The Whitney Awards Committee announced their 2014 Finalists, five books each in nine categories.
The AML Awards Committee will announce their finalists on February 15. There will be a lot of different categories and different works from the Whitney finalists, which should make for an exciting and diverse awards season.
The announcement reads:
FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 8TH ANNUAL WHITNEY AWARDS The Whitney Awards program honors the best novels published by Latter-day Saint writers each year. The finalists for books published in 2014 are as follows:
GENERAL FICTION A Plentiful Rain, by Elizabeth Petty Bentley My Name Is Bryan, by Stacy Lynn Carroll Still Time, by Maria Hoagland The Law of Moses, by Amy Harmon Walking on Water, by Richard Paul Evans
HISTORICAL An Ocean Between Us, by Angela Morrison Deadly Alliance, by A. L. Sowards Eve: In the Beginning, by H. B. Moore Gone for a Soldier, by Marsha Ward Softly Falling, by Carla Kelly
MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Blood on the Water, by Anne Perry Death on Black Heath, by Anne Perry Drop Zone, by Traci Hunter Abramson Tomorrow We Spy, by Jordan McCollum Wedding Cake, by Josi S. Kilpack
ROMANCE Becoming Lady Lockwood, by Jennifer Moore Lady Emma”s Campaign, by Jennifer Moore Longing for Home: Hope Springs, by Sarah M. Eden Painting Kisses, by Melanie Jacobson Spy by Night, by Jordan McCollum
SPECULATIVE FICTION Nameless: The Darkness Comes, by Mercedes M. Yardley Pretty Little Dead Girls, by Mercedes M. Yardley The Accidental Apprentice, by Anika Arrington This Darkness Light, by Michaelbrent Collings Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson
GENERAL YOUTH Death Coming up the Hill, by Chris Crowe Forbidden, by Kimberley Griffiths Little Kiss Kill Vanish, by Jessica Martinez Not in the Script, by Amy Finnegan On the Fence, by Kasie West
SPECULATIVE YOUTH Cured, by Bethany Wiggins Dangerous, by Shannon Hale Illusions of Fate, by Kiersten White Remake, by Ilima Todd The Glass Magician, by Charlie N. Holmberg
MIDDLE GRADE Almost Super, by Marion Jensen Forbidden Flats, by Peggy Eddleman The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place, by Julie Berry The Shadow Throne, by Jennifer A. Nielsen Time of the Fireflies, by Kimberley Griffiths Little
BEST NOVEL BY A NEW AUTHOR Nameless: The Darkness Comes, by Mercedes M. Yardley Not in the Script, by Amy Finnegan Remake, by Ilima Todd The Accidental Apprentice, by Anika Arrington Becoming Lady Lockwood, by Jennifer Moore
The Whitney Awards academy will read the finalists and cast their ballots. The winners will then be announced and the awards presented at the Whitney Awards gala held at the Provo Marriott Hotel on Saturday, May 16, 2015, at 7PM, following the annual LDS Storymakers Writers Conference. Outstanding Achievement and Lifetime Achievement Award winners will be announced soon and the recipients honored at the gala.
The Whitney Awards program was founded in 2007 by novelist Robison Wells and named after 19th century Mormon apostle Orson F. Whitney, a writer who preached of the importance of literature, including his famous prophecy that “We shall yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own.” Whitney Awards gala tickets are available to the public at http://whitneyawards.com “
One thing that jumps out is the number of self-published books. I count nine of them. That is up from around five in 2013, and fewer before.