Ada, MI (November 3, 2021)
On Thursday, October 28, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) announced the 2021 Christy Award winners in a virtual gala. Four Baker Publishing Group authors were recipients of this prestigious award, including Amanda Cox, whose debut novel, The Edge of Belonging, won both the 2021 Christy Award for Book of the Year and the First Novel Award. ECPA said, “This is the third time in the award’s history that a debut novel was named Book of the Year.”
Becky Wade received her fourth Christy Award in the Contemporary Romance category for Stay with Me. Wade has been a recipient of the Christy Award in the same category in 2019, 2018, and 2017 and won the 2018 Book of the Year Award for her novel True to You.
Christina Suzann Nelson received a Christy Award in the General Fiction category for The Way It Should Be.
Roseanna M. White also won a Christy Award in the Historical Romance category for her novel A Portrait of Loyalty.
ECPA President Jeff Crosby stated, “I add my voice of commendation to all of the finalists and winners, and to Amanda Cox for her first novel named as the 2021 Christy Book of the Year. In partnership with their publishers, the following writers are exemplars for the Christian fiction genre.”
The Christy Awards were established in 1999 as a way to honor excellence, imagination, and creativity for works of fiction written from a Christian worldview. ECPA assumed administration and ownership of the Christy Awards in 2017 and continues to work toward growing the unique opportunity of fiction in the Christian publishing industry.