RWA has awarded Tamera Alexander the 2010 Best Inspirational Romance RITA award for her novel The Inheritance. Congratulations Tamera!

(Margaret Brownley was a finalist in this same category for her novel A Lady Like Sarah.)

Zuri Day's Body By Night has been nominated for Best Romance of the Year for the upcoming 2010 Emma Awards by the Romance Slam Jam Organization.

Patti Lacy's What the Bayou Saw is a Foreword Magazine 2009 Book of the Year Finalist.

Eliot Pattison's The Lord of Death was in the Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2009 Top 100 list. This was announced in the November 2, 2009 issue of the magazine. The announcement stated: " Edgar-winner Pattison mixes an eye-opening look at comtemporary China with a traditional whoodunit involving the gunnning down of China's minister of tourism along with an American woman, a skilled climber, near Mt. Everest."

Robin Lee Hatcher's Fit to Be Tied received a star review in a November 2009 issue of LibraryJournal.com The reviewer states that Hatcher is: "A master of lively historical romances, Hatcher demonstrates an expert ability to craft spunky, unlikely heroines who go against the tide of the times in which they live, making for fun, exciting stories. She also pays close attention to historical detail."

Two agency clients have been nominated for 2009 Christy Awards in the Historical Romance category. Tamera Alexander has been nominated for From a Distance, and Mary Connealy was nominated for Calico Canyon. Congratulations to Tamera and Mary.

Natasha Kern has been nominated for 2008 Agent of the Year by the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers).

Julie Lessman won the 2009 ACFW Debut Author Award for her novel A Passion Most Pure. Congratulations Julie!

Two of Anna Schmidt's novels (An Unexpected Suitor and Home At Last) have been nominated for Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Awards 2009.

Robin Lee Hatcher won in the Short Historical category of the 2010 Inspirational Readers Choice Awards for her novel Where Love Blooms. Her novel Fit to Be Tied took first place in the Inspirational category of the 2009 National Reader's Choice Awards (NRCA).

Agency clients were named as finalists for Carol Awards (formerly called ACFW Book of the Year Awards). Congratulations and good luck to all! Here are the finalists ...

Candace Calvert is a finalist in the Long Contemporary Romance category for Critical Care. In the Long Historical category, Mary Connealy is a double nominee for Cowboy Christmas and Montana Rose; and Julie Lessman is nominee for A Passion Denied. In the Long Historical category, Robin Lee Hatcher is nominated for Fit To Be Tied, and Siri Mitchell is nominated for Love's Pursuit. Debra Clopton has two nominations: in Contemporary Novella for A Mule Hollow Match; and in Short Contemporary for His Cowboy Bride. Also, in the Short Contemporary category, Myra Johnson is a nominee for Autumn Rains, and Glynna Kaye is a nominee for Dreaming of Home. For the Short Contemporary Suspense category, Sanda Robbins is a nominee for Final Warning. In the Suspense/Thriller category, Harry Kraus is a nominee for Salty Like Blood .

Winners will be announced at the ACFW Conference in Indianapolis, September 17-20.

Margaret Brownley's A Lady Like Sarah is #17 on the CBA Bestseller List for July 2010.

The Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence is sponsored by RWA chapter Southern Magic and was conceived in honor of multi-RITA Winner Gayle Wilson to award excellence in published romance fiction. This year four agency clients were on the list of finalists.

In the Inspirational Single Title category two of Tamera Alexander's novels, Beyond This Moment and The Inheritance are finalists. Also in the Inspirational Single Title category finals are Robin Lee Hatcher's When Love Blooms, and Sandra Robbins's Final Warning. In the Inspirational Series category finals list are Robin Lee Hatcher's Fit To Be Tied, and Missy Tippens's A Forever Christmas. Congratulations to all!

Nina Bruhn's If Looks Could Chill is a finalist in the category of single-title romantic suspense for the Daphne du Maurier Award. Winners will be announced at the 2010 RWA Conference.

Missy Tippen's novel His Forever Love is a finalist in the 2010 Bestsellers' Best Inspirational category.