Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Retailers Choice Award Nominations Open


Two points of industry news today:

1. A press release from Christian Retailing:

Several new categories have been announced for the ninth annual Retailers Choice Awards, which lets Christian retailers give their seal of approval to the best new Christian products of the year. Product nominations are being accepted from suppliers around the country. The deadline for nominations is Friday, March 6.

Products can be entered in 35 categories this year with new prizes to be awarded for the Best Church Supply and Christian Education products. In addition, there will be new awards for the Best Backlist Product, the Best Marketing/Promotion Campaign and the Top New Supplier.

The 2009 entry fee for publishers, music labels, gift companies and other suppliers remains just $50 per item plus a sample of the nominated product.

Since it was introduced in 2001, the Retailers Choice Awards program has been increasingly acknowledged in the industry as an important way of recognizing some of the most significant new life-changing materials. Last year, suppliers submitted 245 entries in 31 categories.

The winners of the 2009 Retailers Choice Awards will be announced at the International Christian Retail Show in Denver in July.

For full details, including a downloadable nomination form and a complete list of last year’s winners, visit
www.RetailersChoiceAwards.com.

Founded in 1955 as Christian Bookseller by the now late Robert Walker, Christian Retailing gained its new name in 1986 when Strang Communications took over publication. Christian Retailing also produces The Church Bookstore and Inspirational Gift Trends magazines as well as the twice-weekly newsletter Christian Etailing. For more information, visit
www.christianretailing.com.
------------------------

Brandilyn here: Last year's Retailers Choice winners are on this page. Rules are here. Nomination categories for fiction are: children's fiction, general, mystery/suspense and women's fiction.

2. The new issue of Publisher's Weekly includes an article about the state of Christian fiction. It contains some good news amidst all the current economic negativity. Abingdon Press is particularly featured because of the new fiction line it's opening. (But of course, if you've been a reader of F&F for some time, you've been reading about that for months now.) I saw Abingdon fiction editor and pal Barbara Scott at the CWG conference. She says the acquisitions are going great, and she's excited about the first releases this year. I'm sure we'll have some of the first looks at those novels here. At any rate, the PW article includes news from most of the CBA houses regarding their fiction, so do give it a read.

2 comments:

Rita Gerlach said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rita Gerlach said...

I am so excited about Abingdon's new fiction line and feel so blessed to be a part of it. It's been a fantastic experience working with Barbara and the other staff at Abingdon in the production of my historical novel 'Surrender the Wind'. I cannot say it enough...thank you, Brandilyn, for posting about the new line back in July.

Rita Gerlach

http://ritagerlach.com/