We are pleased to celebrate the news that Steve Kennedy, the editor of our testimony magazine, a PAOC global worker, Tonia Pankova, and two freelance writers for testimony, Jenny Svetec and David Kennedy, came out winners at the 2017 Word Guild Awards Gala in Toronto, Ont. The Word Awards recognize the best work published in the previous year in many categories of writing, including novels, non-fiction books, articles, columns, poems, song lyrics, scripts and screenplays. Steve Kennedy won an award in the "Column-Single" category for his editorial "A Sobering Conclusion" which was published in the May/June 2016 issue of testimony. (You can read the article here.) Tonia Pankova won an award in the "Personal Experience" category for her article "A Tangled, Beautiful Mess – Living out God’s love for the orphan" which was published in the March/April 2016 issue. (Read that story here.) Jenny Svetec won an award in the "Profile/Human Interest" category for her article "The Right Formulae – A young woman’s passion for God, science and marginalized youth" which was published in the July/August 2016 issue. (Read the article here). David Kennedy won an award in the "Personal Experience" category for his article "Some of Jim's Finest Living – A memorable afternoon with a dying man" which was published in the September/October 2016 issue. (You can read the article here.)

The Word Awards was established by the Word Guild to encourage the pursuit of excellence in the art, craft, practice and ministry of writing and help to raise the profile of Canadian writers who are Christian. The ultimate vision is to positively influence individuals—and ultimately the Canadian culture—through life-changing words that bring God’s message of hope.

The Word Guild is a growing community of more than 325 Canadian writers, editors, speakers, publishers, booksellers, librarians and other interested individuals who are Christian. From all parts of Canada and many denominational and cultural backgrounds, we affirm a common statement of faith and are united in our passion for the written word.

Congratulations again, Steve, Tonia, Jenny, and David!

(You can read about last year's awards here.)