Tallahassee Writers Association (TWA) was well represented at the Florida Authors and Publishers Association (FAPA) 2019 Book Awards Banquet on Saturday, August 3. Six Tallahassee-area writers received awards, taking a total of nine medals. Donna Brown won a silver medal for Non-fiction – Adult. She also won gold for Political/Current Events. Marina Brown won silver for Poetry. Lyla Faircloth Ellzey won a bronze medal for Young Adult Fiction & Non-fiction. She also won a bronze for Cover Design – Young Adult. Beth Harrer won gold for How To/Self-Help. Sam Staley won a silver medal for Adult Fiction – Historical, and TWA President Pat Stanford won gold for Poetry. Stanford also won gold for Cover Design – Adult.
Each year, the FAPA President’s Book Awards program recognizes book publishing excellence and creativity in design, content, and production for North American authors and publishers. Librarians, book industry professionals, and educators from Florida and other states judge content, theme, layout, and cover design elements. This year, FAPA awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals in 25 categories.
Donna Brown spent 26 years serving her community in the Tallahassee Police Department. Ten of those years were as the sergeant supervising the department’s Homicide Unit. Her books are a collection of individual stories about law enforcement officers and other first responders.
Her second book, Behind and Beyond the Badge – Volume II was named as a finalist in the International Book Awards in Nonfiction: True Crime. It won the gold medal in Political/Current Events and the silver medal in Adult Nonfiction at this year’s FAPA Book Awards.
Brown enjoys playing golf and spending time with friends, family and fur babies.
Marina Brown is no stranger to awards. Her debut novel won gold from FAPA, her second novel took silver from the Royal Palm Literary Awards (RPLA) and gold from FAPA. This year, her poetry The Leaf Does Not Believe It Will Fall, won the silver medal from FAPA and is a finalist in the RPLA.
A journalist, Brown writes for the Tallahassee Democrat, Tallahassee Magazine, and three design magazines. A former professional ballet dancer, she continues her love of dance with local tango and flamenco groups. She is a blue-water sailor, artist with one-man shows at local galleries, and a cellist.
Lyla Faircloth Ellzey recently released two novels: Losing Herself, is a story set in Los Angeles about of a teenager and her family’s struggle with her many personalities due to Dissociative Identity Disorder. Anticipation of Evil, is a murder mystery set in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and it won the bronze medal for Young Adult Fiction & Nonfiction, as well as the bronze medal for Cover Design – Young Adult.
She has a cache of work in various stages of completion including a short story book and a children’s chapter book. She lives with her husband Frank in a local retirement community.
Beth Harrer, writing as Harriet Hunter, spends much of her time working with other people in recovery. She can be found behind prison walls through sponsorship and being of service wherever she is needed.
Her Miracles of Recovery, a 365-daily inspirational read for anyone in or near someone in recovery is the gold medal winner in the category of How To/Self Help/Inspirational in this year’s FAPA Awards.
In her spare time, Harrer facilitates a six-week course called, Journaling with a Purpose. She can be found in her kitchen, on the golf course, in her yard, or at movies with friends.
Sam Staley has earned more than 10 literary awards for his fiction and nonfiction. Dr. Staley’s “day job” is running the DeVoe L. Moore Center in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy at Florida State University, where he also teaches courses in social entrepreneurship, urban planning, and urban economics.
This year’s FAPA award-winning contribution, Calusa Spirits, is the silver medal winner for Adult Fiction – Historical
Staley is also a contemporary film critic, with more than 120 published reviews online. His book Contemporary Film and Economics was called “entertaining and subversively educational” by one film producer and professor.
Pat Stanford has been writing poetry since she was about 10 years old. This was the year she decided to finally publish some of them in her collection entitled Proverbs of My Seasons: Poetry of Transition. It won the gold medal for Poetry and the gold medal for Adult Cover Design.
The first edition of her Fixing Boo Boo: A Story of Traumatic Brain Injury won the gold medal for Florida Non-fiction in 2017 from FAPA. She is about to release the second, updated edition.
Stanford has served in many capacities of the Tallahassee Writers Association, including president for 2019.