(Nashville, TN) Two Thomas Nelson titles and their authors were named 2008 Christy Award winners at the ninth annual dinner and presentation held Saturday evening, July 12, 2008, at the Orlando Rosen Centre. The Christy Awards honor the best in Christian fiction in nine categories.

Stephen R. Lawhead was named winner of the Visionary category with Scarlet, Book 2 in The King Raven Trilogy. Lawhead lives in Oxford, England, and sent his gratitude through Jennifer Deshler, Director of Marketing, who was present to accept the award: “Thank you very much for this honour. I would like to express my appreciation to the fiction team at Thomas Nelson for their enthusiasm and support of my work. I think it is also customary at this point to thank ‘all the little people’ who made this possible, which in my case would include elves, dwarves, and assorted pixies and sprites. Thanks, guys: I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Charles Martin’s Chasing Fireflies was named the winning Contemporary Stand Alone title. “I was grateful just to be nominated,” commented Martin. “My wife’s mother read Catherine Marshall’s Christy in 1971. My wife was born a month later. Her mother named her ‘Christy.’ My story is not mine. It’s ours. She deserves it far more than I.”

Three other 2008 winning novelists have connections to Thomas Nelson Fiction:

Lisa Samson was named winner for Young Adult novel. Thomas Nelson is Samson’s long-term exclusive adult fiction publisher going forward. She is the author of Quaker Summer (one of Publishers Weekly’s Top Books of 2007, and winner of the 2008 Christianity Today Book Award for Fiction), Embrace Me (March 2008), Bella (the novelization of the film; May 2008), and the upcoming The Passion of Mary-Margaret (March 2009). Debut novelist Sibella Giorello won for First Novel. Sibella is now contracted exclusively with Thomas Nelson for fiction releases; her first, The Rivers Run Dry, is set for March 2009. The winner of the Romance category, Tamera Alexander, is contracted to write a Women of Faith novel with Thomas Nelson—The Inheritance—releasing March 2009.

Allen Arnold, Senior Vice President and Publisher for Fiction, expressed his delight for all of this year’s Thomas Nelson Christy winners. “Our mission has always been to publish the best stories for the broadest audience in the most entertaining, culturally relevant, and God-honoring way possible – always from a Christian worldview. When accolades like the Christy Awards—the top honor in Christian fiction—come for our outstanding authors, I know it’s mission accomplished. We’re proud to partner with the best of the best storytellers.”

Contact: Katie Schroder
tel: (615) 902.2704
fax: (615) 902.2111
web: www.gruponelson.com
e-mail: kschroder@thomasnelson.com

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