It's official! Cover Cafe's 10th Annual Romance Cover Contest is complete and ready for viewing! It's been quite the journey from the first contest created by Carol Irvin and Sandi Morris back in early 2000 for the All About Romance website. Carol Irvin worked in the visual arts field and began writing a series of articles for All About Romance discussing the Romance Cover industry in February, 1999. She teamed with Sandi Morris, who handled the coding, and during that year an idea for the contest was born. Carol and Sandi wanted the contest to feature the worst in covers, sending a strong signal to publishers that readers wanted quality covers. By the time the contest was ready for public voting, they had expanded the contest to include favorite covers from 1999, too. And the rest, as they say, is history.

It is amazing how Carol's take on romance covers still rings true years later. Even though it has been ten years and the contest has its own independent website, the issues remain the same. Readers want artistic covers that do not insult their intelligence or embarrass them in public. They love covers that catch their eye when they first see them, stimulates their imagination, and most important, fits the story inside. Here's a link to the first contest intro, Covers Covered by Carol. And if you'd like to compare the winners from the 1999 covers with this year's Cover Cafe winners follow this link, 1999 Cover Contest Results.

Thank You to the coverballot committee for their dedication in voting on multiple ballots during this past year. A special thank you to Jenny and Jo-Ann, former co-chairs of the contest, who along with category chairs, Karen, Jeanette, and Lee handled all of the administrative work involved in determining the finalists for the contest. And finally, a huge thank you to all of the readers, authors, publishers, and cover artists who nominated covers and voted in the contest. We couldn't do it without you!

For myself, I've enjoyed my first few months as committee chair, I've loved expanding the Cover Cafe website with our new feature section, and I've survived managing the logistics of my first online contest as committee chair. I can't wait to see what next year will bring! Thank you and enjoy viewing the results of the 2008 contest.

The nominations for the best and worst in 2009 are open until January 15, 2010. If you see a great cover this year, please visit Cover Cafe and fill out a nomination form.

Linnae Crady
Cover Cafe Chair
June 28, 2009