Barbour Publishing author Annie Tipton has received Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Blue Ribbon Award for Best Children’s Book of 2013 for her debut novel, True Story, the first volume in the Diary of a Real Payne series. The second in this three-book series, Church Camp Chaos, releases in March 2014. Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Schoolhouse Review Crew, which selects the Blue Ribbon Award winners, is a network of 250 homeschooling families who blog about products that promote education, especially for homeschooling.

Abingdon Press authors Vannetta Chapman and Lisa Carter will host the Quilts of Love Christmas Bee, a live Facebook event, on December 10 at 8:00 PM EST. Chapman and Carter will interact with readers about their latest books, including Chapman’s The Christmas Quilt (Oct.) and Carter’s Aloha Rose (Nov.), their newest releases in the Quilts of Love series. Lynette Sowell also will introduce readers to her next book in the series, Tempest’s Course (Dec.); participants in the Christmas Bee will be eligible for prizes, including books and gift cards. At the end of the hour, the winner of a Kindle Fire HDX will be announced.This will be the first of a series of quarterly events featuring Quilts of Love authors. Readers can RSVP to the Facebook chat between now and December 10.

Regal author Clayton Kershaw, the Dodger pitcher, has won his second National League Cy Young Award in three years. Clayton co-wrote with his wife Ellen Arise: Live Out Your Faith and Dreams on Whatever Field Your You Find Yourself (Regal, 2012) . The Kershaws are active with several charities, most recently Sharefest Los Angeles and Mercy Street Dallas. They also support an orphanage they built in Zambia, Africa.

Bethany House novelist Robin Parrish (The Dominion Trilogy), along with writer, producer, and director Daniel Lusko (500 MPH Storm; 11 Seconds), is creating a novelization of the film Persecuted, a political thriller starring James Remar, Bruce Davison, Dean Stockwell, Fred Thompson, Brad Stine, Natalie Grant, and Gretchen Carlson releasing next spring from One Media, LLC. The film is a SAG-AFTRA production of an original political drama by Lusko. Persecuted: I Will Not Be Silent (Bethany House) will be published in spring 2014. The book and film explore government scandals, corruption, and religious persecution.

Oceanhouse Media has produced a line of iOS apps based on the bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series. The first app, "Angels Around Us," is now available in the App Store for $2.99. Each themed app includes 21 stories from the books in the series. Users can record their experiences with a journal feature, answer Soul Work questions, share with other users, and access Quotes, Story Audio, and Soul Minutes.

Moody Publishers author Bruce Strom has been awarded WORLD Magazine’s 2013 Hope Award for Effective Compassion for his Administer Justice ministry, which runs a free legal clinic in Elgin, Ill. Hope Award recipients are nominated by readers as “poverty-fighting ministries that are explicitly Christian, local rather than national, dependent on donations rather than government grants, and experienced in offering challenging, personal, and spiritual help,” according to a statement from Moody. The award came with a check for $25,000 to support Administer Justice, which has provided legal service to 40,000 people since 1999.