2014 William C. Morris Award Finalist

I'm blown away by today's news: In the Shadow of Blackbirds is a 2014 William C. Morris Award Finalist!

In case you're unfamiliar with the award, here's a quote about this incredibly surreal honor from today's official announcement at the YALSA website.

"YALSA selected five books as finalists for the 2014 William C. Morris Award, which honors a book written for young adults by a previously unpublished author. YALSA will name the 2014 award winner at the Youth Media Awards at 8 a.m. ET on January 27 during ALA’s Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia."

I'm still in a bit in a daze about this news, but I'm so grateful to everyone who helped get this book into print and to the members of the William C. Morris Awards committee. I'm also delighted to announce that some of my fellow members of The Lucky 13s are also finalists. Here's the full list:

Charm & Strange, by Stephanie Kuehn

Sex & Violence, by Carrie Mesrobian

Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets, by Evan Roskos

Belle Epoque, by Elizabeth Ross

In the Shadow of Blackbirds, by Cat Winters

To make this news even sweeter, I discovered one of my favorite novels of recent years, Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys, was a 2012 Morris Finalist. That's what truly blows me away: finding my book in the same categories as authors I admire.

I'm not taking a single moment of this for granted.