RWA awards 2016 winners announced

The winners of the 2016 Romance Writers of Australia (RWA) Romantic Book of the Year awards, known as the ‘RUBYs’, were announced on 20 August at the RWA’s 25th national conference in Adelaide.

The winners of the awards in each category were:

Long romance

• Lethal in Love (Michelle Somers, Random House)

Romantic elements

• The Patterson Girls (Rachael Johns, Harlequin)

Short sexy

• Never Surrender (Rosie Miles, Entangled)

Short sweet

• The Secret Son, retitled as The Montana Son (Joan Kilby, Tule Publishing)

Novella

• What a Bachelor Needs (Kelly Hunter, Tule Publishing).

Also awarded on the night were the Valerie Parv Award for an unpublished romance novel, which went to Chris Weston for Fighting Spirit; the Emerald Award for best unpublished manuscript, which went to Suzanne Cass for Island Redemption; and the Emerald Pro Award for the best unpublished manuscript by a published author writing in a new genre, which went to Katy Scott for A Suitcase, a Smile and a Lie.

The Roma Award for Media (ROMA), which recognises professional, positive media coverage of the romance industry, was presented to Danielle Binks for her two Wheeler Centre articles, ‘It takes a village to write a romance: the surprising rise of collaborative fiction’ and ‘By any other name: the secret lives of romance authors’.

The Lynne Wilding Meritorious Service Award went to Daniel de Lorne and Valerie Parv was made a Life Member ‘in honour of her long history of sharing her expertise and experience with RWA’.

A number of awards were also presented for favourite cover.

To see the full list of awards, visit the RWA blog here.

Category: Awards Local news