Poverty advocates win top honors at Canadian Christian Writing Awards

The Canadian Christian Writing Awards highlighted two authors who dedicated their careers to helping the poor. Tim Huff, who has worked with homeless adults and teens in Toronto for 20 years, won with “Bent Hope: A Street Journal” in the general readership category. It tied for first in the culture book category with Greg Paul’s “The Twenty Piece Shuffle: Why the Poor and Rich Need Each Other.” Paul founded the Toronto inner-city ministry Sanctuary. Paul’s book also won in the Christian Living book category. Also of note was a victory for first-time author Shawn Pollet of Ontario. He won for “Christianus Sum” (Latin for “I am a Christian”), a suspense novel set during the Roman Empire. Pollet won for the best suspense, historic and romance novel. “This is the premier event honoring the work of Canadians who write from a Christian world view,” explained Denise Rumble, the managing director of The Word Guild. “We want to showcase examples of excellence and increase public awareness of the quality and variety of our homegrown writers.” Link: Complete list of Canadian Christian Writing Award winners: http://www.thewordguild.com/contestsawards/2009winners.html