Patsy Pittman Named Finalist in National Book Competition

Author Patsy Pittman Named Finalist in National Book Competition

TERRA ALTA – Vienna resident Patsy Evans Pittman was honored today when USABookNews.com, the premiere online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses, announced the winners and finalists of THE NATIONAL “BEST BOOKS” 2008 AWARDS (NBBA). Over 500 winners and finalists were announced in over 140 categories covering print and audio books. Awards were presented for titles published in 2008 and late 2007.

Jeff Keen, President and CEO of USABookNews.com, said this year’s contest yielded an unprecedented number of entries, which were then narrowed down to over 500 winners and finalists.

Patsy Evans Pittman’s stories and poems were first published in a children’s weekly while she was still in elementary school. Her next publication, however, did not occur until many years later, after a thirty-year career with GMAC. Since then, her short stories and poems, many of which are included in this collection, have been published in FIRST for Women, Woman’s World and Grit, among others, as well as in several anthologies. Her non-fiction has appeared in Guideposts Books, Cup of Comfort, Ideals, Country Woman, and others.

She has won numerous awards from Writers Digest, West Virginia Writers, Midwest Writers, Alabama Writers Conclave and Barbour County Workshop, and received a 2007 Fellowship in Literature from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts

“It’s wonderful to compete with the larger publishing houses in a major competition like this,” says Headline Books president, Cathy Teets. “Patsy Pittman is one of the best writers of our time and is certainly deserving of this prestigious honor.” Headline Books, Inc. was a major winner with seven of its titles named Award-Winning Finalists in this year’s competition.
Keen says of the awards, now in their fifth year, “The 2008 results represent a phenomenal mix of books from a wide array of publishers throughout the United States.

As an executive in the publishing PR and marketing industry and president and CEO of JPX Media, I wanted to create an awards competition that recognized books in their publication year rather than months after the original launch window. With a full publicity and marketing campaign promoting the results of NBBA, this year’s winners and finalists will gain additional media coverage for the upcoming holiday retail season.”

Winners and finalists traversed the publishing landscape: Simon & Schuster, Tarcher/Penguin, HarperCollins, Hyperion, St. Martin’s Press, McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons, Headline Books, Inc. & hundreds of independent titles contributed to this year’s outstanding NBBA competition. Keen adds, “NBBA’s success begins with the enthusiastic participation of publishers and continues with our distinguished panel of industry judges who bring to the table their extensive editorial, PR, marketing, and design expertise.”

A complete list of the winners and finalists of the USABookNews.com National Best Books 2008 Awards are available online at http://www.USABookNews.com. Look for these award winning titles in your favorite bookstore, online at amazon.com and Blood Kin & Other Strangers is also available at www.publisherpage.com.