2015 Christian Book Award Winners from ECPA

ECPA Announces the 2015 Christian Book Award® Winners

The Daniel Plan is named as Christian Book of the Year™
The Hardest Peace shared with author Kara Tippetts days before her death
Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus wins in two categories – first time in Award history

 

 

Murfreesboro, Tenn., May 5, 2015 -- The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) announced tonight the winners of the 2015 Christian Book Awards® and the 2015 Christian Book of the Year™ -- representing the best Christian book and Bible releases of the year in Non-Fiction, Fiction, Inspiration, Children’s, Bible Reference, Bibles, and New Author. The announcements were made at the ECPA Awards Banquet, held in conjunction with the ECPA Leadership Summit hosted in Murfreesboro, Tenn. 

The highest honor of Christian Book of the Year™ went to The Daniel Plan by Pastor Rick Warren (with Daniel Amen M.D., and Mark Hyman M.D.).  The New York Times bestseller with a strong and regular presence on the ECPA Bestseller list, is described as “creating a health plan” that adds faith, focus, and community to the usual “food and exercise” approach to weight loss and health. The plan is credited for helping 15,000 of Warren's church members lose 250,000 pounds in the first year.  Warren is the author of The Purpose Driven Life, the highest bestselling non-fiction hardback in publishing history with more than 32 million copies sold.

THE WINNERS IN EACH CATEGORY ARE:

	Christian Book of the Year™  The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life Rick Warren, Daniel Amen and Mark Hyman Zondervan 9780310344292
	Non-Fiction  Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity Nabeel Qureshi Zondervan 9780310515029
	Fiction  The Advocate Randy Singer Tyndale House Publishers 9781414391304
	Inspiration  The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life’s Hard Kara Tippetts David C Cook 9780781412155
	Bibles  NIV First-Century Study Bible with notes by Kent Dobson Zondervan 9780310938903
	Bible Reference  1,2 and 3 John: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Karen H. Jobes Zondervan 9780310244165
	Children  My Bible Animals Storybook Dandi Daley Mackall, Illustrated by Heather Heyworth Tyndale House Publishers 9781414383538
	New Author  Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity Nabeel Qureshi Zondervan 9780310515029

“The Christian Book Award® winners not only represent the best books in our industry, but in their variety they represent the transforming power of Christian content that impacts all of life,” explains ECPA President/CEO Mark Kuyper.  “Our industry continues to produce ‘Good Books that Feed the Soul’ for all ages, seasons, and interests.” 

Inspiration winner, The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life’s Hard by popular mom blogger Kara Tippetts was determined to be the winner just days before the author died from her battle with breast cancer.  The book is a memoir about Kara finding grace “in the midst of life’s hard” – the very hard experience of dying from cancer as a young woman, wife, and mother of four young children.  ECPA and Kara’s publisher David C Cook worked with Kara’s family to share the confidential news of the title’s win to Kara just days before she passed from this life, so that she would know of her enduring legacy of inspiration and help to others.

New author Nabeel Qureshi’s first published book, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, won in both New Author and Non-Fiction categories – the first incident of a double-category win in Christian Book Award® history.

The evening’s news culminated in a “Thunderclap social media campaign” where the news was tweeted and posted to more than half a million accounts.  Industry publishers, companies, professionals and friends, signed up to allow the winning news to be posted to their account feeds through an ECPA awareness campaign called #ReadGoodBooks.

Christian Book Award® program winners also receive recognition and support throughout multiple retail and media outlets, including Christianity Today, ChristianBook.com, Cokesbury, Family Christian, LifeWay, Mardel, Munce Group, Parable Christian Stores, Innovative/Signature Websites, NetGalley, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.  Christianity Today will continue their partnership with the program through ad campaigns in their digital and print publications, May through December of this year. 

To view the finalists and winners, and learn more, visit www.ChristianBookAwards.com or www.ChristianBookExpo.com.

The Christian Book Award® program has recognized the absolute highest quality in Christian books since 1978. Based on excellence in content, literary quality, design, and impact, the Christian Book Award® program is the oldest and among the most prestigious awards in the religious publishing industry.

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international non-profit trade organization, comprised of nearly 200 member companies worldwide, representing a combined revenue of nearly $1.4 billion. Since 1974, ECPA has strengthened Christian publishing by building Networking, Information, and Advocacy opportunities within the industry and across multiple channels so that our members can more effectively produce and deliver transformational Christian content. For more information about ECPA: 480-966-3998, info@ecpa.org, www.ecpa.org.

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