Congratulations to Lilian Darcy, Anne Gracie, Barbara Hannay and Bronwyn Parry, whose books have been announced as finalists for this year’s RITA awards, and to Chris Taylor for her Golden Heart award nomination.
Anne Gracie is nominated in the Historical Romance category for Bride By Mistake, published by Berkley. Barbara Hannay is nominated in the Contemporary Single Title Romance category for her rural Australian romance Zoe’s Muster, published by the Michael Joseph. Bronwyn Parry is nominated in Romantic Suspense category for Dead Heat, published by Hachette Australia. Category romance author Lilian Darcy is nominated in the Short Contemporary Series Romance category for A Marriage Worth Fighting For, published under Harlequin’s Special Edition imprint. (In Australia, this story is published under the Cherish imprint in a special 3-in-1 edition.)
A RITA award is the romance equivalent of the Oscar, and having four local authors in the running is an excellent achievement. Hannay and Parry’s nominations are particularly exciting as the books are both set in rural Australia and published locally.
For the Golden Heart awards, given to unpublished manuscripts, Australian writer Chris Taylor is nominated in the Romantic Suspense category for The Predator.
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Photo by Kat Mayo
In which everyone played a game called Have A Drink Each Time Anna Campbell Accepts An Award…and everyone ended up drunk.
This year’s Australian Romance Reader Awards was dominated by historical romance author Anna Campbell, who took home the award for Favourite Australian Author, which she has won since 2010*. Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed won Favourite Historical Romance, a category in which Campbell has never lost. She also won all three minor awards for Favourite Meeting Between Hero and Heroine, Favourite Love Scene, and Favourite Cover. Since 2010*, she has not lost an award for she has been nominated.
Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series was awarded Favourite Continuing Series. Singh remains undefeated in this category since it was first awarded in 2010*.
The biggest upset of the night was in the Favourite Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Futuristic Romance, which was awarded to Kylie Griffin for Alliance Forged (accepted by Anna Campbell) and breaks Nalini Singh’s three-year run in this category. In a similar vein, Kaz Delaney won Favourite Paranormal Romance for Dead, Actually (accepted by Paula Roe), beating an impressive list of finalists, including J. R. Ward, Nalini Singh and Kresley Cole. Favourite Erotic Romance went to the only non-Australian winner of the night, Sylvia Day, for Bared to You (accepted by ARRA).
Two categories featured all-Australian finalists. The Favourite Short Category Award went to Kelly Hunter for Cracking the Dating Code, despite three other authors being twice-nominated in category. Rachael Johns won Favourite Contemporary Romance for Jilted and gave a somewhat teary but very gracious acceptance speech.
Bronwyn Parry also gave an emotional speech when she accepted the award for Favourite Romantic Suspense for Dead Heat. She previously won this award in 2010* and this year beat Nora Roberts, who was nominated three times (twice as J. D. Robb) in the same category.
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The Australian romance book industry’s top prizes were awarded last night at the Romance Writers of Australia (RWA) conference at the Gold Coast. Congratulations to Romantic Book of the Year (R*BY) awardees Barbara Hannay, Robyn Grady, Fiona Lowe and Helene Young.
The night’s biggest success was Carina Press author Fiona Lowe, whose debut single title release, Boomerang Bride, scooped up the R*BY Award for Long Romance. Earlier this year, Lowe won the prestigious RITA for the same title—an achievement that seems even more spectacular given that her manuscript went through 38 agent rejections before being accepted by Carina Press.
Helene Young won the R*BY for Romantic Elements for the second year in a row with her Hachette title Shattered Sky, the sequel to last year’s winning book and winner of this year’s Australian Romance Readers Award for Romantic Suspense. The third book in the series, Burning Lies, has just been released with her new publisher, Penguin.
Not surprisingly, Mills and Boon authors dominated the awards for category romance, with Barbara Hannay winning the R*BY for Short Sweet Romance for Molly Cooper’s Dream Date, and Robyn Grady winning the R*BY for Short Sexy Romance for The Fearless Maverick.
Capping off a successful night for Mills and Boon authors, Helen Bianchin received a standing ovation as she was named the inaugural inductee into RWA’s Hall of Fame.
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Congratulations to Australian author Fiona Lowe for her 2012 RITA win for Boomerang Bride!
Australian author Fiona Lowe has won the romance industry’s top accolade with her debut single title, Boomerang Bride, winning the 2012 RITA for Contemporary Single Title Romance. This is Lowe’s first RITA win as well as the first RITA for Boomerang Bride publisher Carina Press, the digital-first imprint of Harlequin Books.
Although not set in Australia, Boomerang Bride features an Australian heroine, Matilda, who travels to a small Wisconsin town to meet her fiance—only to find out that she has been scammed. Matilda’s frequent use of Australian slang—and the comments and confusion it causes—is one of the book’s unique selling points.
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Source: stock.xchng
Congratulations to all the finalists for the 2012 R*BY awards!
Romance Writers of Australia has announced the finalists for the 2012 Romantic Book of the Year awards. The awards will be presented on Saturday, August 18, at the RWA national conference at the Gold Coast.
Short Sweet
Molly Cooper’s Dream Date by Barbara Hannay
How To Save a Marriage In a Million by Leonie Knight
Abby and The Bachelor Cop by Marion Lennox
Single Dad’s Triple Trouble by Fiona Lowe
Short Sexy
The Fearless Maverick by Robyn Grady
The Man She Loves to Hate by Kelly Hunter (Kat’s review)
The Wedding Charade by Melanie Milburne
Her Not-So-Secret-Diary by Anne Oliver
Long Romance
Midnight’s Wild Passion by Anna Campbell
Boomerang Bride by Fiona Lowe (Kat’s review)
The Best Laid Plans by Sarah Mayberry
The Voyagers by Mardi McConnochie
Romantic Elements
The Trader’s Wife by Anna Jacobs
The Shelly Beach Writers’ Group by June Loves
Busted In Bollywood by Nicola Marsh
Shattered Sky by Helene Young
It was an awesome weekend for Australian romance readers, especially those who happened to be in Sydney.
Saturday night was the biggest event in ARRA’s calendar for the year—the annual Australian Romance Readers Awards dinner. It was great to see familiar faces (although I couldn’t always remember names—this is why I suck at conventions) and for the first time ever I arrived to an ARRA event on time. Yes, the end of the world is nigh.
I sat next to Kate and Adele and around the table were Kate’s mum Gwen, Lami, Decadence and two awesome authors, Keri Arthur and MJ Scott. This year I managed to chat a lot more—thanks, Kate!—and actually eat normally. I must be getting better at either live tweeting or multitasking.
This year’s Bling Off was decided by audience applause, and authors Tracey O’Hara and Melissa Craig tied for the title of Queen of Bling. It was fabulous to see so many people participate in the Bling Parade, so thanks to everyone who got involved (and even those who blinged but stayed seated—you know who you are)!
After the dinner, a few of us walked to Tattersall’s for drinks. Next time, I think someone should scope out nearby pubs because we needed cheaper drinks, comfier seating and longer hours! Then again, we had to be up the next day for the romance reading flash mob…
Some thoughts about the awards night:
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Anna Campbell has once again been voted Favourite Australian Romance Author at the 2011 Australian Romance Readers Awards, held last night at Cello’s Restaurant in Sydney.
Campbell also retains her undefeated status in the Favourite Historical Romance section, the award going to her Avon Regency book Midnight’s Wild Passion. A representative from HarperCollins accepted the awards on Campbell’s behalf, reading a prepared acceptance speech that, in true Campbell style, had the audience smiling.
New Zealand author Nalini Singh picked up the most awards, winning Favourite Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Futuristic Romance for Archangel’s Blade and Favourite Paranormal Romance for the much-anticipated Kiss of Snow, the latest book in the Psy/Changeling series, for which Singh was awarded the prize for Favourite Continuing Romance series for the third year in a row. Singh’s awards were received on her behalf by selected ARRA members. Singh had also pre-recorded her acceptance speech, which was shown to the audience after her final award was announced.
Helene Young (photo by Kat)
Shattered Sky was named Favourite Romantic Suspense. Queensland author Helene Young was the only winner who was able to personally accepted her award. Young’s next book, Burning Lies, with be released in July by Penguin Australia.
Australian authors Kelly Hunter and Denise Rossetti won Favourite Short Category Romance for With This Fling… (see Kat’s review here) and Favourite Erotic Romance for The Lone Warrior, respectively. Julie James won Favourite Contemporary Romance for A Lot Like Love.
The Member of the Year award when to Amy and the Bling Off culminated in a mini-parade, with authors Melissa Craig and Travey O’Hara sharing this year’s Queen of Bling title. They will be time-sharing the tiara.
Guest speaker Paula Roe spoke about the the books that shaped her love of romance reading and, eventually, led her to try her hand at writing romance fiction. Her passion and enthusiasm for the genre had the audience smiling, at times laughing, as she described some of the earlier novels she loved (and loved to read out loud to her friends in high school).
The annual Australian Romance Readers Awards are managed by the Australian Romance Readers Association. Nominees are shortlisted from member nominations and winners are decided by popular vote among ARRA members.
The event was sponsored by Australian online bookshop Booktopia. The awards were sponsored by Galaxy Bookshop, Carina Press, Harlequin Australia, Rosemary’s Romance Books and Temptation the Romance Bookstore, Romantic Reflections, Romance Direct, Penguin Books Australia and Booktopia.
Check out the photos from the event via Flickr. I plan to write up a longer post on my observations from the night, so watch this space.
Last Saturday, the Romance Writers of Australia (RWA) held their annual R*BY (Romantic Book of the Year) awards dinner to honour the best books written by Australian romance authors.
Historical romance author Anne Gracie was given a standing ovation as she accepted her honorary life member award.
The R*BY in the Short and Sweet category went to Melanie Milburne for The Doctor’s Rebel Knight. Lindsay Armstrong took out the Short and Sexy category for The Socialite and the Cattle King. The R*BY in the Long Romance was awarded to Sophia James for her historical novel One Unashamed Night, featuring a blind hero. Romantic suspense author Helene Young won the R*BY for Romantic Elements with her debut novel, Wings of Fear.
The ROMA Award (Romance in the media) was awarded Simon Royal for The Changing Face of Romance (Stateline, ABC South Australia, 28/8/2010), featuring various Australian romance writers and interviews with people in the romance industry.
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2012 ARR Awards
The 2012 Australian Romance Readers Awards will be held on Saturday, February 11, 2012 at Cello’s Resturant in Sydney (same venue as last year). Book it in and start saving!
Am I the only one who wants to rename this to the Pirate Awards? I wonder if we can have a pirate-themed bling off?
Shannon Curtis at Burwood Library
Shannon Curtis will be at Burwood Library on July 30 to launch her debut release from Carina Press, The Viper’s Kiss. Readers are invited to bring their ebook readers, laptops and USB gizmos to the ‘digital download event’. I love this idea! You can buy a copy of the book using the library’s free WiFi and have a chat about the library’s ebook community and digital lending program. (Source: ARRA newsletter — Worth the price of membership, just for the events notices, but it has excellent articles, too!)
Going digital with Angela James
Carina Press executive editor, Angela James, will be speaking at the Australia Council for the Arts on Tuesday, August 16 as part of an if:book Australia initiative. The cost is $49.50 and you need to RSVP by Friday, August 12.
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The Oscars of the romance industry, the RITA Awards, were awarded yesterday at the Romance Writers of America conference in New York.
Wendy, whom you might know from her blog, The Misadventures of Super Librarian, was awarded the Librarian of the Year award.
The RWA website has a full list of finalists and winners, including winners of the Golden Heart Awards and other special awards.
Historical Romance
Regency Historical Romance
Contemporary Series Romance
Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure
Contemporary Single Title Romance
Paranormal Romance
Romantic Suspense
Inspirational Romance
Young Adult Romance
Romance Novella - "Shifting Sea" by Virginia Kantra
Novel with Strong Romantic Elements
Best First Book
