ACFW Saturday Night Awards Ceremony

The food at the Denver Marriott was awesome! The chef surprised us all with this delectable dessert

It was almost too pretty to eat...




Almost.







Here I am with my ACFW roommate and FAITH Girl Mindy. One of the highlights to going to ACFW is hanging out with her. Too bad we live several states away.

















One of the great things about living in Georgia is being a part of Writers of Remarkable Design, the Georgia Chapter of ACFW. I'm posing with Ane Mulligan, a great mentor and friend from WORD. Ane always has something delightful to share and will always make you laugh.















Had to grab a photo of my table mates!



And then the ceremony began! Here is a list of the winners:

Contemporary Fiction
Jennifer Griffith, Magpies in Trees

Contemporary Romance
Christy LaShea Smith, The Bridge Between

Historical Fiction
Christine Schmidtke, Unveiled

Historical Romance
Lacy Williams, Marrying Miss Marshal

Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Alan Schleimer, Q.doc

Romantic Suspense
Jan Warren, Katherine Octavia, C.I.A.

Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Allegory
David Fry, Lies To See

Women's Fiction
Cathleen Armstrong, The Church of Last Chance

Young Adult
Gretchen Hoffman, Rewind


CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS!




I'm still shocked I won my category. What an awesome honor!

Remember Wayne's World?

- I'M NOT WORTHY! I'M NOT WORTHY!

Here I am giving my acceptance speech. Of course, since I ad-libbed the speech I forgot a few people...

Thank you to my dear husband for always being so supportive of my writing. He graciously puts up with me when I'm having mood swings, when the story isn't going as I want it to, when I'm frustrated I haven't allowed enough writing time in my day. He gives me the free time I need to write. He makes sacrifices - he goes fishing when I need the house to myself to get the writing done. Billy is a huge part of my success!

Thank you to my mom and my mother in law for always watching my daughter so I can go to my writer's meetings and offering to watch my daughter when I need time just to stay at home alone and write.


It's so tough to sacrifice time away from family. It's dedication to get up hours BEFORE my husband and child to use that time to write and not take time away from them. I've got a wonderful support group in my family.








Here we are, 4 of 6 FAITH sisters.

Wonderful experience.
Memorable night!

Thank you to the first round judges and the final round judges!