Filled with cautious optimism, I tuned into the live feed of the prestigious Selah Awards. If you’re not familiar with the name, it’s an annual contest of books and articles judged by industry professionals and winners are announced at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. The Selah Award recognizes books within Christian publishing that are considered excellent within their genre.

Only a year ago this month, Live Bold: A Devotional Journal to Strengthen Your Soul by co-authors and cousins Cynthia Cavanaugh and Andrea Tomassi, arrived on a pallet from Asia where the book was printed. This was no simple print job … a journal style cover and binding, with rounded covers, ribbon marker, and elastic band. The matte finish on the shabby chic white barn wood background provided the perfect setting for the cross and heart logo and title.

Of course, a beautiful presentation can only satisfy with compelling content, authentic narrative, written well, and skillfully formatted in an appealing design. Live Bold offered all of this and more. An interactive devotional journal where each cousin shares their struggles and victories of learning how to live a bold and authentic faith in the face of betrayal and other life challenges. Opportunities to journal your thoughts as you experience their stories and read scriptures that impacted each author rounds out the message and enables the reader to identify their own bold faith journey.

As the publishing process ensued, these two cousins became more than simply clients and authors, but they became friends and peers. Cynthia was an integral part of the planning and execution of the Women of Joy tour that Redemption Press sponsored in 2018, and she and Andi were one of the featured authors on the tour. 2018 was an extremely exciting time for all of us as we embarked on this adventure together.

In the midst of all of this, we encountered some unexpected bumps in the road as we all discovered some revisions missed in the correction stages of the book. This realization brought me, as the publisher, face to face with a decision that would require a huge commitment on my part to simply “do the right thing.” The experience impacted me so much, I blogged about it at the time. It was an expensive lesson to learn, and I even had employees at the time who pushed back on my decision to take the hit and reprint at my expense. But frankly, I could do no less. With our motto of “excellence in publishing” how could I allow this beautifully written and produced devotional to carry those errors within its pages? The answer was simple. I could not. As much as it hurt me financially, I never regretted for a moment my decision to do the right thing, and even more so now that the book qualified as a finalist in its genre for the Selah Awards.

For weeks leading up to the award ceremony, my excitement grew. I just knew God was up to something. God has blessed these two authors in so many amazing ways as I’ve had the honor of watching them steward their gift of bold faith with many women over this last year. Tuning in online, from Seattle to South Carolina, my heart was so full!  Not long into the ceremony was the devotional category. I held my breath as they announced the 2^nd and 1^st runners up. To hear the roar of the crowd when Andi & Cynthia were declared top honors was such a thrill!

What a privilege for Redemption Press, along with editor Inger Logelin, to honored alongside the authors of this inspirational work. We could not be more proud of this accomplishment and congratulate Cynthia Cavanaugh and Andrea Tomassi on a job well done!