First Huston Smith Prize; ECPA Diamond Awards, Zondervan acquires BibleGateway.com; ESV Study Bible goes back to press
by Daisy Maryles, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 11/12/2008
At this year's American Academy of Religion meeting in Chicago, HarperOne announced the first annual winner of the Huston Smith Publishing Prize—Bradley Malkovsky, an associate professor of Comparative Theology at the University of Notre Dame, for his manuscript God's Other Children: The Many Religions and the Quest for Understanding in Sacred India. The prize includes a publishing agreement with HarperOne and a $25,000 advance against royalty, subject to the terms of the publishing agreement. God's Other Children is a spiritual travelogue that presents Malkovsky's encounters and conversations with Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists in his travels to India. To be awarded each year, The Huston Smith Publishing Prize will go to the author whose unpublished work best reflects the spirit of Huston Smith's life and work. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Smith's bestselling book The World's Religions. Applications for the 2009 award will be accepted starting in January; for more information go to www.hustonsmithprize.com.
At the Evangelical Christian Publisher's Association's CEO Symposium and Publishing University in Lombard, Ill., Nov. 2-4, the Association awarded its "Diamond" book awards for 10 million copies in sales to WaterBrook Multnomah for Bruce Wilkinson's Prayer of Jabez and Thomas Nelson's KJV Gift & Award Bible. The 2008 ECPA/Dickinson Press Book Cover Awards went to Crossway Books & Bibles for The Literary Study Bible; David C. Cook for Zora and Nicky by Claudia Mair Burney; WaterBrook Multnomah for On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson; and Thomas Nelson for Adam by Ted Dekker.
Zondervan has acquired BibleGateway.com, an online tool for reading and researching scripture, from Gospel Communications, a non-profit Christian organization aimed at spreading the Gospel through film, internet and other media. Originally launched in 1993, the site allows users to search, find and compare particular scripture passages based on keywords, phrases or scripture reference in more than 50 languages and 81 different translations. In the coming months, Zondervan intends to build out the current features of the site and add a selection of reference materials and other Bible study resources based on its proprietary content and author resources, as well as working in partnership with other content providers.
Crossway Books & Bibles reported that its ESV Study Bible published October 15 has gone back to press for second printing of 50,000 copies, with a 50,000 third printing soon to follow. First printing was 50,000. The company notes that its success was during a month where retail spending had its larges decline in three years. Said Justin Taylor, managing editor of the ESV Study Bible: "In uncertain times it seems people are looking to the certainty of the Bible."
