The Christy Awards
for the best in Christian Fiction

In 1999, nearly a dozen publishers of Christian fiction, in an effort to recognize the writers and readers of this increasingly large genre of publishing, established The Christy Award. The award is named after the well-known novel by Catherine Marshall, and in honor of Marshall's long-term contribution to the growth of the field of Christian fiction.

CURRENT CATEGORIES [2007- ]

2007		Jamie Langston Turner Winter Birds
2006  [tie]		W. Dale Kramer Levi's Will [Available as an uncataloged paperback or an unabridged book-on-CD only]
2006  [tie]		Vanessa Del Fabbro The Road to Home
2005		W. Dale Kramer Bad Ground [This item available only in unabridged audio format.]
2004		Lisa Samson Songbird
2003		Ann Tatlock All the Way Home
2002		Jamie Langston Turner A Garden to Keep [This item available only in unabridged audio format.]
2001  [tie]		Philip Gulley Home to Harmony
2001  [tie]		Robert Whitlow The Trial
2000		Jan Karon A New Song

Best Contemporary (Series, Sequels and Novellas
In 2007, this category first appeared, as a spin-off from the Best Contemporary. [Note: Splits off from the traditional Contemporary category.]

2007

Beverly Lewis The Brethren

Best Historical Fiction
Fiction that weaves stories about characters in historical epochs or settings. Includes Biblical, Biographical and Western fiction. [Note: This categories incorporates the previous categories of International Historical, North American Historical and Western.]

2007		Tracy Groot Madman
2006		Liz Curtis Higgs Whence Came a Prince
2005		Jan Beazely and Thom Lemmons King's Ransom
2004		Lynn Austin Fire By Night

Best Romance Fiction
Fiction whose characters and controlling theme focuses on a romantic drama in a historical or current setting.

2007		Deeanne Gist Measure of a Lady
2006		Deeanne Gist A Bride Most Begrudging
2005		Kristen Heitzmann Secrets
2004		Hannah Alexander Hideaway
2003		Dee Henderson True Honor (Uncommon Heroes Series, Book 3)
2002		Dee Henderson The Guardian
2001		Catherine Palmer A Touch of Betrayal
2000		Robin Lee Hatcher Whispers From Yesterday

Best Suspense Fiction
Fiction that often focuses on a strange, frightening or thrilling set of events. Includes Mystery (fiction where the element of mystery of terror plays a controlling part, often a tale of crime).

2007		Tim Downs Plague Maker
2006		Athol Dickson River Rising
2005		Debbie Wilson Tiger in the Shadows
2004		Ted Dekker Thr3e
2003		Randy Singer Directed Verdict
2002		T. Davis Bunn Drummer in the Dark
2001		T. Davis Bunn The Great Divide
2000		James Scott Bell Final Witness [This title available only in a Large Print edition]

Best Visionary Fiction
Imaginative fiction including Allegory (fiction in the form of extended metaphor in which objects, person and actions are equated with meanings that lie outside the narrative itself), Fantasy (fiction that contains a conscious breaking free from reality in which the work takes place in a nonexistent and unreal world or concerns incredible or unreal characters), Futuristic (fiction whose action, plot, and characters occur in a future period of time), and Science Fiction (fiction in which scientific facts or hypotheses form the basis of adventures, often in the future, on other planets, or in other dimensions of time). [Note: Incorporates several previous categories.]

2006		Karen Hancock Shadow Over Kiriath
2005		Karen Hancock The Shadow Within

Best First Novel
This novel may represent any genre above written by a first-time novelist who has not published commercially any book-length work of fiction. Author may have published fiction in magazines, journals, or other periodicals. NOTE: A book that qualifies for this category may also be entered in the genre category which it represents.

2007		Karen Harter Where Mercy Flows
2006		Nicole Mazzarella This Heavy Silence
2005		Cliff Coon The Mending String
2004		Brad Whittington Welcome to Fred
2003		Michael Morris A Place Called Wiregrass
2002		David Ryan Long Ezekiel's Shadow
2001		Sharon Ewell Foster Passing By Samaria

Best Lits
This category first appeared in 2007, focusing on popular "chick lit" and/or general fiction.

2007

Robin Jones Gunn Sisterchicks in Gondolas

Best Young Adult
This category first appeared in 2007, focusing of books for teens and/or young adults.

2007

Cathy Gohlke William Henry is a Fine Name

PAST CATEGORIES [2000-2004]

Best Futuristic Fiction

2004		Jerry Jenkins Soon
2003		Nancy Moser Time Lottery [This title available only in a Large Print edition]
2002		Randall Ingermanson and John Olson Oxygen
2001		Randall Ingermanson Transgression
2000		Grant R. Jeffrey and Angela Hunt By Dawn's Early Light

Best International Historical Fiction

2003		Jack Cavanaugh His Watchful Eye
2002		Jack Cavanaugh While Mortals Sleep
2001		Francine Rivers Unashamed
2000		Anne de Graaf Out of the Red Shadow

Best North American Historical Fiction

2003		Lynn Austin Candle in the Darkness
2002		Lynn Austin Hidden Places
2001		Gilbert Morris Edge of Honor
2001		Rosey Dow Reaping the Whirlwind [This title available only in unabridged audiotape format]
2000		Janette Oke and T. Davis Bunn The Meeting Place

Best Western Fiction

2003		R. William Rogers Toward a New Beginning
2002		Stephen Bly The Long Trail Home

Best Fantasy Fiction

2004

Karen Hancock The Light of Eidon

Best Allegory Fiction

2003

Karen Hancock Arena [This item exists only as an uncataloged "paperback spinner rack" copy]

Updated October 2007 sdc

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