'Tis the Season...

by Anna Campbell

..for awards!!!

I don't think it's any secret to our regular buddies that we LURVE awards and contests here in the lair. After all, it was a contest, the 2006 Golden Heart Award, that brought us together and mayhem has ensued every since.

Most of us are still bona fide contest sl*ts (sorry, girls, but I need to call a spade a spade) and our impressive list of continuing successes are listed in the Bandits Wanted column on the right of the blog.

The big daddy of published romance contests, of course, is the RITA Award.

I'm so excited that one of my favorite reads from last year, Christine Wells's wonderful THE DANGEROUS DUKE is up for best Regency romance. Go, Christine. I'll be cheering.

Well, I'll have to or else you'll hit me, seeing you've asked me to be your date for the awards night! You pack a seriously scary right hook, my elegant friend!

I too have some seriously exciting award news to report!

Romance Writers of Australia and our most popular women's mag, Woman's Day, unite every year to sponsor the Australian and New Zealand Romance Novel of the Year Award, the R*BY.

Last year, CLAIMING THE COURTESAN finalled which was incredibly exciting for me. This year, I'm delighted to let you know that my second book, UNTOUCHED, has finalled in the Long Romance Section. Go, you green monster!

This is a huge thrill for me, particularly as regarding contests in the U.S., I didn't have a horse in the running in 2008 (the Australian publication date for Untouched was January, 2008). I had a real crush on Lord Sheene, the hero of this book, and it's wonderful to know that other people have responded so positively to the story too.

Another nice effect locally is there's publicity via Woman's Day, including the announcement of the finalists on 1st June, the announcement of the winners and a chance to write another short story for WD. The mag has a huge circulation so this is a seriously big deal!

Anyway, huge congratulations to all the other finalists. It's a stellar line-up and I'm proud just to be listed among you. It will be an exciting Saturday night at the awards dinner for the local conference in Brisbane on 15th August when they announce the winners.

So what's your feeling about awards? Would they influence you to buy a book? I know I've checked out books that have won RITAs before and found authors new to me that I've ended up loving. Actually that's one of the great things about awards - they focus your attention on books you may have missed along the way.

I must say it's fun being in the audience for an awards night. It's a great excuse to get all glammed up and cheer on your friends! It's so exciting, whether you've been nominated or not!

So this got me thinking. If you could attend any awards - the Booker announcements, the Academy Awards, the Nobel Prizes, the Golden Globes (now, that's one that always looks like fun), the MTV Awards (I'm too old and square for that one!), the Emmys, the Grammys, the Logies, the BAFTAS, the SAG Awards (hmm, think I could win one of those. Oh, they're not for how gravity's attacked your body?), whatever, which one would you choose. And who would be your date?

And to celebrate my R*BY nomination for UNTOUCHED, one lucky commenter wins a signed copy of my green monster. Please let me know in your answer if you want to be in the draw! Good luck! Source URL: http://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/2009/06/season.html
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