By Darkness Hid Wins Christy Award!

The 2010 Christy Awards presentation was held Saturday evening, June 26, 2010, at the Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel. Sadly, I was not there. Physically, anyway.

But the Christy Awards put on a live blog feed of the event, so I was able to watch from home! You can still read the live blog feed here.

My husband was quite the sport. He hooked up my laptop to the TV in the living room, set up a table, and served dinner and desserts as if we were at the ceremony. (Everyone say “awwww.”) We watched as Tosca Lee and Tyson Wynn typed the need to know facts, like who was there (Jeff Gerke, Chip MacGregor sans kilt, Brandilyn Collins, Tracy Higley, Terri Blackstock, Randy Ingermanson, Barbara Scott, Steve Laube, and about 145 others), what people were wearing (anything from BCBG to Target according to Tosca), and what was on the coveted dessert table (tiramisu was mentioned). 

The dessert reception featured a keynote address from best-selling author Lisa Samson, who is always filled with amazing insight.

The Christy Awards honored the best in Christian fiction in nine categories this year. It was a long wait, and then, suddenly, they were announcing the winners! Jeff had planned to call me so I could hear the Visionary category announced, but his calls weren’t clear and we gave up on that plan. So, I watched in trepidation as this came across the screen:

9:37	Christy Awards:  The 2010 Christy Award winner in the Visionary category is: By Darkness Hid by Jill Williamson (Marcher Lord Press)

I know!!! Apparently, they didn’t announce the author and book title first, they simply read the opening sentence from the book. So Jeff was the only one who knew it was my book until they announced the author and title after. Though I suspect at least one other person in that 150 plus had read By Darkness Hid. I hope so, anyway.

And so, here are the winners in each category. I send my heartfelt congratulations to all the nominees and winners. I am honored to have been included in the Christy Awards. I will never forget it. 🙂

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CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Breach of Trust
by DiAnn Mills • Tyndale House Publishers

Paige Rogers survived every CIA operative’s worst nightmare—a covert mission gone terribly wrong…a betrayal by the one man she thought she could trust. Forced to disappear to protect the lives of her loved ones, Paige has spent years building a quiet life as a small-town librarian. But the day a stranger comes to town and starts asking questions, Paige knows her careful existence has been shattered. He is coming after her again, and this time, he intends to silence her for good. 

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CONTEMPORARY SERIES
Who Do I Talk To?
by Neta Jackson • Thomas Nelson

Gabrielle Fairbanks knew her husband was upset with her, but she never expected him to change the locks on their Chicago penthouse, cancel her credit cards, and disappear with their two boys. Now she’s literally on the streets with her elderly mother, her mom’s dog…and $220 to her name. As her fragile plans fall apart, Gabby hits on a possibility so wild and wonderful it has to be one of those “God things,” something she’s only seen happen to other Christians until now.

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CONTEMPORARY STANDALONE
The Passion of Mary-Margaret
by Lisa Samson • Thomas Nelson

When Mary-Margaret Fischer met Jude Keller, the lightkeeper’s son, she was studying at convent school on a small island off Chesapeake Bay. Destined for a life as a religious sister, she nevertheless felt a pull toward Jude—rough and tumble,  promiscuous Jude. As Mary-Margaret returns to the island to prepare for her final vows, Jude, too, returns to the island, dissolute and hardened. For Jesus’ sake, can she forsake the only life she ever wanted for a love that could literally cost her life? 

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FIRST NOVEL
Fireflies in December
by Jennifer Erin Valent • Tyndale House Publishers

Jessilyn Lassiter never knew hatred could lurk in the human heart until her best friend, Gemma, loses her parents in a tragic fire during the summer of 1932. Jessilyn’s father vows to care for Gemma as one of his own, despite the fact that she is black and prejudice is prevalent in their southern Virginia town. Violence springs up as a ragtag band of Ku Klux Klan members unite and decide to take matters into their own hands.
 

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HISTORICAL
Though Waters Roar
by Lynn Austin • Bethany House Publishers

When Harriet Sherwood finds herself in jail, she spends the night contemplating the series of events that resulted in her imprisonment. Coming from a long line of women active in social justice, she weighs her values against her ancestors’, searching for where she belongs in that strong and thrilling heritage.
 

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HISTORICAL ROMANCE
The Silent Governess
by Julie Klassen • Bethany House Publishers

Olivia Keene is fleeing her own secret; she never intended to overhear Lord Bradley’s! Now he has given her a job and confined her to his estate, for if his secret were to be revealed, he would lose his reputation, his inheritance, and his very home.

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SUSPENSE
Lost Mission
by Athol Dickson • Howard Books

Athol Dickson’s latest novel, Lost Mission, weaves a gripping story of suspense that spans centuries and cultures to explore the abiding possibility of miracles. As the ruins of a Spanish Mission are disturbed twelve generations after it collapsed atop the
supernatural evidence of a shocking crime, one community’s understanding of morality, sin, and faith is challenged by that haunting secret.

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VISIONARY
By Darkness Hid
by Jill Williamson • Marcher Lord Press

Young Achan Cham dreams of serving in the Kingsguard Knights, but he is a stray—worse than a slave—and such aspirations are out of his reach. Worse, Achan is beginning to hear strange voices in his head.
 

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YOUNG ADULT
North! Or Be Eaten
by Andrew Peterson • WaterBrook Multnomah

In Book Two of the WINGFEATHER SAGA, escape with Janner, Tink, and Leeli Igiby as they flee north, to the Ice Prairies, where they will be safe from the cruel Fangs of Dang. But first they have to survive the dangers along the way—and the dangers within themselves.