September 9, 2014 – Denver, CO— Outskirts Press has released the winners of the 2014 EVVY Awards. The EVVY Awards recognize excellence in independently published books as determined by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA). Denver-based Outskirts Press is a full-service self-publishing and book-marketing company that helps people write, publish and market the book of their dreams.
Winning an EVVY Award is a prerequisite to being named the Outskirts Press 2013 Best Book of the Year Award-winner and walking away with a Grand Prize of $1,500. The Outskirts Press 2013 Best Book of the Year award recognizes the best book published by Outskirts Press in 2013 as decided by a social community of self-publishing authors.
Congratulations to all of the 2014 EVVY Award winners below!
1st Place Winners
Lynda Stephenson, author of “The Southern Chapter of the Big Girl Panties Club”
Richard Pires, author of “Monster Monroe”
Lesha Acker, author of “No Fear”
T.C. Newman, author of “Follow the Light, The Shroud’s Revelations”
2nd Place Winners
Jennifer Fales, author of “Sleight of Hand”
Richard Todd Devens, author of “Rational Polemics”
3rd Place Winners
Alexander Flint, author of “Tales From the Sea”
Christina Steiner, author of “The Sad Tree and Pronuba”
Merit Winners
Jonathan P. Rosman, M.D., author of “The Art of Joyful Living”
Herman H. White, author of “Burial on Water Box Mountain”
Marion Pember, author of “God In A Box:”
John Lopas, author of “Great Falls”
Keith Swainson, author of Heresy”
Taylor Baptist, author of “The Honey Do List”
William Pfirrman, author of “Nightmare in Aurora”
Todd Bulgarelli, author of “A Rage In Winter”
John Douglas, author of “Shock and Awww in the Cul-De-Sac”
Linda K. Reed, author of “Winter of 1950”
Congratulations to these EVVY Finalists
D. Andrew McChesney, author of “Sailing Dangerous Waters”
Christopher Hall, author of “Tall, Dark, and Handsome and other Devotionals”
Ed Kienzle, author of “The Last Buffalo”
Glenda Lee Vollmecke, author of “Intermission: A Place In Time”
Susie Newman, author of “Diaries”
Latifa Hazim-Rogers, author of “Six Months or LESS”
J. M. Erickson, author of “Eagle, Birds of Flight”
Sheila Jaxland, author of “Mylo”
Belinda Tors, author of “Letting Go”
Richard P. Flynn, author of “Irishmen Don’t Cry”
About Outskirts Press, Inc.: Outskirts Press offers high-quality, full-service self-publishing and book marketing services for writers and professionals who are seeking a cost-effective, fast, and flexible way to publish and distribute their books worldwide while retaining 100% of their rights, 100% of their profits, and 100% of the creative control. http://www.outskirtspress.com.
Now’s your chance to give us your vote for which book you would like to see receive the Outskirts Press Best Book of the Year Award for 2013 and the $1,500 Grand Prize that goes along with it. Voting is open to everyone. The poll ends on Friday, September 12th at 12pm Mountain Time.
The 2013 Best Book of the Year Finalists are:
Lynda Stephenson’s first novel, Dancing with Elvis, introduces the irreverent teenager, Frankilee Baxter, who is both charming and sharp-tongued. Published in 2005, fifty years after Brown vs. Board of Education, Dancing with Elvis was chosen by Book Sense for Teen Readers and was a finalist for the Oklahoma Center for the Book Award. It was named an International Reading Association Book Award Notable. In addition to other accolades, the book received the Delta Kappa Gamma Young Adult/Adult Award in 2007. Born and reared in the West Texas Panhandle, Stephenson attended Trinity University in San Antonio and then received her Master’s Degree and doctoral work in English from the University of Oklahoma. A former English professor at East Central University, Ada, Oklahoma, she is a prolific writer of poetry, essays, and short stories. She currently lives with her husband, Gene, in Edmond, Oklahoma.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE BOOK
The year is 1958, and schools in the South are rebelling against the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education. In the beginning, Frankilee Baxter, a freshman at Athena College, is not concerned with racial issues. Instead, she is determined to improve her looks, pledge a sorority, find a steady boyfriend and make her name as a journalist at the college newspaper. Her plans are changed, however, when she befriends Eleanor Wilson, the only Negro student on campus. Eleanor is the daughter of a northern minister who is a prominent leader in the NAACP. When life becomes almost more painful and confusing than they can bear, Frankilee and her friends in the dormitory form The Southern Chapter of the Big Girl Panties Club, and they invite Eleanor to join. The BGPC members stand together to protect Eleanor from acts of discrimination. The story also deals with the blossoming love of Frankilee for Trace Godwin, a popular star basketball player and the pledge trainer of his fraternity. When a boy in Trace’s fraternity is seriously injured during a campout, the narrative takes a dark turn of mystery and deceit. More complications arise when Frankilee spends Easter weekend with Trace’s wealthy, dysfunctional family. A quirky story of love, discrimination, forgiveness, and redemption, The Southern Chapter of the Big Girl Panties Club follows Frankilee and her friends during their freshman year.
Richard Pires was born and raised in a small town in Northern California where there was little to do but use one’s imagination. He has been writing for ten years professionally, and The Monster Monroe is his first novel.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE BOOK
Steven Fisher is about to be sent off to fight in World War II, but his patriotic zeal is tempered by a series of nightmares. He realizes that his psyche is trying to remind him of something-a promise he made to a deformed World War I veteran who saved his life years earlier. Steven looks back on his past, rediscovering his childhood and reflecting on the horrifying events that brought him face-to-face with pure evil in the summer of 1928 in his small town. As a 13-year-old, Steven is enamored by the local legend, The Monster Monroe, who lives alone in a big house and wears a mask to cover his hideously mangled face. Monroe works as a freak at a carnival in the city and drinks to escape the pain his life has become. He also documents his life in his memoirs-the mistakes he made and the love he lost-in an attempt to reconnect with his daughter, long absent from his life. And when a sadistic murderer begins to kill young boys, Monroe is the perfect scapegoat. THE MONSTER MONROE, a period drama, centers around one fateful summer of a young man’s life. It’s a powerful debut novel-a page-turner that packs a powerful emotional punch.
Lesha Acker published her first book, Powdered Donuts on Monday, in 2010. She graduated from Texas Tech University, Magna Cum Laude, with a degree in Early Childhood Education.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE BOOK
One thing I know for sure, Daniel is my Greek god … How can one person create deep love, passion, and complete exhilaration from the pit of my soul but also resuscitate my existing darkness … At the peak of my desperation, which do I choose … succumb to my fears or conquer them?
As a self-taught artist, T.C. Newman splits her passions between art and family. Her mother was an artist and her father a physicist, so she developed a strong knowledge of art as well as all things mysterious.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE BOOK
The mysteries of the Shroud of Turin are not so difficult to understand; sometimes the hardest things to see are right there in plain sight. This shocking and enthralling project catapults the reader to a greater understanding of the image formation process of the Shroud of Turin, the most misunderstood artifact known to mankind, yet one of the most rigorously investigated. This Journal is unlike any other publication written about the Shroud. The project details direct, personal, and original research that reveals a fresh new approach. This entertaining chronicle unravels the mysteries of the Shroud’s image, revealing riveting new evidence, which combines science and faith with new information never before realized. Follow the Light, The Shroud’s Revelations, is based on more than 30 years of artistic study, and perseverance, and reveals more scientific truth, than all the other theories and analyses up to date. This is a book that is good for all ages, believers, and non believers, Christian and Scientific alike. It details the project as the author, along with her eight-year old daughter, explore a fascinating journey, while developing a process of decoding the three-dimensional information within the image, resulting in sculptures demonstrating some startling conclusions.
Now it’s time to vote for the winner of the Outskirts Press Best Book of the Year Award for 2013.
The winner receives a $1,500 grand prize, an exclusive Best Book of the Year award added to the book’s cover for all future printings, exclusive placement in our Best Book of the Year Pinterest Board, and much more!
Are you the next award-winning author from Outskirts Press? Start publishing today…
The remaining three finalists will be introduced throughout the week on this blog. Public voting will determine which of the four finalists should be awarded the Outskirts Press 2013 Best Book of the Year Award and its $1,500 Grand Prize. Voting is open to everyone and begins on this blog on Saturday, September 6.
Lynda Stephenson’s first novel, Dancing with Elvis, introduces the irreverent teenager, Frankilee Baxter, who is both charming and sharp-tongued. Published in 2005, fifty years after Brown vs. Board of Education, Dancing with Elvis was chosen by Book Sense for Teen Readers and was a finalist for the Oklahoma Center for the Book Award. It was named an International Reading Association Book Award Notable. In addition to other accolades, the book received the Delta Kappa Gamma Young Adult/Adult Award in 2007. Born and reared in the West Texas Panhandle, Stephenson attended Trinity University in San Antonio and then received her Master’s Degree and doctoral work in English from the University of Oklahoma. A former English professor at East Central University, Ada, Oklahoma, she is a prolific writer of poetry, essays, and short stories. She currently lives with her husband, Gene, in Edmond, Oklahoma.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE BOOK
The year is 1958, and schools in the South are rebelling against the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education. In the beginning, Frankilee Baxter, a freshman at Athena College, is not concerned with racial issues. Instead, she is determined to improve her looks, pledge a sorority, find a steady boyfriend and make her name as a journalist at the college newspaper. Her plans are changed, however, when she befriends Eleanor Wilson, the only Negro student on campus. Eleanor is the daughter of a northern minister who is a prominent leader in the NAACP. When life becomes almost more painful and confusing than they can bear, Frankilee and her friends in the dormitory form The Southern Chapter of the Big Girl Panties Club, and they invite Eleanor to join. The BGPC members stand together to protect Eleanor from acts of discrimination. The story also deals with the blossoming love of Frankilee for Trace Godwin, a popular star basketball player and the pledge trainer of his fraternity. When a boy in Trace’s fraternity is seriously injured during a campout, the narrative takes a dark turn of mystery and deceit. More complications arise when Frankilee spends Easter weekend with Trace’s wealthy, dysfunctional family. A quirky story of love, discrimination, forgiveness, and redemption, The Southern Chapter of the Big Girl Panties Club follows Frankilee and her friends during their freshman year.
Every year, Outskirts Press recognizes the best book they publish with their annual Outskirts Press Best Book of the Year award, which must not only win an EVVY Award from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association but must also be recognized as the best book among four finalists.
As one of four finalists, Lynda Stephenson and her book The Southern Chapter of the Big Girl Panties Club will be competing head-to-head-to-head with the other three finalists in a public poll on this blog starting on Saturday. Lynda has already demonstrated she has the writing chops to win this prestigious award, as evidenced by her EVVY Award win. Does she have the marketing prowess to make it as the Best Book of the Year author in this digital age? Stay tuned for information on the remaining finalists being announced this week, and then come back on Saturday to vote for the book you believe to be the best among the four.
The author of the winning book will receive a $1,500 credit to his or her Publishing Center, courtesy of Outskirts Press, and an exclusive 2013 Best Book of the Year award seal to apply to the cover of the book.
Are you ready to publish your own award-winning book and perhaps find yourself in the running for next year’s Best Book of the Year award? Get started today.
Winning an EVVY Award is a prerequisite to being named the Outskirts Press 2013 Best Book of the Year Award-winner and walking away with a Grand Prize of $1,500. The Outskirts Press 2013 Best Book of the Year award recognizes the best book published by Outskirts Press in 2013 as decided by a social community of self-publishing authors.
