Elk Lake’s Selah Winners!

Elk Lake is happy to

announce our TEN

2022 Selah Award winners!

Congrats to our wonderful authors!

1st Place, Anthology Category

We May Be Done, But We're Not Finished

by Deb DeArmond

The nest is empty, professional path established or concluded. It should be an exciting time. We're free to pursue the possibilities. But it's a little scary, too. Much of what has defined our lives for the last 30 years is no longer required. Having completed most of what was placed on our plate - raising kids, building careers, driving carpools and Little League, I firmly believe the best may still be ahead.

We May Be Done, But We're Not Finished challenges women 50+ and older to examine how the rest of their life might be the best of their life. Many may have wondered if they've accomplished the purpose for their lives as God intended. Here's a clue: if you're still here, the answer is no. Please remember, adventure has no age limit!

2nd Place, Historical/Biblical Category

Easton at Christmastide

by Rebecca Price Janney

Easton and its favorite son Colonel Peter Kichline have reason to rejoice—the Revolutionary War is finally over! Against all possible odds, General Washington's troops have prevailed against the world's mightiest military. Peter believes the time has come to win the peace, but when a former villager, married to a missing British officer, wants to come home, the townspeople don't exactly roll out the welcome mat.

Meanwhile, newlywed Erin Miles Bassett is looking forward to a Hallmark-worthy Christmas while collaborating with a celebrated historian and author. She's experiencing a season most people would envy, and while life is just about perfect, getting everyone else to cooperate is like herding cats. A brash businessman blindsides her. A sudden illness threatens her holiday plans, and certain family members have very different ideas about the ideal Christmas.

Join Peter and Erin as they discover the real blessing of the season isn't a stunning tree—
but the Perfect Gift.

2nd Place, Speculative Fiction Category

Beneath the Deep

by Andrea Chatman

When Morgan Sullivan goes looking for her missing uncle, she discovers a secret the world isn’t ready for.

A shiver of fear, deep and primal, ran through her. It was an eye. A ginormous eye. Yellow, reptilian, with a gleam of intelligence. Resurrected from the depths of time itself.

Oceanographer Morgan Sullivan has always loved sea monster legends, and her uncle Daniel always had the best. But when her uncle goes missing under mysterious circumstances, the key to his survival might unleash a secret the world isn’t ready for. Every question leads to another, each more cryptic than the last. From the snowy fields of Iowa to the slopes of Haleakala volcano and to the depths of the ocean, as the search goes on Morgan finds that the biggest challenge comes from within herself. How far is she willing to go for the answers she seeks? And what is she willing to sacrifice?

2nd Place, Memoir Category

Enough!

by Diana Mood

The story you are about to read lays bare the soul of a very painful personal journey. Seldom will you encounter such an honest and probing assessment of brokenness and the intervening grace of God. The pain of a childhood without its expected joys and freedom. The crushed hopes, dreams, and deep wounds of being used and cast aside as a young adult. The growing strength that only a loving Savior can grant in an environment of total despair. Our Heavenly Father snatched Diana from the abyss of depression and defeat. He began to build wholeness and peace into her broken life – a process that continues to this day. Jesus has not made her strong in her own abilities. Rather, He has become her strength and has used her broken life to keep her dependent upon Him. Triumph and peace are found in the Savior. Walk in Diana’s steps as you turn the pages of this book and learn of the One who redeems when all seems lost.

2nd Place, Children's Category AND

2nd Place Director's Award in Children's Fiction 

Eat God's Food

by Susan Neal

Kids have strong opinions about food. Some foods they love and others they don’t. Instead of letting their taste buds rule over your family’s food choices, teach them early to love the right kinds of food. Healthy food can be fun!

Every good thing we need to grow strong and healthy, God created for us to eat. A body needs different foods to grow and work well. Eat God’s Food teaches kids what foods are healthy and unhealthy, preparing them for a lifetime of eating and living the way God intended.

In Eat God’s Food, you’ll find healthy activities and cooking adventures to ensure kids not only learn but have fun too. You and your child will learn together through fun yet educational activities.

As kids begin to grow, they need to learn to care for their body to become healthy adults. Help your child discover how to eat foods from each of God’s food groups (vegetables, grains, fruits, nuts, seeds, and meat). Eating a variety of colorful food is healthier. Your child will learn how to become a healthy kid and grow into a healthy adult.

3rd Place, First Novel Category

Every Window Filled with Light

by Shelia Stovall

Librarian Emma Baker, a young and childless widow, believes her dream to build a family is over. It’s been two years since a student accidentally stabbed Emma’s husband to death, and her grief has stifled any interest in romance—until she meets Pastor Luke Davis. But when Emma learns Luke is counseling her husband’s killer fresh out of jail, her temper gets in the way.

Meanwhile, Emma discovers twelve-year-old Harley, abandoned by her drug-addict mother, hiding in the library, and takes the girl in as her foster mom. Then a young mother is made homeless by an apartment fire, and Emma opens her home again. One person and one prayer at a time, Emma begins to discover hope.

3RD Place, Middle Grade & YA Category

Into the Great Marinara

by Nicolas Day

Tanner loves baseball, but he’s not a big fan of being bossed around by those in charge: his parents, his baseball coach, God—who, if he exists, surely doesn’t have time to spend on a small-town middle-schooler.

But Tanner finds his world rocked when he is sucked into a bowl of leftover spaghetti and shot into a land of talking pasta who carry swords and spears—all of whom believe in a mysterious higher power they call “Chef.”
Their world is under attack by a giant spaghetti dragon, and they seem to think Tanner is the one sent to save them. Tanner is faced with hard decisions.

Is this “Chef” actually God, and does He really exist? If so, is Tanner going to act according to his own devices to find a way home, or put his faith in the master recipe-maker and follow his cooked-up plan.

3rd Place Director's Award in Fiction Category

For the Good of All

by MB Dahl

“For the good of all, we give ourselves.”

At least that’s how the mantra goes. Everyone knows the refrain. Everyone responds to it. But Ren seriously doubts how killing off people who are different is good for anyone, especially when she’s hiding her own difference.

Just graduated, Ren follows her friend Bala’s advice, “blend in.” Being overlooked isn’t a problem until a cute guy asks her out. Owen’s handsome, funny, and sees her. He treats her like an equal, not a problem. But he has his own secrets.

His issues aren’t like hers, though. Aberrant with a strange ability even she doesn’t understand, Ren must choose to embrace her differences or run before she becomes the next one sacrificed for the good of all.

Tied for Third, Articles in Print Category

“Directly Affected”

by Whitney Ward