Magnificent Hope attended the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA) conference with me, Dianne E. Butts, and my husband Hal July 13 – 15 in Orlando. AWSA always hosts its annual conference the weekend before the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) which is a trade show for Christian book and gift retailers hosted by the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA).
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Linda Evans Shepherd (founder of AWSA and the Golden Scroll Awards)
with Mag Hope and Dianne at the AWSA conference Saturday July 14 |
Magnificent Hope sat in on workshops with Dianne taught by some of the top authors in the Christian marketplace, including Kathi Macias, Carol Lewis, and Linda Evans Shepherd. Speakers included Carol Kent and Wendy Lawton.
I got to introduce Magnificent Hope to some of the authors associated with my upcoming book,
Grandparenting Through Obstacles. Contributor Paula Freeman attended the AWSA conference, as did endorsers Susan Titus Osborn and Janet Thompson.
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Dianne holding the beautiful, framed Golden Scroll Finalist
certificate with Linda Evans Shepherd holding Deliver Me
after the Golden Scroll Banquet July 15 |
Maggie Hope and Hal got to meet a lot of Dianne’s friends like Cecil Murphey, Twila Belk, Bonnie Calhoun, and so many others it’s hard to name them all.
The Golden Scroll Banquet is held on Sunday afternoon and honors the top fiction and nonfiction books by AWSA authors as well as editors and publishers of the year nominated by AWSA members.
My book,
Deliver Me, was a finalist for the nonfiction Golden Scroll Award along with Poppy Smith’s
Why Can’t He Be More Like Me?,
The Quilt of Life by Mary Tatem, and
Dear God, Why Can’t I have a Baby? by Janet Thompson. Poppy Smith won the nonfiction award, and Mary Tatem won a brand new category for gift books. I was so honored to be on the same platform with these authors! And as a finalist, I was given the most beautiful gold and white framed certificate I have ever seen! My thanks to AWSA founder, Linda Evans Shepherd, and all those involved with AWSA and the Golden Scroll Awards. What an awesome afternoon it was for me!
But please don’t be disappointed that I didn’t win with
Deliver Me. As Hal, Maggie, and I discussed afterwards, it was such a huge honor for me to even be among the four finalists that we’re not worried at all that we didn’t get the “win.” We heartily congratulate all the winners and wish them all the best with their wonderful books!
Following the awards at the banquet, we were inspired by a keynote talk by well-known Bible teacher and radio host June Hunt, who spoke on the topic of her new book,
Hope for Your Heart: Finding Strength in Life’s Storms. Mrs. Hunt spoke about how HOPE is the anchor for our soul, and she brought many different types of anchors to show us. Magnificent Hope was especially taken by her talk about hope. We each received a copy of the book as a gift from the publisher, Crossway.
Finally, we enjoyed a beautiful song by recording artist Gwen E. Smith.
After the banquet at a dessert reception (with three different types of chocolate desserts!!!), I asked June Hunt to sign my copy of her book. Remarkably, she was interested in my book, Deliver Me! I had one copy left on the table, and so I asked her if she would like to have it and she said yes, she would like it for the pregnancy center she works with, so that was especially exciting for me!
Overall the AWSA conference and the Golden Scroll Awards banquet was a wonderful experience and I am so grateful that my husband, Hal, (the most handsome guy at the banquet!) could be here with me.
Bio: Dianne E. Butts and Renee Gray-Wilburn co-authored Grandparenting through Obstacles: Overcoming Family Obstacles to Reach Your Grandchildren for Christ, releasing from Pix-N-Pens Publishing August 17, 2012. Dianne is a double-finalist in Write Integrity Press’s fiction and nonfiction “Books of Hope” contest.
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