Christian Book Award Winners for 2012

Recognizing “the absolute highest quality in Christian books based on excellence in content, literary quality, design, and impact,” the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (@ecpa) has announced the winners for the 2012 Christian Book Awards (@CBAwards & @ChristianBkExpo). Presented annually since 1978, the Christian Book Awards honor titles in 7 categories: Bibles, Bible Reference, Non-Fiction, Fiction, Children, Inspiration, and New Author.

Five finalists are selected in each category following a stringent judging process by judging panels specially selected for each category. The top scoring book in each category is named the Christian Book Award winner. The Christian Book of the Year is chosen among the finalists to represent Christian publishing's highest quality and greatest impact for 2012.

The Christian Book Award winners and Christian Book of the Year were announced at the ECPA Awards Banquet in Chicago, IL, April 30th.

ECPA also announced the winners of the Jordon Lifetime Achievement Award: Gary & Carol Johnson and John R. W. Stott.

The 2012 Christian Book of the Year
Nearing Home by Billy Graham (@BGEA) (Thomas Nelson (@ThomasNelson))

Bibles
ESV Student Study Bible (Crossway (@CrosswayBooks))

Bible Reference
Dictionary of Christian Spirituality by Glen G. Scorgie (Zondervan (@Zondervan))

Children
The Story for Children, A Storybook Bible by Max Lucado (@MaxLucado), Randy Frazee (@RandyFrazee), and Karen Davis Hill (Zonderkidz (@Zonderkidz))

Fiction
The Queen by Steven James (@sjamesauthor) (Revell (@RevellBooks) / Baker Publishing Group (@ReadBakerBooks))

New Author
Love Amid the Ashes by Mesu Andrews (@MesuAndrews) (Revell (@RevellBooks) / Baker Publishing Group (@ReadBakerBooks))

Non-Fiction
Close Enough to Hear God Breathe by Greg Paul (Thomas Nelson (@ThomasNelson))

Inspiration
The Law of Happiness by Dr. Henry Cloud (@DrHenryCloud) (Howard Books (@Howard_Books))

Also see our previous blogposts, “ECPA Announces 2012 Christian Book Award Finalists” and “2012 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award Winners Announced.”

And be sure to bookmark and use daily SomersaultNOW, the online dashboard for publishing and marketing professionals.

The Story of English in 100 Words

Linguist David Crystal describes English as "a vacuum cleaner of a language" — speakers merrily swipe some words from other languages, adopt others because they're cool or sound classy, and simply make up other terms.

Crystal believes every word has a story to tell, even the ones as commonplace as “and.” In his new book, The Story of English in 100 Words, he compiles a collection of words — classic words like "tea" and new words like "app" — that explain how the English language has evolved.

On NPR’s Talk of the Nation (@totn), he tells about the challenge of compiling this list and the idiosyncrasies of the English language.

Read and hear this interview in full.

This interview clearly sets the foundation for the reason the new Common English Bible (@CommonEngBible) was just published: because the digital revolution is accelerating changes in the English language and its everyday usage and understandability. The popular Common English Bible, ranking #7 on the Christian retail bestseller list for April, is necessary to clearly communicate God’s Word since 9,000 new words and meaning revisions are added yearly to the English lexicon. The Common English Bible is today’s freshest translation and uses natural, 21st century English.

Sample the CEB on its website.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you clearly communicate your brand’s marketing message.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

ECPA Announces 2012 Christian Book Award Finalists

Recognizing the absolute highest quality in Christian books based on excellence in content, literary quality, design, and impact, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (@ecpa) has announced 40 finalists in 7 categories (Bibles, Bible Reference, Children, Fiction, Inspiration, New Author, Non-Fiction) for the 2012 Christian Book Awards (@ChristianBkExpo).

The debut of the “New Author” category resulted in 6 finalists from both fiction and nonfiction, and represents a new opportunity of exposure for new voices in Christian publishing. One new author title, Kisses from Katie, also appeared on The New York Times bestseller list in the past year.

Judging results in the Non-Fiction category yielded a 3-way tie for a total of 7 finalists in that category. Other ties are in Inspiration, New Author, and Bible Reference. “This year’s 40 finalists and 5 ties represent the strength and quality of content our industry continues to produce, in both seasoned and new voices and from small, mid-sized, and large publishing houses,” says ECPA President Mark Kuyper. “We congratulate each author and the 16 publishers represented on this list!”

One title from each category will be announced April 30 as the Christian Book Award winner. And one title will be chosen among all the finalists to receive the highest honor of 2012 Christian Book of the Year.

Read this in full.

See previous winners.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you navigate 21st century Christian publishing.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard, designed especially for publishing and marketing professionals.

Common English Bible Advances in Best Seller Status

The new Common English Bible (http://CommonEnglishBible.com) is #7 in unit sales and #10 in dollar sales on the CBA Bible Translation Best Seller list for the month of April (http://cbaonline.org/nm/documents/BSLs/Bible_Translations.pdf). This marks the fourth month the Common English Bible (Twitter @CommonEngBible – http://twitter.com/CommonEngBible) has been on the Unit Sales list (moving up from #10) and the first month it’s appeared on the Dollar Sales list since its release last fall.

“The broad acceptance of the Common English Bible by scholars, consumers, and book sellers is gratifying,” says Paul Franklyn, PhD, associate publisher. “It confirms our decision to create an academically rigorous yet naturally understandable translation for 21st century English readers; a translation from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that’s built on common ground from the bottom up.”

The Common English Bible’s popularity has soared since it was first released last September. In addition to being a repeat best seller,

·         it was named one of the top 10 religion stories of 2011 by leading journalists of the Religion Newswriters Association

·         people are printing its verses in calligraphy when they LIKE the Facebook page http://facebook.com/LiveTheBible

·         a Lenten PowerPoint® presentation of nature scenes in vivid color photography combined with scripture verses from the Common English Bible has been viewed, downloaded, and embedded more than 10,000 times (http://CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/LentDownloads and http://slideshare.net/CommonEnglishBible)

·         200 bloggers are participating in the “Common English Bible Change Your Heart and Life” blog tour (http://CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour) through Pentecost Sunday in May (Twitter hashtag #CEBtour – http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23CEBTour).

·         the Common English Bible’s video “Who Does God Love” (vimeo.com/CommonEnglishBible) has registered more than 1,000 views and blog embeds (see above)

·         the Common English Bible text, including the Apocrypha, is available to search for free online at Bible Gateway (http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/Common-English-Bible-CEB/), YouVersion.com (http://www.youversion.com/versions/ceb), and the translation’s website

·         more than 6,000 people subscribe to the email Common English Bible “Verse of the Day” delivered daily to personal email inboxes from Bible Gateway (http://www.biblegateway.com/newsletters/)

·         and churches are using the translation to read through the Bible in a year (e.g. http://www.fourthchurch.org/bibleyear.html).

The Common English Bible is a collaboration of 120 Bible scholars and editors, 77 reading group leaders, and more than 500 average readers from around the world. The translators – from 24 denominations in American, African, Asian, European, and Latino communities – represent such academic institutions as Asbury Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University, Bethel Seminary, Denver Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Seattle Pacific University, Wheaton College, Yale University, and many others.

The Common English Bible is written in contemporary idiom at the same reading level as the newspaper USA TODAY—using language that’s comfortable and accessible for today’s English readers. More than half-a-million copies of the Bible are in print, including an edition with the Apocrypha. The Common English Bible is available online and in 20 digital formats. A Reference Bible edition and a Daily Companion devotional edition are now also available. Additionally, Church/Pew Bibles, Gift and Award Bibles, Large Print Bibles, and Children’s Bible editions will be in stores soon, joining the existing Thinline Bibles, Compact Thin Bibles, and Pocket-Size Bibles, bringing the total variety of Common English Bible stock-keeping units (SKUs) to more than 40.

Visit CommonEnglishBible.com to see comparison translations, learn about the translators, get free downloads, and more.

The Common English Bible is sponsored by the Common English Bible Committee, an alliance of five publishers that serve the general market, as well as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (Chalice Press), Presbyterian Church (USA) (Westminster John Knox Press), Episcopal Church (Church Publishing, Inc.), United Church of Christ (The Pilgrim Press), and The United Methodist Church (Abingdon Press).

For a media review copy of the Common English Bible and to schedule an interview with Paul Franklyn, please contact Diane Morrow, dmorrow@tbbmedia.com, at 800.927.1517, x106.