The BIG Awards 2011

Every year RWA ends their national conference on a splendid note by having a HUGE awards ceremony to announce the winners of the Golden Heart (for unpublished authors) and the Rita award (for published authors).

As you all know, the awards have special significance to the Banditas because we were all Golden Heart finalists back in 2006. That's where we met and bonded and we continue to be attached to the yearly awards ceremony.

Even those of us who were unable to attend the conference this year were gathered round our laptops in eager anticipation. Sven (who stayed home this year so that Lars and Paolo could attend) made us a huge batch of hot buttered popcorn, and there's plenty of bubbly for everyone.

Please join us as we toast this year's Golden Heart and Rita winners:

Golden Heart for Regency Romance: The Proper Miss's Guide to Bad Behavior by Anne Barton

Golden Heart for Historical Romance: The Dark Lady by Maire Shelley

Golden Heart for Inspirational: At His Command by Ruth Kaufman

Golden Heart for Young Adult: Irresistible by Suzanne Kaufman Kalb

Golden Heart for Contemporary Series Romance: Lost and Found by Jo Anne Banker

Golden Heart for Contemporary Series Suspense/Adventure: Stolen Lullaby by Robin Perini

Golden Heart for Romantic Suspense: Spy in the Mirror by Diana Van Dyke

Golden Heart for Novel with Strong Romantic Elements: Nearly Departed in Deadwood by Ann Charles

Golden Heart for Paranormal Romance: The Blood Sworn King by Tirsze Ray

Golden Heart for Contemporary Single Title Romance: The Sinners by Lisa Connelly

Rita for Regency Historical Romance: The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig

Rita for Historical Romance: His at Night by Sherry Thomas

Rita for Inspirational Romance: In Harms Way by Irene Hannon

Rita for Young Adult Romance: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Rita for Contemporary Series Romance: Welcome Home, Cowboy by Karen Templeton

Rita for Series Romance Suspense/Adventure: The Moon that Night by Helen Brenna

Rita for Novel with Strong Romantic Elements: Welcome to Harmony by Jodi Thomas

Rita for Romantic Suspense: Silent Scream by Karen Rose

Rita for Romantic Novella: "Shifting Sea" by Virginia Kantra in Burning Up

Rita for Paranormal Romance: Unchained: The Dark Forgotten by Sharon Ashwood

Rita for Contemporary Single Title: Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis

Rita for Best First Book: Pieces of Sky by Kaki Warner

SUPER CONGRATS to all the winners! It's wonderful to see familiar names and also fun to see brand new authors with great new books to try!

Do you like to watch award shows? Which are your favorites?

How many of the winning books have you read?

The BIG Awards Ceremony!

posted by gullar sahir

Tonight's the night! Saturday night of RWA's National Conference is the BIG awards ceremony! This is the ceremony where romance writers honor their own with the Rita and Golden Heart awards, our industry's equivalent of the Oscars, Emmys, or Grammys.

As you know, the Banditas were all finalists in the 2006 Golden Heart contest. That is where we "found" each other, and so this award has a very special place in all our hearts! In case you didn't know, the Golden Heart contest recognizes outstanding unpublished romance manuscripts in ten different categories. Up to 1200 entries are judged by members of RWA and are narrowed down to around 100 finalists. Editors from acquiring romance publishers judge the final round, and winners receive a beautiful pendant.

This year, our Bandita KJ Howe is a finalist in the Contemporary Series Suspense/Adventure category. KJ is a fantastic writer and we are all pulling for her to be the BIG WINNER in her category tonight!

Did you know the Rita award was named for RWA's first president Rita Clay Estrada? (Be sure to file that away for future trivia contests.) This award is for outstanding published romance novels and novellas and the contest has twelve categories. Once again, approximately 1200 entries are narrowed by judges to about 100 finalists. Winners receive a beautiful statuette much like an Oscar or Emmy.

This year A Not-So-Perfect Past by our Bandita Beth Andrews is a Rita finalist in the Contemporary Series Romance category. So many of us Banditas and BBs LOVED Nina and Dillon's story and we will all be hoping that our Wonder-Beth will be the first Bandita to bring home the lovely Rita statue!

There are many wonderful writers and books up for Golden Heart and Rita awards this year. By this time tomorrow, it will all be over and the winners will be announced. We'll get to see all the fabulous pictures and share the triumphs. But they are ALL WINNERS just to have been finalists!

Awards are so much fun! We all deserve to win one once in awhile. For instance, Posh, Jo-Mama, and I, along with Lars, Marcus, Zach, and Paolo all deserve a "Holding-Down-The -Fort" award! What about you? What kind of award would you create and who would win it?

Today's the Day ...

By Kate

As you already know by now (thanks to Donna’s blog from Tuesday!), today is the official RITA and Golden Heart contest call day.

Somebody out there is going to get THE CALL!!!

If it's you, we want to know! Leave us a comment and we'll celebrate with you!!

But meanwhile, here in the Lair, we Banditas are on edge. Even if we don't have an entry in the contest, we know someone—make that many someones—who do. So you’ll forgive us if our nerves are showing!

Will the phone ever ring??

Forget trying to concentrate on blogging today. As Donna mentioned, most of us are still contest whor--uh, divas! Yes, we all still love to enter contests. And can you blame us? After all, it was just three short years ago that we Banditas first met after we each received the call telling us that our entry had finaled in the prestigious Golden Heart contest. (Really? Only three years ago? Seems like a lifetime!) So yes, contests--especially the RITA and Golden Heart--are near and dear to our hearts. And no, there won’t be much concentrating on important topics today. We’re all just going to sit around giggling and shrieking together. Please join us. Share your news!

Wait! Was that the phone???

Oh.

No, sorry, that was the cat. Sorry, kitty.

Anyway, do come into the Lair and share your news! Piero, Sebastian and Travis, our cabana boys for the day, will be around to offer you a lovely glass of champagne. We’re toasting to all the good news.

And don’t miss the three-tiered deluxe warm and gooey chocolate fountain. It’s always the best place to drown your sorrows should the need arise. Don’t feel bad. We’ve all been there.

But we prefer to think positive thoughts. :-)

Good luck, everyone!!!

So while we’re all waiting for the phone to ring, here’s a subject I’ve been thinking about lately. I spent the last few days with some author friends and most of the talk centered around big contemporary romance. Is it making a comeback? I hope so! What about you? Love it? Hate it? Why? Why not? Who are your favorites? I’ll start the list with Susan Mallery (can’t wait for her Fool’s Gold series to begin!), Lisa Kleypas (loved Smooth Talking Stranger) and Kristan Higgins (I’ve read Catch of the Day at least three times already). How about you?

Whoa—did I just hear a phone ringing??

The Winning Season...

by Donna MacMeans

Everyone has been a little high strung in the lair this week.

You might recall that a contest, RWA's 2006 Golden Heart contest, brought us all together so many years ago.

Now, one usually doesn't enter the Golden Heart without having had som

e success at smaller regional contests. Consequently you could say that the banditas are a collection of successful contest sluts.

I'm afraid the sluttiness doesn't go away once one becomes published. There's a whole array of regional contests for published authors. While the prize in an unpublished contest is often an editor read - for the published author, it's just another credential to add to their biography (and sometimes a framable certificate or plaque). But the grand prize remains RWA's RITA contest which earns the author, besides bragging rights, a

golden statuette.

So why are we antsy in the lair? Thursday is the day the finalists in the Golden Heart/RITA contest are announced. First the finalists receive a phone call, then the names go up on the contest website and the congratulations begin flying. This year the winners of the Golden Heart and RITA contests will be announced in late July at the RWA convention in Nashville. Of cour

se, we'll announce any bandita finalists here and post their good news on the scroll. For more information on the RWA convention, follow this link: www.Rwanational.org

The nice thing about the Golden Heart/RITA contest is that much like the Academy awards, the contest is judged by peers. For the Golden Heart, scores are collected from five RWA member judges to determine the finalists. A panel of editors determine the winner. For the RITA, scores are collected from five other published author judges to determine the finalists. Then another panel of author judges chose the winner.

But while we wait for Thursday's announcement, I thought I'd explain some of the differences between the big published author contests.

Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Awards - Every year the reviewers at Romantic Times Book reviews magazine nominate various books/authors for a variety of awards. The reviewers choose the winner in each category and announce the winners at their convention (which this

year will be in Columbus, Ohio) in late April. The nice thing about this contest is that there is no entry fee or submission process. If you've published a book in the past year, you are

automatically entered. This year we have three banditas as finalists: Christine Wells/ Wicked Little Games, Anna Campbell/Tempt the Devil and Kate Carlisle/Homicide in Hard Cover. As I'll be at the RT Convention next month, I'll be cheering loudly for my fellow banditas to win. For more information on the RT convention, check out this link: http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS

RomCon - This is the first year for this contest, but the prizes are simply amazing. This is the only contest with a significant financial award for the winner, but it is an expensive contest to enter and, unlike the RT award, one must enter. Like many of the smaller regional contests, the judges are screened readers. The finalists will be announced next month on April 30th. The winners will be announced at the RomCon convention in early July in Denver. For more information, check out this link. http://www.romconinc.com/

So my question for you is - do contest wins or finals make a difference to you as a reader? Not everyone enters their books into contests due to cost factors. We banditas enjoy the validation that a contest win or final can bring. Are you a contest slut? How about in another venue? Before I started writing I used to enter my paintings in local art shows. I guess once a slut, always a slut (grins). So what do you think?