ryan Wetter for A Shopping Mall Santa and the Curious Kid

Below is Our Winner of the Writer of the Year Award:

Jennifer Daniels Neal for Elixir

Book of the Year Award Winners

This contest was for books published in 2019. We had a lot of entries for this one, including several contributed by traditional publishers. We had more publishers submit this year than in year’s past.

Below are the Top Finalists for this Category:

Tama Fortner for Easter is Coming!

Linda Evans Shepherd for When You Need to Move a Mountain: Keys to Praying with Power

Rachel C. Swanson for Refine & Restore: Revive Your Heart, Release Your Purpose

Laura Zimmerman for Keen

Other Finalists for this Category:

Karin Beery for Practically Married

Hallee Bridgeman for Valerie’s Verdict

Penny Cooke for Pursuing Prayer

Pat Jeanne Davis for When Valleys Bloom Again

Elaine McCallister for Celebrate Grandparenting: 101 Ideas to Intentionally Connect with Your Grands

W. D. McComb for The Truth that Lies Between

Caris Snider for Anxiety Elephants

Deborah Sprinkle for Deadly Guardian

Below is Our Winner of the Book of the Year Award:

Jean Petersen for Kind Soup

Book of the Decade Award Winners

Bethany and Cyle noticed a lack of contests for books published more than a year ago. Because writers need to keep promoting their books years after they get published, our co-founders wanted to create a contest where authors who have published up to ten years ago can have a chance to get another award for their book.

This year’s inaugural contest hosted entries from books published between 2008-2018. Judges had such a hard time picking that two entries tied for the winning spot.

Below are the Top Finalists for this Category:

Lee Wolfe Blum for Brave is the New Beautiful: Finding the Courage to be the Real You

Linda Evans Shepherd for When You Don’t Know What to Pray

Doug Smith for [Un]Intentional: How Screens Secretly Shape Your Desires and How You can Break Free

Other Finalists for this Category:

Dr. Michelle Bengston for Hope Prevails: Insights From a Doctor’s Personal Journey through Depression

Lee Wolfe Blum for Table in the Darkness – A Healing Journey Through an Eating Disorder 

Sharron K. Cosby for Praying for Your Addicted Loved One: 90 in 90 

Dena Dyer and Tina Samples for Wounded Women of the Bible: Finding Hope When Life Hurts

Jill Roman Lord for If Jesus Lived Inside My Heart

Joshua J. Masters for American Psalms: Prayers for the Christian Patriot

Deborah Raney for A Nest of Sparrows

Deborah Raney for Beneath a Southern Sky

Lori Stanley Roeleveld for Running from a Crazy Man (and other adventures traveling with Jesus)

Linda Evans Shepherd for The Stress Cure

Below are the Winners of the Book of the Decade Award:

Tez Brooks for The Single Dad Detour

Robin Currie for The Very Best Story Ever Told: The Gospel with American Sign Language by Robin Currie

Once again, we want to thank everyone who entered. You gave judges a tough time, and we cannot wait to see the entries for the awards for next year!

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Written by Hope Bolinger

August 23, 2020

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