Christy Awards
In the spring of 1999, nearly a dozen Christian publishers confirmed the need for establishing a Christian fiction award to recognize novelists and novels of excellence in half a dozen genres of Christian fiction. By late summer, ideas and planning had come together to launch The Christy Award, named in honor of Catherine Marshall's novel and of her contribution to growth of the fiction Christians love to read! For more information, please visit www.christyawards.com.
Here are the winners in the General Christian Fiction category:
2008 Chasing Fireflies by Charles Martin
Just before T-boning her Impala into a train, a woman on a suicide run kicks her horrifically abused little boy, known only as Snoot—or to the state, John Doe 117—out of the car. Chase Walker, a reporter for the Brunswick Daily in Glen County, Ga., is assigned to follow up on the boy, whose abandonment mirrors Chase's own haunted past. The little boy, apparently mute, is an artistic prodigy who excels at chess and quickly works his way into Chase's heart.
2007 Winter Birds by Jamie Langston Turner
Plain and dutiful, Sophia Hess has lived most of her life without ever knowing genuine love. Her professor husband had married her for the convenience of having a typist for his scholarly papers. The discovery of a dark secret opens her eyes to the truth about her marriage and her husband.
2006 Levi's Will by W. Dale Cramer
Will flees his Old Order community at the age of 19, leaving behind a pregnant girlfriend and all things Amish. He begins a new life, joining the army and later marrying and having two sons of his own. But his new life, and his new family, are tainted by the hidden sins of his past. Hoping to patch things up with his father, Will finally takes his new family to meet the old one.
2005 Bad Ground by W. Dale Cramer
Bad Ground sifts the tough, gritty realities of life and work to uncover a man's deep need for love, the bonds of family and brotherhood, the quest for meaning, and the longing for redemption.
2004 Songbird by Lisa Samson
Hiding her depression from her popular televangelist husband, gospel singer Charmaine Hopewell finds the mentally ill mother who abandoned her and challenges her husband to support her publicly or risk his ministry.
2003 All the Way Home by Ann Tatlock
Augie Schuler is desperate for love, the kind "normal" families provide. When she meets Sunny Yamagata and her family, Augie knows she's found what she's looking for in spite of cultural differences. When the dark days of World War II and the Japanese internment camps tear them apart, they vow never to forget each other. Reunited years later, the two find themselves offering healing and hope as they triumph over the pain of their years apart.
2002 A Garden to Keep by Jamie Langston Turner
Just hours after trusting her soul to God, Elizabeth Landis receives a phone call that threatens everything dear to her. Caught between a faith that has barely taken root and bitterness at a terrible betrayal, Elizabeth feels her world coming apart. Never does God allow her to give up, though, in this powerful exploration of a marriage in crisis.
2001 (TIE) Home to Harmony by Phillip Gulley
The new pastor in a small Indiana town experiences one humorous adventure after another as he acclimates to his new congregation and lifestyle.
2001 (TIE) The Trial by Robert Whitlow
Years after losing his wife and children in an awful accident, attorney Ken McClain sinks deeper and deeper into a suicidal depression, until taking the case of accused killer Peter Thomason, which gives the despondent lawyer a sense of purpose.
2000 A New Song by Jan Karon
In A New Song, Karon's fifth novel set in the high, green hills of Mitford, Timothy Kavanagh and his spirited wife, Cynthia, agree to pastor a small parish in Whitecap Island off the Atlantic coast. Whitecap has its own unforgettable characters, and Father Tim and Cynthia discover that Mitford is never far away.