ABOUT
What are the Whitneys?
The Whitneys are an awards program for novels written by LDS authors. Elder Orson F. Whitney, an early apostle in the LDS church, prophesied “We will yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own.” It is our hope to be a part of that journey toward excellence by honoring the LDS writers also working toward that goal.
The Whitney Awards honor novels in the following categories: General Fiction, Romance, Suspense/Mystery, Speculative Fiction, Speculative Young Adult Fiction, General Young Adult Fiction, Middle Grade, Historical, Best Novel of the Year, Best Novel in Youth Fiction, and Best Novel by a New Author. Novels can be nominated by any reader (via this website or by mail), and nominees are voted on by an academy of industry professionals, including authors, publishers, bookstore owners, distributors, critics, and others.
The awards were founded in 2007 and operate as a semi-autonomous subsidiary of LDStorymakers.
What rubrics or content guidelines are followed in the determination of finalists and winners?
We do not give a rubric to our judges or to the Academy awards because this is a reader based award rather than a literary one. We choose judges who are sophisticated and critical readers and allow them to make their own judgements on writing quality and content. Doing otherwise (screening nominees based on content and writing quality) would be both time-consuming and based on subjective reasoning, therefore we have only required that the author be a member of the LDS church. All other factors such as content, language, and craft, are to be judged by each individual person voting in the award process.
Who are we?
The 2015 Whitney Awards Committee is comprised of:
- Stephanie Black (President)
- Josi S. Kilpack
- Braden Bell
- Monique Luetkemeyer
- Peggy Eddleman
- Sian Bessey
- Kimberly Vanderhorst
For more information about the roles and responsibilities of the committee, see the official rules.
The Whitney Awards are sponsored by LDStorymakers, the authors guild for the LDS market.
Sites
2015 Winners
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| A NIGHT DIVIDED for Middle Grade | CALVIN for General Youth Fiction | FIREFIGHT for Speculative Youth Fiction | THE RULES IN ROME for Historical |
| Jennifer A. Nielsen | Martine Leavitt | Brandon Sanderson | A.L. Sowards |
 |  |  |  |
| THE OTHER SIDE OF QUIET for General | THE DEVIL'S ONLY FRIEND for Speculative | LORD FENTON'S FOLLY for Romance | FAILSAFE for Mystery/Suspense |
| Tara C. Allred | Dan Wells | Josi S. Kilpack | Traci Hunter Abramson |
 | | |
| INK AND ASHES for Best Novel by a New Author | A NIGHT DIVIDED for Best Youth Novel | LORD FENTON'S FOLLY for Best Novel |
| Valynne E. Maetani | Jennifer A. Nielsen | Josi S. Kilpack |
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| Lifetime Achievement Award | Outstanding Achievement Award |
| Marsha Ward | Tracy and Laura Hickman |
Contact
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A full list of the 2015 finalists can be found HERE.