The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) announced that its Gold Medallion Book Awards, presented annually to the best in Christian publishing since 1978, have been renamed the ECPA Christian Book Awards. The name change reflects ECPA's desire for increased awareness of the awards and the winning books, the organization said in a statement.

The awards have been completely revised in all areas, including title nominations, the judging process and the number of categories offered. The changes are designed to bolster the reputation of the awards program, and expand retail and consumer recognition for award winners.

The major change in the award program is the number of award categories offered. In 2005, ECPA awarded Gold Medallions to 20 winners in 20 distinct categories. The ECPA Christian Book Awards will recognize six major categories: Bibles, Fiction, Children & Youth, Inspiration & Gift, Bible Reference & Study and Christian Life. The second major area of change, ECPA said, will be the judging process. Starting this year, judges will have more time to review fewer books. Judges represent a wide array in the Christian publishing industry: established authors, field-related experts and retailers.

ECPA also has changed the title nomination process. Only ECPA members in good standing can nominate products. Each submission costs $175 for companies with annual sales less than $5 million and $299 for companies with annual sales of more than $5 million.

“We are taking the (ECPA) Christian Book Awards to a whole new level of consumer and retailer awareness through aggressive marketing, including advertising partnership and publicity opportunities,” said ECPA President Mark Kuyper.

ECPA said in the statement it is working with retailers to create in-store and consumer promotions to increase awareness of the Awards.

The deadline to submit titles for the 2006 ECPA Christian Book Awards passed Jan. 17, and “the number of entries thus far completely exceeds our expectations,” Kuyper said. “We are pleased how the industry is embracing these changes.”

The ECPA Christian Book Awards will be presented during the International Christian Retail Show in Denver the week of July 9-13.

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