The Whitneys

I don't remember if I've blogged about the Whitney Awards yet. If you haven't heard about them, you can go to their site at http://www.whitneyawards.com. You can read the rules, but the Whitney awards are basically trying to become THE award to get in the LDS publishing world. I think they've got a good shot, since Robison Wells is at the helm. Oh, and because they just announced a cash award for the winers. From their press release:

"WHITNEY AWARDS COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES LARGE CASH AWARDS

"The Whitney Awards Committee announced today that they will be
offering seven large cash awards to be presented at the upcoming
Whitney Awards banquet in March 2008. These cash prizes are due to
the generosity of the Whitney Awards' marquis sponsor,
ExclusivelyLDS.com.

"Founded earlier this year, the Whitney Awards program is a non-profit
organization dedicated to rewarding excellence among LDS authors.
With the new sponsorship of ExclusivelyLDS.com, winning authors will
receive up to $1000 along with their trophy.

"The Whitneys offer a total of seven awards. The five genre awards
(Best Romance/Women's Fiction, Best Mystery/Suspense, Best
YA/Children's, Best Speculative Fiction, Best Historical) will each
be accompanied by a $500 cash prize. The two overall winners, Best
Novel by a New Author and Best Novel of the Year, will each receive
$1000.

""We're very excited about the sponsorship with ExclusivelyLDS.com,"
Robison Wells, president of the Whitney Awards Committee,
explains. "There is enormous talent among LDS authors, and every
year seems to produce better and better novels. This is an exciting
time to be part of the LDS fiction industry. Our hope is that these
awards will raise awareness about the high quality fiction available
from LDS authors, and to draw in new readers.""

Now, you may think that I'm posting this in hopes that you might go over and nominate my book. That's not the case at all, although I do have an ulterior motive. I happen to know quite a few of the authors that have a good shot at winning this thing, and if they do, I'm planning to hit them up for some cash.