Whitney Awards

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The Whitney Award is an award given annually for novels by LDS authors. The Whitney Awards are a semi-independent non-profit organization affiliated with the LDStorymakers, a guild for LDS authors.[1]

Cash prizes are given with the awards, varying between $500 and $1,000. [2]

Contents

[edit] Award Categories

There are five genre categories:

There are also two overall awards:

  • Best Novel by a New Author
  • Novel of the Year

Due to the limited number of titles released by LDS authors, several of the genre awards are combined (such as romance and women's fiction). [3]

While the Whitney Committee has said that they hope to expand the number of genres in the future, they likely won't venture into other areas of LDS art, such as music, poetry, or non-fiction books.

To be eligible, a novel must be written by an LDS author during the award year, and be at least 50,000 words long.

[edit] Whitney Award Process

Any reader can nominate a book. Once a book has received five or more nominations, it becomes an official nominee.

The official nominees are presented to the Whitney Awards Committee. The Committee checks for eligibility, and acts as a preliminary judging panel; reducing the number of nominees to no more than five per category.

Finally, ballots are sent to the Whitney Awards Academy, an invitation-only group consisting of authors, bookstore owners/managers, distributors, critics, and other industry professionals. Through popular vote, they decide on final winners.[4]

[edit] Origin of the Name

The awards are named after Orson F. Whitney, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as a poet and writer. In 1888, Elder Whitney delivered a speech entitled "Home Literature" in which he stated:

We will yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own. God's ammunition is not exhausted. His brightest spirits are held in reserve for the latter times. In God's name and by his help we will build up a literature whose top shall touch heaven, though its foundations may now be low in earth.[5]

The phrase "We will yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own" has been adopted as the slogan of the Whitney Awards, and is printed on the trophy.

[edit] Winners and Finalists

2007 (Presented March 22, 2008)

Best Novel of the Year

  • On the Road to Heaven, by Coke Newell -- Zarahemla Books
    • Dragon Slippers, by Jessica Day George -- Bloomsbury
    • Out of Jerusalem: Land of Inheritance, by H.B. Moore -- Covenant Communications
    • The Operative, by Willard Boyd Gardner -- Covenant Communications
    • Upon the Mountains, by Gale Sears -- Covenant Communications

Best Novel by a New Author

  • Dragon Slippers, by Jessica Day George -- Bloomsbury
    • Wet Desert, by Gary Hansen -- Holeshot Press
    • Counting Stars, by Michele Paige Holmes -- Covenant Communications
    • Beyond the Horizon, by Judy C. Olsen -- Covenant Communications
    • On the Road to Heaven, by Coke Newell -- Zarahemla Books

Best Romance/Women's Fiction

Best Mystery/Suspense

  • Sheep's Clothing, by Josi Kilpack -- Deseret Book
    • The Deep End, by Traci Hunter Abramson -- Covenant Communications
    • Grave Secrets, by Marlene Austin -- Covenant Communications
    • The Operative, by Willard Boyd Gardner -- Covenant Communications
    • Hazardous Duty, by Betsy Brannon Green -- Covenant Communications

Best YA/Children's

Best Speculative

Best Historical

  • Out of Jerusalem: Land of Inheritance, by H.B. Moore -- Covenant Communications
    • Beyond the Horizon, by Judy C. Olsen -- Covenant Communications
    • On the Road to Heaven, by Coke Newell -- Zarahemla Books
    • Spires of Stone, by Annette Lyon -- Covenant Communications
    • Upon the Mountains, by Gale Sears -- Covenant Communications

Lifetime Achievement

[edit] Whitney Awards Committee

The Whitney Awards Committee acts as both the organizers and the preliminary judges of the Whitney Awards. Rules stipulate that the committee be made up of at least four members of LDStorymakers. Their positions are temporary, by invitation of the Whitney Awards Committee president (who is appointed by the LDStorymakers executive committee).

The current committee includes:

[edit] See also

[edit] References and footnotes

  1. ^ Whitney Awards website. [1]
  2. ^ Whitney Awards press release, 10-23-07, [2]
  3. ^ Whitney Awards Q&A, Six LDS Writers and a Frog, [3]
  4. ^ Whitney Awards official rules [4]
  5. ^ "Home Literature", Bishop Orson F. Whitney, The Contributor 1888, http://mldb.byu.edu/homelit.htm
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