A big thank you to everyone who participated in the 2012 Silken Sands Self-Published Star Contest. The winners of the contest are…

Short Story:

1 – Dragon In The Mist by Nancy Lee Badger

2 – Gaea’s Chosen: The Mayday Directive by Cara Michaels

3 – New Money & Old Trouble by Jane Carver

Novella:

1 – Deceive her With Desire by Nina Pierce

2 – All’s Fair In Love & Seduction by Beverley Kendall

3 – Loving or Nothing by Cara Marsi

Single Title Contemporary:

1 – Hardball by V.K. Sykes

2 – Wife by Wednesday by Catherine Bybee

3 – For the Love of a Woman by Christina James

Single Title Paranormal:

1 – Love by Accident by Michelle Beattie

2 – Bayou Legend by Janet Breakfield**

2 – Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She’s Dead by Christiana Miller

*Note: Flat Tie for Second Place

Single Title Historical:

1 – Another Chance by Michelle Beattie

2 – This Heart For Hire by Elysa Hendricks

3 – Her Secondhand Groom by Rose Gordon

Young Adult:

1 – Freaks of Greenfield High by Maree Anderson

2 – The Boyfriend Thief by Shana Norris

3 – Pride’s Run by Cat Kalen

**Gulf Coast RWA Chapter Member

Congratulations to all of the winners and finalists!

Congratulations to all of the finalists in the 2012 Silken Sands Self-Published Star Contest.  Our judges reviewed some incredible entries, and we’d like to thank the judges for their time and consideration. We’d also like to thank all of our entrants–so many wonderful stories! So many talented authors.

And now, here are our finalists (congratulations!!):

Short Story:

Gaea’s Chosen: The Mayday Directive by Cara Michaels

New Money & Old Trouble by Jane Carver

Dragon In The Mist by Nancy Lee Badger

Novella:

All’s Fair In Love & Seduction by Beverley Kendall

Loving or Nothing by Cara Marsi

Deceive her With Desire by Nina Pierce

Single Title Contemporary:

Wife by Wednesday by Catherine Bybee

For the Love of a Woman by Christina James

Hardball by V.K. Sykes

Single Title Paranormal:

Bayou Legend by Janet Breakfield

Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She’s Dead by Christiana Miller

Love by Accident by Michelle Beattie

Single Title Historical:

This Heart For Hire by Elysa Hendricks

Another Chance by Michelle Beattie

Her Secondhand Groom by Rose Gordon

Young Adult:

Pride’s Run by Cat Kalen

Freaks of Greenfield High by Maree Anderson

The Boyfriend Thief by Shana Norris

Winners will be announced at the Silken Sands Writers’ Conference in Pensacola, Florida, on March 17, 2012.  

To kick off the year, we hope you’ll join us January 7, 2012, at 11 AM
for our meeting at the Moorer branch of the Mobile library, followed
by a fantastic workshop as Fran McNabb (aka Fran Fisher) talks to us
about organizing our writing. We’ll also be setting individual and
chapter goals, launching a Million-Word March program, doing group
critique sessions, having some yummy snacks, and getting excited as we
head into the home stretch of planning for the Silken Sands
Conference!

The Gulf Coast Chapter is going to have a great 2012! We hope to see you soon!

This chapter is so proud of Cynthia and we offer her our congratulations!

Dianna Love is also a Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence finalist in the romantic suspense single title category (for her book with Sherrilyn Kenyon, Whispered Lies) 

Congratulations to two wonderful members of our Chapter.

CataNetwork has honored two of our authors with a 2009 Reader’s Choice Award:  Paige Tyler for Men of Alaska: Animal Instinct  and Cynthia Eden for Immortal Danger.   Congratulations, Ladies.