Today Amazon.com and Penguin Group announced the winners of the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards. Patricia McArdle won the general fiction category with her novel, Farishta; Amy Ackley won the Young Adult category with her novel, Sign Language.
Both winners will see their work published by Penguin imprints, and they will earn a $15,000 advance. Amazon counted “several thousand entries” from all 50 states and writers around the world. Biographies of both winners follow below.
Jeff Belle, Amazon’s VP of U.S. Books, had this statement: “Thousands of Amazon.com customers participated in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award … The results of this year’s vote were the closest we’ve ever had, which is indicative of both the competitiveness of the entries and the exceptional work from our finalists.”
Here’s the first bio: “Patricia McArdle is a retired American diplomat whose postings have taken her to far-flung countries and cities around the world, including northern Afghanistan.”
And the second bio: “A mother of three, whose career has run the gamut from public administration to labor relations for top automakers, Amy Ackley began writing “Sign Language†seven years ago based on her personal experiences of losing a father and two friends to cancer.”
