Christy Award Winners

Here are the winners! (In bold among the nominees.)

Contemporary (Stand-Alones) GRACE AT LOW TIDE by Beth Webb Hart (WestBow Press) LEVI'S WILL by W. Dale Cramer (Bethany House Publishers) WRAPPED IN RAIN by Charles Martin (WestBow Press)

Contemporary (Series, Sequels and Novellas) LIVING WITH FRED by Brad Whittington (Broadman & Holman) MOMENT OF TRUTH by Sally John (Harvest House Publishers) THE ROAD HOME by Vanessa Del Fabbro (Steeple Hill)

Historical GLIMPSES OF PARADISE by James Scott Bell (Bethany House Publishers) THE NOBLE FUGITIVE by T. Davis & Isabella Bunn (Bethany House Publishers) WHENCE CAME A PRINCE by Liz Curtis Higgs (WaterBrook Press)

Romance A BRIDE MOST BEGRUDGING by Deeanne Gist (Bethany House Publishers) CHATEAU OF ECHOES by Siri L. Mitchell (NavPress) IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING by Susan May Warren (Steeple Hill)

Suspense COMES A HORSEMAN by Robert Liparulo (WestBow Press) LAST LIGHT by Terri Blackstock (Zondervan) RIVER RISING by Athol Dickson (Bethany House Publishers)

Visionary LEGEND OF THE EMERALD ROSE by Linda Wichman (Kregel Publications) THE PRESENCE by Bill Myers (Zondervan) SHADOW OVER KIRIATH by Karen Hancock (Bethany House Publishers)

First Novel LIKE A WATERED GARDEN by Patti Hill (Bethany House Publishers) THE ROAD HOME by Vanessa Del Fabbro (Steeple Hill) THIS HEAVY SILENCE By Nicole Mazzarella (Paraclete Press)

Some comments:

Overall, I'm happy with the winners. Romance was probably the one genre I didn't have a definite preference - I love all three authors. Would have loved to see the second Fred novel win - I like when multiple books in a series get Christys. Karen Hancock has won Christys for every novel she's published, and she definitely deserves them, though I did enjoy Legend of the Emerald Rose, too. I've read 10 of the 20 nominees, and there are 2 more I plan to read soon (one sitting in my to-be-read stack at the moment).

Was this the only year one novel was nominated in two categories? What if it would have won both, or do they have rules to prevent that?