Thursday Authorial: The Whitney Awards

The Whitney Awards is a program founded for the purpose of promoting stronger writing in the LDS literary community. Like other awards programs, titles are nominated (in this case fiction titles written by LDS authors and released that year), placed in genres, and are put through a voting process by readers and the numerous members of LDStorymakers. Hundreds of titles are submitted every year and though the program is only a few years old, writers are seeing the bar raised, and it is easier to see the quality that is now expected in LDS literature. Whether it is easier to obtain that quality in our own writing is up to us and our willingness to learn, try, write write write, and submit*.

Side note: *Submission is a great word for what you do when you present a ms to an agent or publisher. You not only hand in your attempt, but you have to be ready to submit to feedback, criticism, compromise, or rejection. And when I say submit to rejection, I only mean take another look at the ms and who you're submitting to, and try again.

The 2010 Whitney Award Finalists have been announced. It's an exciting list for me for several reasons. First, this is the first year I have authors I consider friends on the list! It changes the experience a bit to feel a thrill for people you care about. Second, I have actually read 7 of the finalist books! That may not sound like much when it is 7/35, but last year I had only read 2 (G.G. Vandagriff's THE LAST WALTZ and David J. West's HEROES OF THE FALLEN). I did, however, read more titles after the winners were announced, which is one of the great things to come out of the awards program. For more on the Whitney Awards and how they work, see here, and here.
This year's list has already inspired me to add to my to-read list. The competition is tight and varying, and not limited to LDS published titles. It blows me away how many nationally published best-sellers are written by LDS authors. A cousin asked me for a YA reading list for her daughter. It was packed with LDS authors. James Dashner (MAZE RUNNER), Shannon Hale (GOOSE GIRL), Kiersten White (PARANORMALCY), AprilynnePike (WINGS), Ally Condie (MATCHED), and more.

The bar is rising.

Here is a list of the nominees in their categories (the titles I've read are highlighted):

2010 Whitney Award Finalists

General

Band of Sisters	Blink of an Eye	The Cross Gardener	Finding Mercie	Lucky Change
Annette Lyon	Gregg Luke	Jason Wright	Blaine Yorgason	Susan Law Corpany

Historical

Alma The Younger	Oh Say Can You See?	The Sheen on the Silk	The Silence of God	Trespass
H.B. Moore	L.C. Lewis	Anne Perry	Gale Sears	Sandra Grey

Romance

Courting Miss Lancaster	Cross My Heart	The Legend of Shannonderry	Luck of the Draw	Meg’s Melody
Sarah Eden	Julie Wright	Carol Warburton	Rachael Renee Anderson	Kaylee Baldwin

Mystery

Cold as Ice	Crossfire	Murder by Design	A Time to Die	Wrong Number
Stephanie Black	Traci Hunter Abramson	Betsy Brannon Green	Jeffrey Savage	Rachelle J. Christensen

Speculative

Imprints	Mr. Monster	Pathfinder	The Scorch Trials	The Way of Kings
Rachel Ann Nunes	Dan Wells	Orson Scott Card	James Dashner	Brandon Sanderson

Youth Fiction—Speculative

Fablehaven 5	Matched	Paranormalcy	The Forbidden Sea	The Fourth Nephite
Brandon Mull	Ally Condie	Kiersten White	Sheila Nielson	Jeffrey Savage

Youth Fiction—General

Glimpse	Missing In Action	My Double Life	The Healing Spell	Wolves, Boys, and Other Things That Might Kill Me
Carol Lynch Williams	Dean Hughes	Janette Rallison	Kimberly Griffiths Little	Kristen Chandler

 Good luck to all the nominees, and thank you for setting a higher standard!

Oh, and LDStorymakers is having a contest.  
Win a ticket to the Whitney Awards Gala! It's the crowning event of the LDStorymakers Writers Conference!