Romance Writers of America — 2009 award winners
Congratulations to everyone who won an award at the Romance Writers of America (RWA) national conference last weekend.
Rosemary’s Romance Books in Brisbane was awarded the Steffie Walker Bookseller of the Year Award. According to the RWA website, this award is given to a bookseller “who provides outstanding service to romance readers and demonstrates notable support of romance authors and the romance genre.” Awesome win.
The other Aussie winner is Stephanie Laurens for Best Novella.
RWA sponsors the the RITA®, arguably the genre’s most prestigious award. Here’s a list of the winners:
A Mother’s Wish by Karen Templeton (Best Contemporary Series Romance) — Excerpt
Danger Signals by Kathleen Creighton (Best Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure) — Excerpt
Hell Week by Rosemary Clement Moore (Best Young Adult Romance) — Excerpt
The Edge of Impropriety by Pam Rosenthal (Best Historical Romance) — Excerpt
My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne (Best Regency Historical Romance) — Excerpt
Finding Stefanie by Susan May Warren (Best Inspirational Romance) — Excerpt
The Fall of Rogue Gerard by Stephanie Laurens in It Happened One Night (Best Romance Novella) — Excerpt HarperCollins (Browse Inside)
Seducing Mr. Darcy by Gwyn Cready (Best Paranormal Romance) — Excerpt (PDF)
Tribute by Nora Roberts (Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements) — Excerpt (PDF)
Take No Prisoners by Cindy Gerard (Best Romantic Suspense) — Excerpt
Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs (Best First Book) — Excerpt
Not Another Bad Date by Rachel Gibson (Best Contemporary Single Title Romance) — Excerpt
Jennifer Greene was awarded the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award, and Ron Charles received the Veritas Award for his Washington Post article, Heating Up the Stacks.
You can find a complete list of award winners on the RWA website.
Find these award-winning titles at Fishpond
Image courtesy of stock.xchng: success way by dlnny.

Anybody read any of those?
So YA comes under the umbrella of the RWA? I noticed the best first book was one, is it a YA romance?
Edie, I’ve only read My Lord and Spymaster, and it was a keeper for me. But I can see where the heroine would annoy some readers. She has a rough past yet manages to retain some innocent quality. Basically, if you liked the first Bourne novel, you’ll like this one.
I haven’t read the others. I find the RITA process a bit suspect. To me, it’s only ever going to be representative if every person who votes has read (or had a chance to read) every entry. Otherwise, it’s a sampling and probably not accurate. They should make ebooks available to all RWA members eligible to vote.
If I recall, there was a big brouhaha over YA novels a few years ago. I think that might have led to having separate categories. Oh. My Gods. does seem to be YA, but again, I haven’t read it.
Thanks Kat..
I haven’t read any of the winners. And was a bit puzzled about the YA best book, can understand having a YA romance category I guess.
I did try to make sense of the RITA judging process at one point but got a bit lost. LOL So I think I will just go back to ignoring them.
whoops that was a lie, did read the anthology with Laurens in it.
I have the Rachel Gibson. It was not my fave Rachel Gibson, though.
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