Voting retailers have chosen the finalists in the 12th annual Retailers Choice Awards, sponsored by Christian Retailing magazine. A complete listing of the finalists, selected from among the 300-plus products nominated in 41 categories, is available at www.retailerschoiceawards.com.

Introduced in 2001, the Retailers Choice Awards have been increasingly acknowledged as an important way of recognizing some of the most significant new life-changing products in the Christian retail industry.

Products nominated in the competition were judged on the impact they have had on staff and customers, including their ability to speak to hearts and evoke emotion, open minds to new ways of thinking and encourage and affirm Christlike living. Winners will be announced this summer.

Click here This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to e-mail Managing Editor Christine Johnson with any questions.

Known as the "Painter of Light," Thomas Kinkade died Friday, April 6 at his home in Los Gatos, Calif. Kinkade, who was perhaps the nation's most collected living artist, was 54.

He appeared to have died of natural causes, according to a statement issued by the family to The San Jose Mercury News. An autopsy will be performed today.

Born in 1958, Kinkade was raised by his single mother in Placerville, Calif. He attended the University of California Berkeley and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., and worked as an artist in the film industry. Known for the classic cottages, lighthouse and churches in his paintings, he also hid messages in his paintings, including the initials of family members and Disney characters.

Kinkade told Assist News Service that he started to see the characteristic of light develop in his work after he became a Christian in 1980. He often used scripture in his art, which has been reproduced in posters, calendars, magazine covers, cards, collector plates, figurines and more.

He also was a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. He co-wrote fiction with Katherine Spencer (Penguin Group USA) and offered many books of his art. The movie Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage is semi-autobiographical, telling of how a young boy was propelled to launch a career as an artist after he learns his mother is in danger of losing the family home.

Branching out from art hung on the walls of many an American home, he had houses built in gated communities in California in the likeness of his paintings. His paintings sold for hundreds of dollars up to more than $10,000 each.

His Media Arts Group, once a publicly traded company, took in $32 million per quarter from 4,500 dealers across the country, according to the Mercury News. His production company, Pacific Metro, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010. Kinkade was also forced to pay $860,000 in damages to two former gallery owners in Virginia who felt they were undercut by discount sellers whose prices they were not permitted to match.

He is survived by his wife, Nanette, and four daughters, Merritt, Chandler, Winsor and Everett.

David C Cook and Big Idea are offering free apps for the children's segment. Cook has released an interactive eight-page Easter Story App. It's tied to its best-selling The Toddler's Bible for the Apple iPad, offering it free for a limited time.

The interactive read-along app, which tells the story of Jesus's death and resurrection, includes a prominent button that links to the CBA store locator website along with encouragement for parents, teachers and volunteers alike to purchase the complete print version at a local Christian bookstore.

"We wanted to give people a fun resource to teach small children the importance of Easter, and at the same time use this as a tool to drive those parents and teachers to our retail partners to purchase The Toddler's Bible," said Ginia Hairston Croker, vice president of marketing, trade books for David C Cook.

Click here for the free iPad app, which is available via iTunes. A second interactive Toddler's Bible app is planned for Christmas.

Meanwhile, Big Idea has expanded its digital program for its VeggieTales brand by partnering with Playful Owl, an app developer focused on meaningful play, and social media development and marketing company GorillaSpot—which creates video applications across web, social and mobile platforms for producers of entertainment content.

Big Idea also recently partnered with mobile app developer Weeblets for The VeggieTales Spotisode Collection—available on Android and iPhone. Within the first few days of its exclusive launch in the Amazon Appstore in February, it became the No. 1 free app for kids, and reached as high as No. 11 overall, Big Idea said.

"We are delighted to see more than 1 million game plays and the very positive response of fans with the Spotisode app," said Brian Mitchell, vice president of marketing and licensing for Big Idea.

Click here for the free Android and here for the free iPhone app. 

Pro-life drama October Baby posted another strong showing in its second week at the box office. Released March 23, it claimed the No. 2 spot for films showing in fewer than 500 theaters and ranked seventh in per-screen average for the top 20 films, despite only showing in 387 theaters.

“People don’t leave the theater arguing their views on abortion,” said Andy Erwin, who directed the film with his brother, Jon. “But it does open conversations that are spilling into the lobbies and parking lots of theaters, and we’re hearing that those conversations are meaningful to people.”

Thomas Nelson has sold more than 1 million e-books of Heaven Is for Real—the first of the publisher’s titles to reach that sales mark. Few e-books have reached that milestone, but now the November 2010 release by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent joins such titles as The Help and Water for Elephants, titles that had the marketing support of a major motion picture.

Tyndale House Publishers has signed Radical author David Platt to a two-book deal, while Zondervan will publish three-time Super Bowl-winning coach Joe Gibbs’ study Bible and devotional.

Platt—author of the New York Times best-seller, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream (Multnomah Books), which has more than 1 million units in print in just 15 months and has spent more than 65 consecutive weeks on the Times’ list—will offer Follow Me, slated for release Feb. 5, 2013. A related DVD curriculum will also be released for churches and small group use.

Crossway’s Thinline editions have reached the top two positions on the Bibles best-seller list from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, tracking sales for the week ending March 24, according to Pubtrack Christian data.

The Top 20 General best-sellers are: 1. Jesus Calling, Sarah Young, hardcover (Thomas Nelson); 2. Heaven Is for Real, Todd Burpo (Thomas Nelson); 3. The Harbinger, Jonathan Cahn (FrontLine/Charisma House Book Group); 4. Not a Fan, Kyle Idleman (Zondervan); 5. Jesus Calling: Deluxe Edition, Young (Thomas Nelson); 6. One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp (Zondervan); 7. Loving, “Bailey Flanigan Series,” No. 4, Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan); 8. The 5 Love Languages, Gary Chapman (Northfield Publishing); 9. Jesus Calling: Large Print Deluxe Edition, Young (Thomas Nelson); 10. Nearing Home, Billy Graham (Thomas Nelson); 11. Crazy Love, Francis Chan (David C Cook); 12. Kingdom Man, Tony Evans (Tyndale House Publishers); 13. The Resolution for Men, Stephen Kendrick, Alex Kendrick, Randy Alcorn (B&H Books); 14. One Month to Live, Kerry & Chris Shook (WaterBrook Press); 15. The Resolution for Women, Priscilla Shirer (B&H Books); 16. Longing, “Bailey Flanigan Series,” No. 3, Kingsbury (Zondervan); 17. Through My Eyes, Tim Tebow, Nathan Whitaker, hardcover (Harper); 18. Love & Respect, Emerson Eggerichs (Thomas Nelson); 19. Dear Jesus, Young (Thomas Nelson); and 20. Bonhoeffer, Eric Metaxas, softcover (Thomas Nelson).