(For an overview of how the Whitney Rules changed in the second year, click here.)

    1) Awards
        a. Whitney Awards will be given for the following categories
            i. Romance
            ii. Mystery/Suspense
            iii. Speculative Fiction
            iv. Youth Fiction
            v. Historical
            vi. General Fiction
            vii. Novel of the Year
            viii. Best Novel by a New Author (for special eligibility requirements, see 2.g.)

    2) Eligibility for Awards
        a. Definition: “novel” in these rules refers to a work of fiction that is at least 50,000 words in length
            i. See exception for Best Youth Fiction, 2.j.
        b. Novels must be released between January 1st and December 31st of the award year.
        c. Novels must be written by a member or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
        d. Novels are eligible whether or not the author is a member of LDStorymakers, Inc.
        e. Novels are eligible whether or not they have been published by traditionally LDS publishers.
        f. Reprints or re-released novels are not eligible to receive Whitney Awards, unless the nominator provides persuasive evidence to the Whitney Awards Committee that significant and substantial changes have been made to the original version.
        g. Novels written or published by members of the Whitney Awards Committee are not eligible during any year that author has served on the committee.
        h. Novels written or published by Whitney Awards Judges are not eligible during any year that author has served as a judge, in any category the judge has adjudicated.
        i. For the award Best Novel by a New Author, the nominated novel must be the first novel published by the author in any format.
        j. For the award Best Youth Fiction, the work must be greater than 20,000 words.
            i. If a Youth Fiction novel is a nominated for Best Novel by a New Author, then the novel must be the first work of fiction published by the author in any format, greater than 20,000 words.

    3) Nominations
        a. The nominator must provide:
            i. The Title, Name of Author, and Name of Publisher of the nominated work
            ii. The Nominator’s name, email address, and contact information
            iii. The Nominator’s age; the nominator must be older than twelve years.
        b. A novel may not be nominated by the novel’s author, publisher or publisher’s employee, or any other party who has a monetary interest in the work.
        c. Nominations may be sent to the Whitney Awards Committee by mail or electronically.
        d. Nominations may be made any time before December 31st of the award year.
        e. The nominator may nominate each novel only once
        f. Any novel which received five or more nominations will be placed on the Preliminary Awards Ballot.
        g. The Whitney Awards Committee may use its discretion to place novels into genre categories.

    4) Judges
        a. Five judges will be assigned to each genre category.
        b. Each judge will read all nominated novels in that category, as directed by the Whitney Awards Committee.
        c. Each judge will independently rate each novel, and deliver ratings to the Whitney Awards Committee.
        d. Each judge will make their ratings independent of the other judges’ opinions, and will not need to disclose their rating to anyone except the Whitney Awards Committee.
        e. Judges will make recommendations to the Whitney Awards Committee as to which novels will be considered for Best Novel by a New Author and Best Novel of the Year.
        f. Judges may consider un-nominated novels in the genre that fit the eligibility requirements.
            i. Only one un-nominated novel can be a finalist in any awards category

    5) Voting
        a. Final Ballots will be sent (either in print or electronic form) to all members of the Awards Academy no later than January 31st of the year following the award year.
        b. The Awards Academy will consist of:
            i. All eligible LDS authors
                1. To be eligible, an author must be a member of the LDS church and meet one of the following criteria
                    a. Be a member of the LDStorymakers
                    b. Be published by a traditional publisher (not self-published or vanity press) within the last five years
                    c. Be a previous or current Whitney Awards Finalist
            ii. Eligible LDS publishing companies
                1. To be eligible, a publisher must publish at least three LDS novels during the awards year, by at least two different authors
                2. Each publisher will receive three Final Ballots regardless of size, distributed to the managing editor
            iii. Other professionals in the industry (such as bookstores, distributors, critics and media, etc) as determined by the Whitney Awards Committee
            iv. Exceptions and additions to the Awards Academy can be made by a majority vote of the Whitney Awards Committee
        c. In each award category, the option “No Award” must be offered as a voting option
            i. If the majority result of any category is “No Award” then no award will be granted in that category for that award year
        d. Final Ballots must be returned to the Whitney Awards Committee no later than 21 days before the Whitney Awards presentation
        e. No Final Ballot may be opened except by members of the Whitney Awards Committee
            i. At least two members of the Whitney Awards Committee must be present when any ballots are opened and counted
        f. The finalist which receives the greatest number of votes will be declared the winner of the Whitney Award
        g. In the event of a tie, all tied finalists will receive the Whitney Award
        h. All award results must be kept secret, known only to members of the Whitney Awards Committee until the presentation of the awards
        i. The Whitney Awards Committee will not release detailed voting information to the public, either before or after the award ceremony.
        j. An individual book can be a finalist in only one genre category
        k. While an individual book can be a finalist in up to three categories (one genre category, Best Novel by a New Author, and Best Novel of the Year), it can only win in one category
            i. In the event that a novel receives the largest number of votes in more than one category, it will receive the Whitney Award for the highest category (in the order: 1. Best Novel of the Year, 2. Best Novel by a New Author, 3. Genre)
                1. When a book wins a higher award and is removed from a lower category (as described above) the second-place winner in that lower category will be given the Whitney Award

    6) Whitney Awards Committee
        a. The Whitney Awards Committee will consist of up to seven members, including the Whitney Awards Committee President
        b. Members of the committee will be appointed by the Whitney Awards Committee President
        c. The Whitney Awards Committee President will be appointed by the LDStorymakers Executive Committee

    7) Amendments
        a. Once ratified, changes to these rules can only be made by a majority vote of the Whitney Awards Committee
        b. If changes are made to these rules, they must be reported to the LDStorymakers Management Core within two days, and announced publically within seven days

    8) Miscellanea
        a. These rules only define the operations of the Whitney Awards contest for novels by LDS authors, and do not limit the operations of the Whitney Awards organization or the Whitney Awards Committee.

    9) Ratification
        a. These rules were ratified on May 14, 2008