The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) announced Tuesday night the winners of the 2015 Christian Book Awards and the Christian Book of the Year—representing the best Christian book and Bible releases of the year in seven categories. The announcements were made at the ECPA Awards Banquet, held in conjunction with the ECPA Leadership Summit hosted in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The highest honor of Christian Book of the Year went to The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life by Pastor Rick Warren, Daniel Amen, M.D., and Mark Hyman, M.D. (Zondervan, 9780310344292). The New York Times best-seller with a strong and regular presence on the ECPA best-seller list is described as “creating a health plan” that adds faith, focus and community to the usual “food and exercise” approach to weight loss and health. The plan is credited for helping 15,000 of Warren's Saddleback Church members lose a quarter-million pounds in the first year.

Warren is also the author of The Purpose Driven Life, the highest best-selling nonfiction hardcover in publishing history with more than 32 million copies sold. The Purpose Driven Life made history a decade ago as it was named Christian Book of the Year for two consecutive years (2003, 2004).

The 2015 Christian Book Awards winners are:

BIBLES

NIV First-Century Study Bible, with notes by Kent Dobson, Zondervan, 9780310938903

BIBLE REFERENCE

1, 2 and 3 John: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Karen H. Jobes, Zondervan, 9780310244165

CHILDREN

My Bible Animals Storybook, Dandi Daley Mackall, llustrated by Heather Heyworth, Tyndale House Publishers, 9781414383538

FICTION

The Advocate, Randy Singer, Tyndale House Publishers, 9781414391304

INSPIRATION

The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life’s Hard, Kara Tippetts, David C Cook, 9780781412155

NONFICTION and NEW AUTHOR

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, Nabeel Qureshi, Zondervan, 9780310515029

“The Christian Book Award winners not only represent the best books in our industry, but in their variety, they represent the transforming power of Christian content that impacts all of life,” said ECPA President/CEO Mark Kuyper. “Our industry continues to produce ‘Good Books that Feed the Soul’ for all ages, seasons and interests.”

Inspiration category winner The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life’s Hard by mom blogger Kara Tippetts was named the winner just days before she died of breast cancer. The book is a memoir about Tippetts finding grace “in the midst of life’s hard”—the difficult experience of dying from cancer as a wife and mother of four young children. ECPA and Tippett’s publisher, David C Cook, worked with her family to share the confidential news of the title’s win with her so that she would know of her enduring legacy of inspiration and help to others.

New author Nabeel Qureshi’s first published book, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, won in both New Author and Nonfiction categories—the first incident of a double-category win in Christian Book Award history.

The evening’s news culminated in a “Thunderclap social media campaign” where the news was tweeted and posted to more than a half-million accounts. Industry publishers, companies, professionals and friends signed up to allow the winning news to be posted to their account feeds through an ECPA awareness campaign called #ReadGoodBooks.

Christian Book Award winners also receive recognition and support through multiple retail and media outlets. Christianity Today will continue its partnership with the program through ad campaigns in its digital and print publications May through December of this year.

To view the finalists and winners, visit christianbookawards.com.

The Solid Rock bookstore in Kearney, Nebraska, is hosting a 24/7 Bible-reading event in the front of its store, in a build-up to the National Day of Prayer.

The "Read Through the Bible" event is open to all churches, schools, Bible study groups and individuals who sign up. Solid Rock, which is celebrating its 41st anniversary, has hosted the event for more than 20 years.

The event started on Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. local time and is estimated to finish Thursday morning, the National Day of Prayer.

Winners of the 2015 Christian Retailing’s Best awards will be announced Tuesday, June 30, at the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) in Orlando, Florida. The awards ceremony will take place in the show floor’s Creative Pavilion from 10-11 a.m.

Christian Retailing magazine, sponsor of the awards, invites all ICRS attendees to attend the free presentation.

Standard Publishing announced the release of its newest line of its Standard Lesson Commentary, the nation’s best-selling annual Bible commentary. Designed to heighten Christians' understanding of scripture, the 2015-2016 editions are now available, including the introduction of the company’s first ESV edition.

“We are excited for the addition of another volume to the Standard Lesson family,” said Vice President of Product Development Matt Lockhart. “Part of our mission is to reach more people with the Word of God, and we are eager to do just that with this commentary.”

As a consistent best-seller for the last 20-plus years, the Standard Lesson Commentary is offered in eight different varieties, supporting NIV, KJV, and now ESV editions.

Standard has also announced the release its new study Bible. Incorporating 60 years of commentary and featuring the NIV translation, the newest Standard Lesson Study Bible releases this June. Launched in 2014 with the KJV translation, these commentary Bibles aim to help readers of the Word discover, reflect on and discuss scripture in a new and powerful way.

Authors Marina and Gregory Slayton appeared on Fox & Friends Sunday, May 3, to discuss their new book, Be the Best Mom You Can Be, and to announce a promotion that ties in with Mother's Day and Father's Day.

Released April 14 by Thomas Nelson, Be the Best Mom You Can Be: A Practical Guide to Raising Whole Children in a Broken Generation (Thomas Nelson) aims to help moms take powerful biblical wisdom and apply it to their specific family situation.

The Slaytons also announced their Buy One Get One (BOGO) program. Under the BOGO program, for every copy of Be the Best Mom You Can Be or their international best-seller Be a Better Dad Today sold between May 1 and June 30, the Fellowship of Fathers Foundation will give a free copy of either book to a U.S. military mother or father.

"We are a military family," said Marina. "Our daughter is a U.S. Army Officer and we are very, very proud of her. Gregory's father was a U.S. Naval Officer and was never the same after he returned from his tour of duty."

"It's hard enough to be a good mother or father in normal circumstances," added Marina. For military moms and dads it is especially difficult. That's why we are offering the BOGO program—to support U.S. military families as much as we can."

"We are giving all the royalty profits from both books to charities—including many that support U.S. military families," said Gregory. "It just seemed natural to do the BOGO program." In this way, we hope both books will be a double blessing: to the readers who buy the books and to the U.S. military moms and dads who get one for free.

Net revenues from religion publishers were up 11.1 percent for January 2015 compared to January 2014, according to the American Association of Publishers (AAP) monthly StatShot report. Total net sales of religious materials were $47.2 million.

January 2015 hardback cover sales for religion publishers netted $26.5 million, a 10.1 percent gain over January 2014. Paperback sales saw a 7% rise in revenue, while eBook sales saw a 4.6 percent jump.

Overall, children's and young adult books saw a 1.6 percent drop in revenue, while adult books saw a modest 0.6 percent increase in sales. 

Approximately 1,000 publishers reported for January.

A new program has been launched to help Christian retailers tap more deeply into a niche that can drive customer traffic at a time when multichannel competition is luring more shoppers elsewhere.

Send the Light Distribution and Gifts With A Cause have produced special merchandising support to promote fair trade products not widely available online and which also amplify Christian stores’ ministry focus. The initiative builds on a partnership formed between the two last year.

Darren Henry, president of STL’s Advocate Distribution Solutions division, explained that while a growing number of Christian stores have embraced fair trade gifts that support artisans in other parts of the world, effectively displaying the lines well in-store has proved a challenge.

“They don’t always have a clear merchandising solution to the range of products that is available,” Henry said.       

With that in mind, STL is introducing two different wire display options and a basket display that offer eye-catching presentations of the GWAC handmade catalog, which includes home decor, jewelry, scarves, purses, and other accessories.

The displays come with header cards that spotlight different parts of the world from which GWAC brings items. The new fair trade merchandising—free to retailers placing a qualifying order—debuts in May with a focus on Indonesia. The signage will be refreshed periodically, featuring artisans from different parts of the world.

Founded in 2007, GWAC imports from craftsmen and women in more than 20 countries. A member of the Fair Trade Federation, the San Diego, California-based company tags each item with information about its maker.

Co-founder Mark Fangue said the company is pleased to partner with STL, which has “taken steps to become a leader in educating and helping stores make the necessary changes to stay relevant and profitable in this evolving market.”

“Stores are needing to find a way to keep and attract more customers for products and services that they cannot purchase online,” Fangue said. “They also need to provide an interesting, educational, and inspirational experience for their customers. Fair Trade gift products are a proven way to engage Christian store customers in a simple way to make a difference with their purchasing power.”

With its support for people in the developing world, fair trade is a perfect fit for Christian stores. Christian stores are all about ministry, and this category is a tangible expression of that focus customers can appreciate and get behind,” Henry said.  

But the section needs a higher profile.

“Without some greater focus, it’s easy to walk past a store’s fair trade collection and miss great products that are beautifully made, reasonably priced, and help make a difference in the world,” Henry said. “We believe our display options are an answer to that need.”

The new merchandising will be demonstrated at the International Christian Retailing Show in Orlando in late June and early July, when GWAC will be presenting its latest additions as part of the STL exhibition space.  

“The more products that we sell, the more families we can assist to lift out of poverty,” said GWAC co-founder Liz Allen. Adding more staff overseas has enabled the company to produce more items, requiring better distribution. “Working with an established and forward-thinking distributor was the necessary next step for us,” she said.