Had a lovely time at the dinner. I was with people I didn’t know but they were all very nice and welcoming and we had fun.
Congratulations to all winners of awards. Here are some of the highlights.
The winner of the LYNNE WILDING MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARD is: Helen Katsinis
The winner of the VALERIE PARV AWARD is: Bronwyn McEvoy
Special award: Helen Bianchin is the inaugural member inducted into the RWA HALL OF FAME.
The RUBY (Romantic book of the year) for SHORT SWEET ROMANCE goes to: Barbara Hannay ~ Molly Cooper’s Dream Date (I was talking to her in the lift this afternoon, a very nice lady)
The RUBY (Romantic book of the year) for SHORT SEXY ROMANCE goes to: Robyn Grady ~ The Fearless Maverick (was chatting to her for ages at the Penguin cocktail party, absolutely lovely person and a very graceful winner)
The RUBY (Romantic book of the year) for LONG ROMANCE goes to: Fiona Lowe ~ Boomerang Bride (Fiona also won the RITA award at the Romance Writers of America’s annual conference in July for this book too. She also said in her speech that if you believe in your writing then keep going, because the Boomerang Bride was rejected by 38 agents and 12 publishing houses before being accepted by Carina Press. And it is now the dual RITA and RuBY winner.)
The RUBY (Romantic book of the year) for ROMANTIC ELEMENTS goes to: Helene Young ~ Shattered Sky (She gave me the wine and timtams at the Romantic Suspense panel! Obviously awesome)
AND – during the awards, the conference – #RWAus12 – was the #1 trending topic on twitter. apparently even ahead of Collingwood football team.
Congratulations to all these winners, and those in the other categories too (Emerald, First Kiss, Single Title and Loving It).
And of course the night ended up with Anne Gracie doing the ‘stand up’ call outs. Hopefully next year I will be one of them 🙂