The Advanced Writers and Speakers Association has announced its finalists for the 2015 Golden Scroll Awards for Publisher, Editor and Fiction Editor of the Year. The winners will be announced at the 2015 Golden Scroll Awards—a CBA sanctioned event—on June 28 from 11:30 to 2:30 p.m. in Orlando, Florida.

Honored for outstanding ministry partnerships with their authors, the Golden Scroll Publisher of the Year finalists are Discovery House, Focus on the Family Publishing, and New Hope Publishers. Non-Fiction Editor of the Year finalists are Joyce Dinkins of New Hope Publishers, Peggy Hildebrand of Bridge Logos, Paul Muckley of Discovery House and Larry Weeden of Focus on the Family. The Fiction Editor of the Year finalists are Dawn Anderson of Kregel, Stephanie Broene of Tyndale House and Andrea Doering of Revell of Baker Publishing Group.

Other awards to be presented at the Golden Scrolls Award Banquet will include AWSA Nonfiction and Novel Books of the Year awards.  In addition, the AWSA Member of the Year, the Beyond Me Award, as well as the prestigious 2015 Golden Scroll Lifetime Achievement Award will also be presented at the Golden Scroll Awards Banquet.

Chonda Pierce will be the keynote speaker with Thelma Wells as emcee. Authors Carol Kent and Linda Evans Shepherd will present awards. Chonda will also perform a parody written by Martha Bolton dedicated to editors and publishers.

The Golden Scroll Awards banquet is open to all authors, editors, publishers, agents, booksellers and other CBA industry professionals. Tickets are $49.99. For more information or to register for the banquet, go to www.ScrollAwards.com.

The six-time Grammy award-winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir’s new CD titled “Pray” has hit the No. 1 spot on Billboard Magazine’s Gospel Albums Sales Chart this week.

“Pray” previously debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes Christian/Gospel albums chart. Music videos for the title song have already been produced as well as for the worship tune “At The Cross.”  Choir director Carol Cymbala believes church choirs are still an essential part of corporate worship.

“I really believe that it's very important in the church today, if we are going to have a choir, that the people in the choir need to be committed members, who have a heart for God and a heart for ministry,” Cymbala says. “I also believe that choir directors need to focus on seeing lives changed through the power of the gospel in song.

“There is just something really beautiful and powerful about seeing so many people lifting their voices to the Lord in praise in one accord.  I pray that there would be more choirs that would be raised up in the day that we are living in so that we can sing a song of praise and victory to our God because He is worthy of all our praise.” 

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir will perform at Chris Tomlin’s Worship Night in America event at Madison Square Garden in New York City August 8. Additionally, the Brooklyn Tabernacle Singers will be performing in Naperville, Illinois at the Calvary Church of Naperville on Friday, June 19 for a free event featuring Pastor Jim Cymbala. 

In addition to their six Grammy Awards, the choir has garnered seven Dove Awards (Gospel Music’s Grammy equivalent), two #1 Billboard charting CDs and over four million albums sold. The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir has performed at major music venues such as Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Madison Square Garden.

For more information, visit www.brooklyntabernacle.org.

Bethany House writerJulie Klassen has been presented with a Minnesota Book Award in the Genre Fiction category for her book, The Secret of Pembrooke Park. The presentation took place during a gala awards ceremony held at the Union Depot in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

This year marks the 27th annual Minnesota Book Awards program, and more than 800 people attended this event. The Book Awards is a project of The Friends, a nonprofit, community membership organization dedicated to supporting the Saint Paul Public Library, in consortium with the Saint Paul Public Library and the City of Saint Paul.

The goal of the awards is to “connect readers with Minnesota books, authors, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and more through programs and outreach activities year round.”

Best-selling author Julie Klassen is the author of eight novels, including three winners of the Christy Awards in the historical romance category. She also has won the Midwest Book Award and has been a finalist in the Romance Writers of America’s RITA Awards.

For a complete list of award winners, please visit thefriends.org.

The Amish Blacksmith (Harvest House Publishers), a novel by best-selling authors Mindy Starns Clark and Susan Meissner, has been selected as a finalist for a 2015 Christy Award in the Contemporary Series category.

The Amish Blacksmith tells the compelling story of apprenticed blacksmith Jake Miller. Tasked with helping his boss’s niece connect with their Amish community in Lancaster County, Priscilla’s love of horses and her ability to soothe them draw Jake’s notice, and her fragile heart calls to his in a way he did not expect.

The 16th annual Christy Awards for excellence in Christian fiction will be presented at a dinner during the International Christian Retailing Show June 29, 2015 in Orlando, Florida.

Amazon customers with an Apple Watch can simply tap the Amazon shopping app on the watch to purchase items in seconds, or save an idea for later.

The award-winning Amazon shopping app will be available on Apple Watch in Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, U.S. and U.K. Designed for the on-the-go customer, the shopping app offers a tailored Amazon experience, offering voice search and quick tap features including 1-Click purchase and save to Wish List.

“This is still day-one for wearable devices. And we are excited to offer new ways for our customers to get quick glimpses of information they need from Amazon through Apple Watch,” said Paul Cousineau, Director of Mobile Shopping. “There are times when it might not be convenient to get your phone out of your pocket. So we worked to distill the best parts of the Amazon shopping experience into fast and simple access points from your wrist. Customers can use voice search, 1-Click purchasing, and find all of the key pieces of product information they need. We can't wait to see how our customers respond.”

The Amazon app for Apple Watch includes the following features:

• Search the Amazon Catalog: The Amazon shopping app allows customers with an Apple Watch to search the Amazon catalog and find glanceable product information such as product name, price, shipping information, product images and star ratings.
• 1-Click Purchase: With the 1-Click purchase feature on millions of eligible items, customers can conveniently go from search to purchase in seconds, making it even easier to order familiar items.
• Add to Wish List: Customers can quickly and easily add any item to their Wish List.
• Save a Shopping Idea: Simply say it and save it. It's that easy to make a note and save it for later.
• Get More Information from iPhone: If Amazon customers want additional search results or more product information while shopping, they can simply use Handoff and open the search or product detail page in the Amazon shopping app on their iPhone.

The Amazon shopping app for Apple Watch is a companion to the Amazon mobile shopping app for iPhone. Customers can update to the latest version of the Amazon app on iPhone and the Amazon icon will automatically be available on their Apple Watch.

U.S. customers can learn more by visiting amazon.com/iphoneapp.

Families this year are ready to splurge on jewelry, flowers, gift cards, brunch, and apparel for dear old mom. According to NRF’s 2015 Mother’s Day Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, Americans will spend an average of $172.63 on mom this year, up nearly $10 from $162.94 last year and the highest amount in the survey’s 12-year history. Total spending is expected to reach $21.2 billion.*

“We’re encouraged by the positive shift we’ve seen in spending on discretionary and gift items from consumers so far this year, certainly boding well for retailers across all spectrums who are planning to promote Mother’s Day specials, including home improvement, jewelry, apparel and other specialty retailers as well as restaurants,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. 

When it comes to gifts, the majority of consumers will pick up a greeting card for mom (80%), spending more than $786 million, and more than two-thirds (67.2%) of those celebrating will buy flowers, to the tune of $2.4 billion. Shoppers also plan on gifting apparel and clothing items (35.8%), spending more than $1.9 billion, up from $1.7 billion last year.

Families will also surprise mom with a special brunch or activity ($3.8 billion), electronic items like a new smartphone or e-reader ($1.8 billion), personal services such as a spa day ($1.5 billion), housewares or gardening tools ($890 million) and books and CDs ($480 million).  

Looking for a ‘wow’ from mom, 34.2 percent of Mother’s Day shoppers are planning to splurge on jewelry, spending a survey high of $4.3 billion for the special day, up from 31.7 percent and $3.6 billion last year.  

Many people know that a gift card could go a long way: Two in five (44.2%) will give mom a gift card, spending more than $2.2 billion.

“Mother’s Day is extremely unique and personal for millions of consumers, and families this year will look for different ways to enjoy their time with mom,” said Prosper’s Principal Analyst Pam Goodfellow. “While some will splurge, others will search high and low for the perfect, practical gift, knowing that she likes any gift that comes from the heart.”

Most shoppers will head to department stores (33.4%), while others will shop at specialty stores (28.2%) or discount stores (24.8%). With shoppers ready to get out of the house after a long winter, fewer shoppers will be shopping online this year (25% vs. 29% last year.)

The survey shows that 18- to 24-year-olds who own smartphones and tablets are most likely to use these devices to research products and compare prices for gifts (46%), and are most likely to use their tablets to purchase a gift (30.2%) – but this age group won’t necessarily be the biggest spenders compared to other age groups: 25- to 34-year-olds plan to spend the most on mom, at an average of $244.32; 18- to 24-year-olds will spend an average of $214.81.

The majority of shoppers plan to buy for their mother or stepmother (62.5%), while 23.2 percent will shop for their wife, 9.8 percent will shop for their daughter, 8.9 percent will shop for their sister and 7.4 percent plan to splurge on their grandmother.

* Total spending is extrapolation of U.S. population 18 and older.

Accomplished consumer products CEO Steve Kosmalski has joined the Precious Moments Family of Companies as its new CEO, effective immediately. Kosmalski brings nearly 40 years’ experience to the giftware company founded by artist Samuel J. Butcher.

Owned and operated by the Butcher family, PMFOC welcomes Kosmalski into the fold, looking to his prior success with Stein World, Crescent and Blyth Corporation to move the company ahead.

“Steve brings a great mix of leadership, experience and humor, which we all expect will generate the forward momentum the company needs to re-align our mission and revitalize our team,” says Don Butcher, co-owner, to whom Kosmalski will report. “We look forward to Steve’s contributions paralleling our own efforts to continue to Share the Gift of Love.”

Precious Moments, Inc. the creative and licensing division of PMFOC, has announced the promotion of Sara Pilafas to president. Pilafas continues to lead the creative and licensing efforts of Precious Moments with a reinvigorated approach to the brand.

“Sara’s demonstration of creative leadership and strategic vision makes her more than capable and focused on our mission,” Butcher says.