BEST SPECULATIVE YOUTH FICTION 2013

Donna Hatch, Stephanie McConkie Black, Danyelle Bauman Ferguson, Janette Rallison, Heather Burgess Justesen Traci Hunter Abramson, and Julie Peterson Wright

LOVED LOVED LOVED being with this crowd!

ANYONE can nominate a book~

a. The nominator must provide:

i. The Title and Name of Author of the nominated work

ii. The Nominator’s name, email address, and contact information

iii. The Nominator’s age; the nominator must be older than twelve years.

b. A novel may not be nominated by the novel’s author, publisher or publisher’s employee, or any other party who has a monetary interest in the work.

c. Nominations may be sent to the Whitney Awards Committee by mail or electronically.

d. Nominations may be made any time before December 31st of the award year.

e. The nominator may nominate each novel only once.

f. Any novel which receives five or more nominations. Once a book receives five nominations, the Whitney Committee will contact the author. The book will become an official nomination as soon as the author, or author’s representative, confirms word count and publication date, and the book will be placed on the Preliminary Awards Ballot. If this confirmation cannot be secured by January 10 of the following year—the year in which the award will be presented—the book may be deemed ineligible.

g. The Whitney Awards Committee may use its discretion to place novels into genre categories.

You can nominate books HERE

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BEST SPECULATIVE YOUTH FICTION

went to Brandon Sanderson for STEELHEART

There are no heroes.

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics.

But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics... nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart—the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning—and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

Amazon * GoodReads

About the Author

Brandon Sanderson was born in December 1975 in Lincoln, Nebraska. As a child Brandon enjoyed reading, but he lost interest in the types of titles often suggested for him, and by junior high he never cracked a book if he could help it. This all changed in eighth grade when an astute teacher, Mrs. Reader, gave Brandon Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly. Brandon thoroughly enjoyed this book, and went in search of anything similar. He discovered such authors as Robert Jordan, Melanie Rawn, David Eddings, Anne McCaffrey, and Orson Scott Card. Brandon continued to be an avid reader through junior high and high school. He liked epic fantasy so much that he even tried his hand at writing some. His first attempts, he says, were dreadful.

In 1994 Brandon enrolled at Brigham Young University as a biochemistry major. From 1995 to 1997 he took time away from his studies to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brandon often says that it was during this time in Seoul, Korea that he realized that he didn’t miss chemistry one bit, but he did miss writing. Upon his return to BYU, Brandon became an English major, much to the dismay of his mother, who had always hoped he would become a doctor.

Brandon began writing in earnest, taking a job as the night desk clerk at a hotel because they allowed him to write while at work. During this era he went to school full time during the day, worked nights to pay for his schooling, and wrote as much as he could. He says it made for a rather dismal social life, but he finished seven novels during his undergraduate years. Brandon submitted many manuscripts for publication . . . and accumulated quite a pile of rejection letters. In spite of this he continued to be a dedicated writer.

Brandon now wins MANY awards for his books!

Brandon's book also took 

BEST YOUTH NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2013

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THE OTHER FINALISTS WERE

Friends and Traitors: Slayers 2 by C. J. Hill

In C.J. Hill's action-packed sequel to Slayers, the group of teens known as Slayers have been betrayed—but they won’t give up without a fight.

Tori’s got a problem. She thought she’d have one more summer to train as a dragon Slayer, but time has run out. When Tori hears the horrifying sound of dragon eggs hatching, she knows the Slayers are in trouble. In less than a year, the dragons will be fully grown and completely lethal. The Slayers are well-prepared, but their group is still not complete, and Tori is determined to track down Ryker—the mysterious missing Slayer.

What Tori doesn’t bargain for, however, is the surprising truth about her powers. She isn’t just a Slayer, she’s part Dragon Lord, too. How can Tori fight to save her friends when half of her is programmed to protect dragons? And with a possible traitor in their midst, the Slayers will be divided in more ways than they ever imagined.

Amazon * GoodReads

Insomnia by J. R. Johansson

Her eyes saved his life.
Her dreams released his darkness.

After four years of sleeplessness, high school junior Parker Chipp can't take much more. Every night, instead of sleeping, he enters the dreams of the last person he's made eye contact with. If he doesn't sleep soon, Parker will die.

Then he meets Mia. Her dreams, calm and beautifully uncomplicated, allow him blissful rest that is utterly addictive. But what starts out as a chance meeting turns into an obsession; Parker's furious desire for what he needs pushes him to extremes he never thought he'd go. And when someone begins to terrorizing Mia with twisted death threats, Parker's memory blackouts leave him doubting his own innocence.

Amazon * GoodReads

Pivot Point by Kasie West

Perfect for fans of Sliding Doors, Kasie West's riveting novel Pivot Point follows a girl with the power to see her potential futures.

Addison Coleman's life is one big "What if?" As a Searcher, a special type of clairvoyant, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she is able to look into the future and see both outcomes. So when her parents tell her they are getting a divorce and she has to pick who she wants to live with, a Search has never been more important.

In one future Addie is living with her mom in the life she's always known and is being pursued by the most popular guy in school. In the other she is the new girl in school, where she falls for a cute, quiet artist. Then Addie finds herself drawn into a murder investigation, and her fate takes a darker turn. With so much to lose in either future, Addie must decide which reality she's willing to live through . . . and who she's willing to live without.

Pivot Point also took 

BEST NOVEL by a NEW AUTHOR

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Blackout by Robison Wells

Laura and Alec are highly trained teenage terrorists.

Jack and Aubrey are small-town high school students. 

There was no reason for their paths ever to cross. 

But now a mysterious virus is spreading throughout America, infecting teenagers with impossible superpowers—and all teens are being rounded up, dragged to government testing facilities, and drafted into the army to fight terrorism. Suddenly, Jack, Laura, Aubrey, and Alec find their lives intertwined in a complex web of deception, loyalty, and catastrophic danger—where one wrong choice could trigger an explosion that ends it all.

Amazon * GoodReads

Check back Monday to see who won

BEST GENERAL YOUTH FICTION 2013