Changes to the 2008 Whitney Awards
The first year of the Whitney Awards was a great success, but we also learned a lot along the way, and now we're making a few improvements. A lot of the changes are minor, such as wording fixes in the rules, but some of the changes are major, such as the implementation of a new judging system.
The changes to the 2008 Whitney Awards are outlined below.
New Rules
Judging System
Organizational Changes
Voting Academy Improvements
New Rules
We've made some substantial tweaks to the rules. You can view the entire document here, but below are the major changes:
- A sixth category has been added: General Fiction
- The category "Romance/Women's Fiction" has been changed to "Romance". Women's Fiction titles (which do not fit into the Romance genre) will be placed in the General Fiction category.
- The category "Young Adult/Children's Lit" will be changed to "Youth Fiction". This category will focus on YA and middle-grade, rather than children's books. (We are consolidating our efforts to focus only on novels, rather than other forms of fiction or non-fiction.)
- A new judging system has been implemented. (See below.)
- Slight changes have been made to the nomination process. (Nominators no longer need to specify genre or that the novel should win an overall award.)
- A voting position on the Whitney Academy has been opened to almost all LDS authors, not just LDStorymakers.
- Additional time has been given to the Academy to read and vote.
- While a book may be a finalist in several categories, it can only win in one.
- The structure of the Whitney Committee has changed.
Judging System
Previously, the seven-person Whitney Committee had to read and judge all the nominees to select the five finalists. This year, we've organized smaller panels of judges for each category. The purpose of this is twofold. First, we can pick judges who have more expertise in a certain area, and, second, judges are still eligible to win in the categories they are not judging. The Whitney Committee will continue to determine the overall finalists (Best Novel by a New Author and Best Novel of the Year), and are ineligible to win any awards.
The judging committees are listed below.
Best Romance
Shanda Cottam (Critic and founding member of the LDS Women's Book Review)
Michele Holmes (Winner of the 2007 Whitney Award, Best Romance/Women's Fiction for Counting Stars)
Tamra Norton (Author of the Molly Mormon? series)
Katie Parker (Author of Just the Way You Are)
Janette Rallison (Finalist for the 2007 Whitney Award, Best YA/Children's for How to Take the Ex Out of Ex-Boyfriend)
Best Mystery/Suspense
Kerry Blair (Author of Nightshade mystery series)
Jennie Hansen (Critic for Meridian Magazine and author of eighteen novels)
Josi Kilpack (Winner of the 2007 Whitney Award, Best Mystery/Romance for Sheep's Clothing)
Crystal Liechty (Author of The First Year)
Marsha Ward (Author of The Man from Shenandoah and Ride to Raton)
Best Youth Fiction
Matthew Buckley (Finalist for the 2007 Whitney Award, Best YA/Children's Lit for Bullies in the Headlights)
Crystal Liechty (Author of The First Year)
LuAnn Staheli (Winner of the Utah 2008 Best of State award as Educator of the Year)
Robison Wells (President of the Whitney Awards Committee and author of The Counterfeit)
Sheila Staley (Critic and founding member of the LDS Women's Book Review)
Best Speculative
Jessica Day George (Winner of the 2007 Whitney Award, Best Novel by a New Author for Dragon Slippers)
J. Scott Savage (Author of the Farworld series)
Dan Wells (Author of the upcoming horror novel, I Am Not a Serial Killer)
Robison Wells (President of the Whitney Awards Committee and author of The Counterfeit)
Julie Wright (Author of My Not-So Fairy-Tale Life)
Best Historical
Angela Eschler (Editor and Freelance Writer)
Michele Holmes (Winner of the 2007 Whitney Award, Best Romance/Women's Fiction for Counting Stars)
Annette Lyon (Finalist for the 2007 Whitney Award, Best Historical for Spires of Stone)
LuAnn Staheli (Winner of the Utah 2008 Best of State award as Educator of the Year)
To Be Announced
Best General Fiction
Kerry Blair (Author of Nightshade mystery series)
Angela Eschler (Editor and Freelance Writer)
Jennie Hansen (Critic for Meridian Magazine and author of eighteen novels)
Josi Kilpack (Winner of the 2007 Whitney Award, Best Mystery/Romance for Sheep's Clothing)
Annette Lyon (Finalist for the 2007 Whitney Award, Best Historical for Spires of Stone)
Organizational Changes
The new Whitney Committee is:
Robison Wells, President
Kerry Blair
Angela Eschler
Michele Paige Holmes
Josi Kilpack
Crystal Liechty
Annette Lyon
Also, the Whitney Awards are now a more autonomous organization. While the President is still appointed by the LDStorymakers Executive Committee, the Whitney Committee now oversees all administration of the awards, including finances, rules, and operations.
Voting Academy Improvements
Previously, the only LDS authors who were voting members of the Whitney Academy were LDStorymakers. Starting this year, however, almost all LDS authors are invited to join the academy. To be eligible, an author must be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and also meet at least one of the following requirements:
- Be a current member of the LDStorymakers
- Be published with a traditional publisher (not self-published or vanity press) within the last five years
- Be a previous or current Whitney Award Finalist
If you meet any of these requirements, email the Whitney Awards Committee at admin@whitneyawards.com, and you will be added to the Academy.
