A huge congratulations to all the winners and finalists of the Whitney Awards! I attended the awards dinner this year, and I loved it. I loved the food, I loved the lifetime achievement tributes to Gerald Lund and Dave Wolverton, and I loved finding out who won firsthand. The winners are:

Romance:
Counting the Cost, by Liz Adair. She dedicated her win to her uncle, who died a few days before being baptized, and helped influence her mother’s decision to join the Church.
Mystery/Suspense:
Methods of Madness, by Stephanie Black. She was so shocked when they called her name. It was cute. Methods of Madness was one of her hardest books to write, and she felt grateful that people enjoyed it and voted for it. Also, she has a really cool speaking voice.
Historical Fiction:
The Last Waltz, by G. G. Vandagriff.-She has been writing this book for decades! Wow. To see it published and honored this way, especially after her life-threatening illness, was wonderful.
Youth fiction:
The Chosen One, by Carol Lynch Williams. Because her book is about a girl escaping polygamy, people have asked her “What will the Mormons think of it?” And she herself wondered what they would think of it. She was humbled and grateful to receive the Whitney, evidence that the Mormons like her book.
Speculative Fiction:
Servant of a Dark God, by John Brown-He was not able to attend, due to a death in the family, but had Robison Wells read an email saying that if he actually won, the events in Revelation would be shortly upon us. I wished that he could have been there.
General Fiction:
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford–Ford was not able to attend the awards.
Best Novel by a New Author (tie):
I am Not a Serial Killer, by Dan Wells-Dan writes horror. Why did Mormons vote for him? He was very funny. He said that horror was the most moral genre, because of the way it addressed questions of good and evil.
Gravity vs. the Girl, by Riley Noehren-She was so surprised and happy to win. She didn’t know how the LDS writing community found out about her little book, but she was glad they did.
Best Novel of the Year:
In the Company of Angels, by David Farland-Farland had a dream about a handcart pioneer, who told him to write this book. He knew it would have to be self-published, and he might go bankrupt, but he did it anyway. This was my favorite book, and my favorite moment of the night.

I hope my summaries give a little taste of what the awards were like–I foolishly forgot to bring paper so I scribbled my notes on the back of an envelope my husband scrounged in his suitcoat. Again, it was great to be there and put authors’ faces to all the books I’ve read over the last few months. I was impressed by the spirit there, and by the desire to improve the quality of LDS literature by honoring the best books.
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One thing I hear a lot when I talk about reading Whitney finalists is “How can you read so many books in such a short time?” I do read pretty fast. But this year I had a head start, because last year I tried to notice which books I thought would be finalists and read accordingly. LDS Publisher has a list of all the Whitney-eligible fiction published in 2010, and she updates it continually. From that list, I read books by authors who have been finalists before. Those are pretty safe bets, and even if they aren’t finalists again this year, they are fun to read. I also follow blogs of LDS authors and notice when they have a book coming out. This year, for example, I’m planning to read Mr. Monster (Dan Wells; out in the UK), Band of Sisters (Annette Lyon), Courting Miss Lancaster (Sarah Eden), The Way of Kings (Brandon Sanderson; it’s not out yet, though), Paranormalcy (Kiersten White, not out yet), Devil’s Food Cake (Josi Kilpack) and Fablehaven 5 (Brandon Mull), among others. It’s a good way to get a head start on Whitney reading now. Let me know in the comments what other Whitney-eligible books you are looking forward to this year.
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This post is already too long, but I also attended the LDS Storymakers writing conference, and I need to mention what a wonderful event it was. LDS Storymakers provides classes for all writing levels, from beginner to almost-but-not-quite-published to published-locally-now-want-to-submit-nationally. There was a great atmosphere of collaboration and kindness. I attended sessions by Laura Rennert, an agent for Andrea Brown Literary, on effective query letters; Janette Rallison, on effective revising; Elana Johnson, on query writing; Jeff Savage, on character development; Aprillynne Pike, on writing for the market; and panel discussions with Krista Marino, an editor at Delacourt, and Nephele Tempest, another agent. I could have attended sessions by many other great writers as well, including our own Sharlee Glenn, but I ran out of time. I also went to boot camp, and got great feedback on my work in progress. And I met some fabulous people I have only met before online.

Two other writing conferences I’m planning on attending soon: the WIFYR conference, in June, (formerly BYUWIFYR, now at a new venue) if stars and planets align, and of course the Segullah writer’s retreat. Conferences always bring out all of my nerves and insecurities, about myself and my writing and even my hair, and what eases that is meeting new people and getting over myself. So if you see me there, come say hi!
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Finally, all you LDS writers of speculative fiction, go check out the submissions guidelines for the Monsters and Mormons anthology! This is one I’m really looking forward to reading. I loved the speculative elements in some of LDS Publisher’s Book of Mormon story contest entries, and I think Monsters and Mormons is a great concept. You have until October 1 to submit, so that’s plenty of time to come up with a great idea and revise, revise, revise.
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Congratulations again to all the Whitney winners and finalists! In the comments I’d love to hear which Whitney finalists you have enjoyed most, which books you think deserve a shout out although they did not win, and also which 2010 Whitney eligible books you’re planning to read.

Related posts:

  1. Mother in Me on Whitney Awards Auction
  2. Whitney 2010 Nominees and Almost-Nominees
  3. Whitney Award Predictions


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