FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Black Writers Alliance Announces Nominees for 2002 Gold Pen Awards

Dallas, TX - June 19, 2002 - The Black Writers Alliance is proud to announce
the 2002 Gold Pen Award Nominees. This year's Gold Pen Awards will be
presented during the Gold Pen Awards Banquet on Saturday, August 23, 2003 at
the 2003 Black Writers Reunion & Conference in Los Angeles, California.

The Black Writers Alliance established the Gold Pen Awards program in 2000
to recognize the best in literature of the African Diaspora. The Gold Pen
Awards was the first literary award program to honor multi-genre Black
literature. Past honorees include Bernice McFadden, Sharon Ewell Foster,
Carol Taylor, Brandon Massey, Joan Morgan, and Randall Robinson.

This year the Gold Pen Awards will be presented in seven categories
including New Author, Mainstream Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Christian
Fiction, Romantic Fiction, Novella/Short Story Collection, and Poetry
Collection.

 

Best New Author

ReShonda Tate Billingsley, author of My Brother's Keeper
Curtis Bunn, author of Baggage Check
Jamellah Ellis, author of That Faith, That Trust, That Love
Kenji Jasper, author of Dark
Solomon Jones, author of Pipe Dream
Angela Nissel, author of The Broke Diaries

 

Best Mainstream Fiction

Lion's Blood by Steven Barnes, Aspect/Warner
Hand-me-down Heartache by Tajuana TJ Butler, Villard
October Suite by Maxine Clair, Random House
This Bitter Earth by Bernice L. McFadden, Dutton
Greenwichtown by Joyce Palmer, St. Martin's Press

 

Best Mystery/Thriller

Hoochie Mama by Preston L. Allen, Writers Club Press
Whispers in the Dark: A Marti MacAlister Mystery by Eleanor Taylor Bland,
Minotaur
Sympathy for the Devil by Christopher Chambers, Crown
The Color of Justice by Gary Hardwick, Harper
Pipe Dream by Solomon Jones, Strivers Row/Villard

 

Best Christian Fiction

Abiding Hope by Angela Benson, Tyndale House
First Love by Yolanda Callegari Brooks, BOW Press
That Faith, That Trust, That Love by Jamellah Ellis, All the While Reconcile
Promises Beyond Jordan by Vanessa Davis Griggs, Free To Soar
Joy by Victoria Christopher Murray, Walk Worthy/Warner

 

Best Romantic Fiction

No Compromise by Rochelle Alers, BET
Rivers of the Soul by Leslie Esdaile, Genesis Press
Before the Dawn by Beverly E. Jenkins, Avon
Sweet Temptation by Niqui Stanhope, BET
With a Song in my Heart by Jacquelin Thomas, BET

 

Best Novella/Short Story Collection

Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson, Aspect
Free by Anika Nailah, Doubleday
Black Silk by Retha Powers, Warner
Sex and the Single Sister by Maryann Reid, St. Martin's Press
Glow in the Dark by Lisa Teasley, Cune

 

Best Poetry Collection

Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes by Linda D. Addison, Space and
Time
Storms Beneath the Skin by Regie Gibson, EM Press
Still Swingin': New and selected poems from These Hips by Tonya Maria
Matthews, Black Words Inc.
Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam by Tony Medina (Editor), Three Rivers
Press
Xango Music by Geoffrey Philp, Peepal Tree Press

 

*The Creative Nonfiction category was eliminated because the majority of the
books nominated were outside of the defined scope of Creative Nonfiction. We
regret any inconvenience.

About Black Writers Alliance
Founded in 1998, the Black Writers Alliance (BWA) is a 501(c)(3)
Internet-based literary arts association which educates, informs, empowers,
and supports Black writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama while
promoting the Internet as a tool for research and fellowship. The premier
online resource for writers of the African Diaspora, BWA promotes the
culture of Black literature; honors excellence in literary artistry; and
distributes resources and information on publishing, skill development,
contests, fellowships, freelance and career writing opportunities to over
5,000 members and subscribers around the world. For more information, visit
the web site at www.blackwriters.org.

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Media Contact:
Kimberly Hines, Public Relations Director
Telephone/Fax: 214.853.5196
KimberlyHines@blackwriters.org

Gold Pen Awards
Sponsored by Black Writers Alliance
PO Box 700065
Dallas, Texas 75370-0065
Telephone/Fax 214.853.5196
www.blackwriters.org
www.goldpenawards.com
goldpenawards@blackwriters.org