In 2015, Kathy Ide attended a writers’ conference awards presentation where they announced that any self-published or small-press-published book could be entered if at least 25,000 copies had sold. As a professional freelance editor, she wondered if those sales figures might have more to do with the author’s marketing skills and platform than the book being well written and edited.
Being the founder, owner, and manager of Christian Editor Network, Kathy decided her organization should sponsor an award for books that are superbly written and meticulously edited. And this award should recognize and honor not just the authors but also the editors and publishers of those beautifully crafted books.
The following year, Kathy launched the Excellence in Editing Award. The contest was judged by editors who were members of Christian Editor Connection. The two winners of the first Excellence in Editing Award in 2016 were presented with trophies at the Realm Makers conference in Philadelphia. Trophies were presented to seven winners at the SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference in 2017 and two in 2018. In 2019, the two winners were announced by Kathy Ide via Facebook video. In 2020, the two winners were announced during the joint virtual PENCON editors’ conference / SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference. In 2021, the two winners were announced at the PENCON virtual editors’ conference, and we have continued to announce winners there each year.
In 2022, Christian Editor Network’s name was changed to Christian Editors Association and the Excellence in Editing Award was renamed the Editors’ Choice Award. Both changes were made to better reflect the essence of what the organizations represent.
At that point, the contest had grown to the point where we needed more judges than Christian Editor Connection could provide. So we expanded our judging pool to include any established, professional editor with at least two years of paid editing experience.
Professional editors are picky about the books they read for pleasure. The Editors’ Choice Award recognizes and promotes books that are so well written and edited that even a professional editor can enjoy reading them!