Author and humorist Chonda Pierce kept members of the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA) laughing-and crying-at the 2015 Golden Scroll Awards and Banquet. Pierce was the keynote speaker at the June 28 event at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, where she also was presented with the 2015 Golden Scroll Lifetime Achievement Award.

Pierce talked of the search for worth and spoke plainly of the many challenges in her life, including a stay for depression in a psychiatric hospital, where she realized what the church was supposed to be like, and watching her husband lose his battle with alcoholism in the past year.

Although she has been accused of being "too real," AWSA event participants gave her a warm reception. Pierce believes she is to "throw a mirror up in the body of Christ," which she did in a number of ways in her address. For instance, she briefly spoke of a "spirit of separation," mentioning that worship is the "last place where blacks and whites will sit together."

On a lighter note, Pierce called menopause "the greatest evangelistic tool" because "if you have four hot flashes in a row, there's no way you want to go to hell."

Author Thelma Wells, who toured with Pierce through Women of Faith, served as emcee at the event, while authors Carol Kent and AWSA founder Linda Evans Shepherd presented the 2015 Golden Scroll Awards for Publisher, Nonfiction Editor and Fiction Editor of the Year as well as the winners of the Golden Scroll Books of the Year contests.

The Golden Scroll Publisher of the Year went to New Hope Publishers, honored for outstanding ministry partnerships with the company's authors.

“Their work isn’t just about publishing books; it’s about reaching men and women and boys and girls for Jesus Christ,” said AWSA author Brenda Poinsett of New Hope.

Both Paul Muckley of Discovery House and Larry Weeden of Focus on the Family were named the winners of the Nonfiction Editor of the Year.

AWSA author Crystal Bowman said of Muckley, “I don’t know how he does it, but his editing is amazing.” Pam Farrel said of Weeden, “He is an affirming visionary, a godly man of both virtue and vision!”

The Fiction Editor of the Year was awarded to Andrea Doering of Revell (Baker Publishing Group). Of Doering, AWSA author Lynette Eason said, “She makes each of her authors feel special, not just because we write for her house, but because she cares.”

In nonfiction, Gayle Roper received the Book of the Year Award for A Widow’s Journey: Reflections on Walking Alone (Harvest House Publishers).

Golden Scroll Merit Awards for Nonfiction were awarded to Shelly Beach and Wanda Sanchez for Love Letters From the Edge (Kregel Publications), Elaine Helms for Prayer Without Limits: Expanding Your Relationship with God (New Hope Publishers); Marti Pieper and Moria Brown for Out of the Dust: Story of an Unlikely Missionary (ANEKO Press); and Amy Simpson for Anxious: Choosing Faith in a World of Worry (IVP Books/Intervarsity Press).

Silver Scroll Merit Awards for Nonfiction went to Cindi McManamin for When God Sees Your Tears from Harvest House Publishers, Marti Pieper and Walker Moore for Escape the Lie, Journey to Freedom From the Orphan Heart from Randall House, and Brenda Poinsett for He Said What?!: Jesus' Amazing Words to Women from New Hope Publishers.

The Novel of the Year Award went to Eva Marie Everson for The Road to Testament (Abingdon Press). Merit Awards for Fiction were awarded to Cynthia Ruchti for As Waters Gone By (Abingdon); Lynette Eason for No One to Trust (Revell); and Firewall by DiAnn Mills (Tyndale House Publishers).

Silver Scroll Merit Awards for Fiction went to Gayle Roper for An Unexpected Match (Harvest House Publishers); Deborah Raney for Home to Chicory Lane (Abingdon) and Sarah Sundin for In Perfect Time (Revell).

In addition, the 2015 AWSA Member of the Year Award went to Amber Weigand-Buckley who serves as editor for AWSA’s award-winning magazine, Leading Hearts. The Beyond Me Award went to Janet Perez Eckles.

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