Baker Publishing Group, InterVarsity Press, Kregel Publications, and Judson Press were honored by Outreach magazine with its Resource of the Year (ORY) Awards. Published bimonthly, Outreach is a nondenominational magazine for ministry professionals. This year’s awards went to books and other materials published between November 1, 2011, and October 31, 2012, in 15 categories, such as Evangelism, Youth Ministry, and Preaching. The full list of winners can be found in the March/April issue of Outreach.

President Barack Obama will award the Medal of Honor posthumously to Chaplain (Captain) Emil J. Kapaun, U.S. Army, for conspicuous gallantry during the Korean War. The ceremony will be held April 11 at the White House, with a second ceremony April 12 at the Pentagon. As authors Roy Wenzl and Travis Heying write in The Miracle of Father Kapaun (Ignatius Press, Feb.), Fr. Kapaun died on May 23, 1951, as a prisoner of war, and the men who served with him have lobbied the Army for more than 60 years to award Kapaun the Medal of Honor for his acts of bravery. The veterans Wenzl and Heying interviewed for the book recounted, “[He] repeatedly ran through machine gun fire, dragging wounded soldiers to safety.…he shaped roofing tin into cooking pots so prisoners could boil water, which prevented dysentery. He picked lice off sick prisoners. He stole food from his captors and shared it with his starving comrades. Most of all, Kapaun rallied all of them, as they starved during subzero temperatures, to stay alive.” His home Diocese of Wichita and the Vatican have begun the formal process that could lead to Fr. Kapaun’s canonization. Wenzl and Heying will attend the Medal of Honor ceremonies in Washington, D.C., next month.

InterVarsity Press’s Sensible Shoes: A Story About the Spiritual Journey, a debut novel by Sharon Garlough Brown published by IVP’s new Crescendo imprint in February, was highlighted on the Kathie Lee and Hoda segment of the Today show on March 11. “I like to give new authors a chance,” said Gifford. “This is a brand-new, first-time novelist. If you’re a spiritually inclined person I think you’ll really love it.” For those who want to read the book as a group, a 12-week companion guide will be available as a free download April 1 at SensibleShoesClub.com.

WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group has received two Platinum and two Gold Sales Achievement Awards from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Every Man's Battle (2000), by Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker with Mike Yorkey, and Radical (2010), by David Platt, both won the Platinum Award for topping 1 million copies in sales. Gold Awards were presented to Every Young Man's Battle (2002) by Arterburn, Stoeker, and Yorkey and Every Young Woman's Battle (2004) by Shannon Ethridge and Stephen Arterburn; each sold more than 500,000 copies. Radical has been on the New York Times bestsellers list for more than two years. Recipients of Platinum and Gold Sales Achievement Awards will be honored at the ECPA Awards Banquet on April 29 in Nashville.

Thomas Nelson’s Jesus Is____: Find a New Way to Be Human (Feb.) by Judah Smith made the New York Times bestsellers list the week of March 24, reaching #11 on the Advice, How-To, & Misc. Paperback; the book also made USA Today’s Top 150 Best-Selling Books list that week. Jesus Is ____ has received Twitter and Instagram endorsements from Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and Kevin Durant, and Smith has garnered national media exposure on Fox and CNN, as well as in US Weekly and other publications.

Zondervan author Dr. Ben Carson’s America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great, published last year, has received renewed attention as Carson is being called a “rising star” in the Republican Party after his speeches at the National Prayer Breakfast and at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The week of Mar. 18, America the Beautiful was the bestselling nonfiction book on the Times lists (Paperback Nonfiction; Nonfiction Hardcover and Paperback Combined; Nonfiction Print and E-book Combined). Carson, a renowned neurosurgeon, is the author of four other books for Zondervan; this is his first title to take the #1 spot on the Times list, where it has appeared 23 times since its February 2012 release.

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