Christy Award Nominees for Best in Christian Fiction Announced

The nominees for the 12th Annual Christy Awards for excellence in Christian Fiction were recently announced.Up for this year’s coveted First Novel award are Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes, who was named a finalist in ECPA’s Christian Book Award in the Fiction category; the fantasy novel Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl; and A Season of Miracles by Rusty Whitener, currently on a movie pre-production with Elevating Entertainment.

The awards for excellence in Christian fiction will go to winners in nine categories: Contemporary Romance, Contemporary Series, Sequels and Novellas, Contemporary Stand-alone, First Novel, Historical, Historical Romance, Suspense, Visionary, and Young Adult.

Before the nominees are announced, novels are read and evaluated against a 10-point criteria by a panel of seven judges composed of librarians, reviewers, academicians, literary critics, and other qualified readers, none of whom have a direct affiliation with a publishing company.

Some of the nominees in the Contemporary Romance category include Blood Ransom by Lisa Harris, Invisible by Kristin Heitzmann and Sworn to Protect by DiAnn Mills.

The Lost Diaries of Queen Esther by Ginger Garrett, For Time & Eternity by Allison Pittman and While We're Far Apart by Lynn Austin are the contenders in the popular category for Historical novels and The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen, She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell and Within My Heart by Tamera Alexander are nominated for the Historical Romance category.This year’s keynoter for the upcoming awards dinner will be “Braveheart” screenwriter, director, and New York Times best-selling author Randall Wallace, and New York Times best-selling author Liz Curtis Higgs will emcee.

Wallace reached popularity for penning the screenplay for the 1995 film “Braveheart.” His work on the film earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a Writers Guild of America award for Best Screenplay Adapted Directly for the Screen. His other films include “The Man in the Iron Mask,” “Pearl Harbor,” “We Were Soldiers,” and “Secretariat.”

A veteran speaker, Higgs has presented more than 1,600 encouraging programs for audiences in all 50 states and 11 foreign countries. Higgs is the author of 28 books, with 3 million copies in print, including the 2006 Christy Award winner, Whence Came a Prince. Her latest Scottish historical novel, based on the biblical story of Boaz and Ruth, Mine Is the Night, is a New York Times bestseller.

The awards will be given on July 11 in Atlanta, Ga.

The complete list of 2011 Christy Award nominees:

Contemporary Romance Blood Ransom by Lisa Harris (Zondervan)

Indivisible by Kristin Heitzmann (WaterBrook Press)

Sworn to Protect by DiAnn Mills (Tyndale House Publishers)

Contemporary Series, Sequels, and Novellas The Reluctant Prophet by Nancy Rue (David C. Cook)

The Thorn by Beverly Lewis (Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

The Waiting by Suzanne Woods Fisher (Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Contemporary Standalone Almost Heaven by Chris Fabry (Tyndale House Publishers)

Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner (WaterBrook Press)

A Season of Miracles by Rusty Whitener (Kregel Publications)

First Novel Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes (Tyndale House Publishers)

Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl (Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

A Season of Miracles by Rusty Whitener (Kregel Publications)

Historical Chosen: The Lost Diaries of Queen Esther by Ginger Garrett (David C. Cook)

For Time & Eternity by Allison Pitman (Tyndale House Publishers)

While We’re Far Apart by Lynn Austin (Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Historical Romance The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell (Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Within My Heart by Tamera Alexander (Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Suspense The Bishop by Steven James (Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker (Center Street)

Predator by Terri Blackstock (Zondervan)

Visionary To Darkness Fled by Jill Williamson (Marcher Lord Press)

Konig's Fire by Marc Schooley (Marcher Lord Press)

The Last Christian by David Gregory (WaterBrook Press)

Young Adult The Charlatan's Boy by Jonathan Rogers (WaterBrook Press)

The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson (Zondervan)

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