Book Award Series ~ ECPA

A wife, mother, and grandma, Yvonne Anderson lives in rural Ohio. She's a former legal secretary, currently a professional Virtual Assistant, and writes a daily Bible study blog. She creates fiction just for fun, but sometimes entertains fantasies about real remuneration.

By Yvonne Anderson

When you hear the phrase "Christian books," a variety of images might come to mind. The New Testament, perhaps. Or a vision of cowled monks toiling over parchments by flickering candlelight. Perhaps you recall the plodding progress of Pilgrim through the Sea of Despond, hear the roar of Aslan the metaphorical lion, or remember a scene from a breezy prairie romance. Frank Peretti's angels and demons might lurk in your subconscious, or the bestselling Left Behind series might linger in your mind.

Although Christian writings have filled libraries for centuries and comprise some of the world's most beloved literature, at first the disciples carried Christianity orally, not literally, into the world. Its founder wrote nothing, and His earliest followers continued this course. Expecting His imminent return – and perhaps because they believed the current scriptures (our Old Testament) pointed toward Christianity and needed no supplement – they didn't seem to give writing a thought for the first fifteen years or so after the resurrection.

Eventually, though, the written gospels appeared, and along with the letters of Paul, a new force gathered strength until it became a great tide. The volume of Christian writings flooding the world in the second century AD reached amazing proportions, and helped turn the Greco-Roman world upside-down. Though most of this literature is lost to us today, we're aware of its quantity due in part to the writings of Eusebius, a bishop of Caesarea and a prolific writer. Also a voracious reader and avid chronicler, he kept a record of everything he read. The list of "Christian books" he waded through is overwhelming. These writings ranged from apologetics, scripture interpretation, works on doctrine, and letters by the early church fathers.

Christian fiction came late to the scene. For centuries, most fiction was based on Christian ideas. Early examples include Paradise Lost, Dante's Inferno, and The Pilgrim's Progress. But after the emphasis of literature shifted from edification to entertainment, fiction took a different direction. People wanted to be tickled, not tutored, and that left Christians with a hunger for fiction that didn't offend.
The specific genre of the Christian novel arose some decades ago, first written by and for Christians and sold only in Christian bookshops. But in the late 20th century, Christian-themed fiction began to be welcomed by general audiences, giving believers a new venue for introducing the unchurched masses to scriptural truths in a non-threatening way.

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association was founded in 1974 for the purpose of supporting quality and integrity in Christian publishing. As a part of this mission, they began in 1978 to present yearly awards for excellence in Christian publishing. The ECPA Christian Book Awards (formerly Gold Medallion Book Awards) selects winners in six categories: Bibles; Fiction; Children & Youth; Inspiration & Gift; Bible Reference & Study; and Christian Life. The winners are announced at the CBA and ECPA Awards Celebration held in conjunction with the Christian Retail Show each summer.

Last summer, awards went to the modern Bible version, The Message, and to the stuffy-sounding Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible; to Teen Virtue by Vicki Courtney, A Sacred Sorrow by Michael Card, and to Wooden & Carty's Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success. The fiction award went to Joel Rosenberg for The Ezekiel Option. Fiction winners of past years include Oceans Apart by Karen Kingsbury and Love's Long Journey by Janette Oke. R.C. Sproul's Johnny Come Home and The Water Is Wide by Elizabeth Gibson shared the honors in 1985; and Joyce Landorf's I Came To Love You Late took the first fiction award, in 1978.

Books are submitted by publishers, not individuals, and entries must be published in the year preceding the year in which the awards are presented. (That is, for the 2007 Awards, all entries must be published for the first time in 2006.)

Each category has its own description and judging criteria. More information is available at http://www.ecpa.org/christianbookawards , including the complete official rules and an entry form for 2007. But if fiction is what you're interested, I'll save you the trouble of looking it up: This award is for full-length, narrative writing whose source is the imagination of the author and whose intended audience is adults. Submissions are judged according to characterization, plot, theme, writing style/mechanics, cover design and layout, and the impact on the reader, including whether or not all story elements are consistent with a Christian worldview. Judges are asked to determine if the reader's mind and spirit are stimulated and enlightened by the experience of reading the novel in question.

I don't know about you, but my mind and spirit feel stimulated to write something worthy of this award! See you in 2008?