Bethany House and Tyndale House Publishers each received six nominations in the 14th Annual Christy Awards for excellence in Christian fiction. In addition to Bethany House, Revell—another division of Baker Publishing Group—received three nominations.

Two authors—Jocelyn Green and Chris Fabry—also received two nominations each. Green’s novel, Wedded to War (River North/Moody Publishers), was nominated in two categories, First Novel and Historical. Fabry had two of his Tyndale-published works, Borders of the Heart and Not in the Heart, nominated in the same category, Contemporary Standalone.

RT Book Reviews magazine has named Mindy Starns Clark with a Career Achievement Best Author Award. RT (Romantic Times) also announced its Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Awards.

Mystery writer Clark (www.mindystarnsclark.com) has achieved career sales of nearly 660,000 copies, according to Harvest House Publishers. Clark was also a 2012 Christy Award winner in Contemporary Series for The Amish Midwife (Harvest House), written with Leslie Gould. Ted Dekker, Kathleen Y’Barbo and Wanda E. Brunstetter were also nominated in the Inspirational career award category.

Anchor Distributors has announced a new company tagline: Your Mission. Our Mission. Impacting Eternity.

Earlier this year, the sister company of Whitaker House held a contest for employees to help create a motto "that would capture the essence of who we are and what we do," said John Whitaker, vice president of Anchor Distributors. "The winning phrase is actually a combination of two different employee submissions."

The motto underscores the legacy of Whitaker Corp. founder Robert E. "Bob" Whitaker Sr., who died in May 2012, while also embracing the future.

"In the mid-1960s, as my dad was searching for answers to life. He was led to God through reading Christian books," Whitaker said. "He was so passionate about his new life of faith that he started giving books away to as many people as he could. That is why I am here today, and why my family is following Christ, by the grace of God.

"I want to encourage those in this industry today with the thought: You will never know, this side of heaven, how many souls were saved, lives were changed, marriages were mended and families were reunited because of the work you have done to promote the gospel," Whitaker added. "The impact of Christian literature on just one life changed countless generations for all eternity. We're hoping in some way, this new tag line will be a reminder to all we come in contact with at Anchor."

Seattle-based labels Tooth & Nail Records and Solid State Records have entered into a new distribution deal with Sony Music Entertainment's Red Distribution. Under the agreement, Red will handle distribution of Tooth & Nail and Solid State releases, formerly distributed by EMI CMG Distribution, now known as Capitol Christian Distribution.

The first release through Red will be the third studio album from The Almost, Fear Inside Our Bones, set to come out June 11 from Tooth & Nail.

"We are thrilled to sign with Red and its remarkable team, including President Bob Morelli and Senior Vice President Alan Becker, both of whom I've known and admired for more than 20 years," said Brandon Ebel, president of Tooth & Nail and Solid State. "This is an exciting new phase for our label and artists."

Red President Bob Morelli added: "The addition of the Tooth & Nail/Solid State family further strengthens Red's already storied hard rock music business, and provides us with an even stronger foothold for achievement moving forward."

Tooth & Nail and Solid State, which are both celebrating 20 years in 2013, recently relaunched as independent label groups. Additional releases slated for this year include Solid State's Emery and Tooth & Nail albums from August Burns Red, The Letter Black and Icon For Hire.

Touted by its filmmakers as "a game-changing movie," Home Run opens today in approximately 400 theaters across the country.

Christian retail chains have gotten behind the movie and several best-selling Christian authors have endorsed Home Run, which highlights Celebrate Recovery—a 12-step addiction recovery program based on Christian principles that grew out of Southern California's Saddleback Church and is now found in churches worldwide.

Produced by Impact Productions, the faith-based movie is about an alcoholic baseball hotshot who finds redemption in an unlikely place.

"It won't be the only game in town at movie theaters," the film's Facebook page said. "However, it will be the one film reminding moviegoers that with God, freedom is possible."

The film won the Best Feature Film and Best Inspirational Film categories of the inaugural Resonate Film Festival during the International Christian Retail Show in Orlando, Fla., last summer. David C Cook released a novelization by Travis Thrasher of the movie with the same title last month.

"Home Run is a powerful story of the redemption of our past, present and future for the glory of God," Family Christian President and CEO Cliff Bartow said. "This timeless message is delivered through a baseball story and a man's key relationships. We can all relate at some level to parts of this story, which makes this movie so compelling."

Both the Parable Group and LifeWay Christian Stores encouraged customers, via their Facebook pages, to watch the movie. The film has been heavily marketed to the faith-based community, especially through pastors' screenings.

"Home Run reminds us of the power of forgiveness, the richness of redemption and the wisdom of trusting God to revive us," said pastor and author Max Lucado.

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author, called the movie "a film of great hope."

Megachurch pastor and author Joel Osteen said, "Home Run is a must-see story of change and redemption—a story all of us need to hear and know," while Bible teacher and author Joyce Meyer noted that the movie "portrays the church in its beauty—true life transformation through real and honest relationships with one another and with Jesus."

Samuel Goldwyn Films and Provident Films have partnered in the marketing and distribution of the film. Their previous faith-based movie partnerships included Fireproof, October Baby and Facing the Giants.

Click here for more information on Home Run.

Christian bookstores are offering giveaways and promotions on products tied to A&E TV's popular reality show Duck Dynasty, the topic of the cover story in the May issue of Christian Retailing.

The show features the Robertson family, who transformed their home-grown, duck-call business in Louisiana into a multimillion-dollar sporting empire, while staying grounded in faith and family values.

LifeWay Christian Stores is offering a Duck Commander Giveaway tied to the May 7 release of Duck Commander founder Phil Robertson's Happy, Happy, Happy (Howard Books). The chain is pre-selling the book for $16.99—discounted from $24.99—with a free Faith-Family-Ducks bracelet.

"To celebrate all things Duck Commander, we are going to run a great giveaway this week," LifeWay employee Rachel McRae said in a blog post. "For your chance to win, leave your name in the comments section of today's post. And just for fun, let us know who your favorite person on Duck Dynasty is."

The grand prize includes a signed copy of The Duck Commander Family (Howard Books) by Willie Robertson, who serves as CEO of Duck Commander and Buck Commander, and his wife, Korie—daughter of former Howard Books Publisher John Howard, who also now works at the company. The top prize also includes a Duck Commander's Cold-blooded Series Duck Call hand-signed by Phil Robertson and a Faith-Family-Ducks bracelet. Second prize includes a signed copy of The Duck Commander Family and a Faith-Family-Ducks bracelet. Third prize includes a signed copy of The Duck Commander Family.

Mardel Christian & Education's Frisco, Texas store touted its Duck Commander section with a photo on its Facebook page. "We are happy, happy, happy at the Frisco Mardel," the store said.

A post on the Facebook page from earlier this week by Heavenly Dove Christian Books & Gifts in Cumming, Ga., said: "Happy Happy Happy T-shirts are in! Pink ones .... black ones."

Angie McKinney, owner of Heavenly Dove, later posted on Facebook: "First shipment almost gone ... waiting on second shipment!"

Click here to read the Duck Commander cover story in the May issue of Christian Retailing.

Click here for more information on LifeWay's Duck Commander Giveaway, ending tomorrow, April 19. 

After 87 years of performing gospel music, The King's Heralds (Acclaim Music) will become part of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

"It all happened quite unexpectedly," said Don Scroggs, the four-man group's first tenor for the past 30 years. "We were in the middle of a tour when a gentleman called our office and said he was from the Smithsonian Institute. He went on to explain that they were putting together a new exhibit on how the body is wonderfully put together, and that it would be narrated by talk show host Conan O'Brien."

Russell Hospedales, baritone for the group, added: "He said that he had run onto a clip of The King's Heralds singing a song that we have sung for years called 'Dry Bones' on YouTube, and asked for permission for [the Smithsonian] to use our song in the exhibit. Of course, we thought about that for a couple seconds and then said, 'Yes, we would be honored.' "

The King's Heralds are the oldest active gospel group still performing. Click here for more information on the King's Heralds and here to watch the group performing "Dry Bones."