During the month of January, members voted on a new slate of Operating Board Officers including the new position of Publicity Officer. Also, the Volunteer Coordinator’s title had been changed to Volunteer Officer. In February the 2005 Operating Board members were announced:

Tracey Bateman – President
Kaye Dacus – Vice President
Pam Meyers – Secretary
Peg Phifer – Treasurer
Linda Mae Baldwin – Volunteer Officer
Mary Griffin – Publicity Officer

At this point the Advisory Board consisted of:

Andrea Boeshaar
Brandilynn Collins
Gail Martin
Deborah Raney
Colleen Coble
Randall Ingermanson
Kristin Billerbeck

And the cadre of volunteers included:

Kim Sawyer – List Hostess
Robin Miller – Topic of the Week Coordinator
Martha Rogers – Verse of the Week
Lynette Sowell – Critique Group Coordinator
Meredith Efkin – Website List Coordinator
Amber “Tiff” Miller – ACFW Web Mistress
Christine Lynxweiler – ACFW Historian
Greg Williamson – Noble Theme Contest Coordinator
Janice LaQuiere – Book in a Month/Week Coordinator
Jill Johnson – Book of the Year Contest Coordinator

In February, the new Operating Board held its first on-line meeting and as one of her first duties at ACFW’s new Publicity Officer, Mary Griffith, send out a press release announcing ACRW’s new name of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW).

To accommodate ACFW’s increasing need of technology support, the organization purchased it’s own server and moved the e-mail loop onto the equipment along with its website.

In March Meredith Efkin took over duties as Website List Coordinator while Kim Sawyer remained on board as List Hostess.

On-line courses for the remainder of 2005 were announced:

• March – “All About Contests,” Pam Hillman
• April – “The Care & Feeding of Critique Groups,” Allison Wilson
• May – TBA
• June – “Getting Unstuck,” Kaye Dacus
• July – TBA Tracey Bateman
• August – Conference Prep Course, Deb Raney
• September – No course
• October – Joan Shoup
• November – TBA
• December – No course

In April Pam Meyers, Board Secretary, announced the 2005 Scholarship Program for the National Conference to be held in Nashville. Two full conference awards, six registration only awards, and two $100 off registration awards would be awarded to recipients.

Volunteer positions continued to evolve as Vickie McDonough resigned as Crit Group Coordinator and Lisa Tuttle stepped down as the newsletter editor. Lynette Sowell stepped in to replace Vickie, while Kristin Bliss, who had been Lisa’s assistant agreed to fill Lisa’s shoes.

The National Conference took place at the Sheraton Music City in Nashville, September 15-18, 2005. The Operating Board and Advisory Board met jointly in Nashville on September 15, prior to the National Conference opening that same day.

Karen Ball, Author and Executive Editor for Zondervan, was the Keynote Speaker, while over 15 publishing houses were represented including Bethany House, Tyndale, and Howard Publishing. Workshop titles at the conference include “Fiction 101,” “Nine Steps to a Lean Mean Proposal,” “Turning Your Book into a Movie,” and others. Speakers featured at the event included Tracey Bateman, Gayle Roper, Robin Lee Hatcher, Linda Windsor, and many more.

During the conference, the Operating Board announced the formation of regional zones and local ACFW chapters. This new direction would help ACFW members connect locally with each other and grow in the craft of writing.

Also announced was the change of the writing contest name for 2006 to Genesis and that a deal had been struct with Warner-Faith whereby the top all around winner would received a review from Warner-Faith’s editorial committee.

Winners of the 2005 Book of the Year were announced as follows:

CONTEMPORARY FICTION
1st - Laura Jensen Walker - DREAMING IN BLACK & WHITE
2nd - Robert Elmer - THE CELEBRITY
3rd - Kristin Billerbeck - SHE'S OUT OF CONTROL

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE - SHORT
1st - Joyce Livingston - ONE LAST CHRISTMAS
2nd - Margaret Daly - GOLD IN THE FIRE

3rd (tie) -	Pamela Griffin – RUN FAST, MY LOVE
	Marta Perry – UNLIKELY HERO

GENERAL FICTION
1st - Linda Wichman - LEGEND OF THE EMERALD ROSE
2nd - Bryan Davis - THE CANDLESTONE
3rd - Wendy Lawton - SHADOW OF HIS HAND

GENERAL HISTORICAL
1st - Randall Ingermanson - RETRIBUTION
2nd - Janice Thompson - HURRICANE
3rd - Tracie Peterson - THE HOPE WITHIN

HISTORICAL ROMANCE - LONG
1st - Night Song - Tricia Goyer
2nd - Hannah Rose - Louise Gouge
3rd - Child of the Mist - Kathleen Morgan

HISTORICAL ROMANCE - SHORT
1st - Faithful Traitor -Jill Stengl
2nd - One Chance in a Million - Cathy Marie Hake

3rd (tie) -	Carol Cox - Road to Forgiveness
	DiAnn Mills - Renegade Husband

MYSTERY/SUSPENSE/THRILLER
1st - Dead of Night - Brandilyn Collins
2nd - Nadia - Susan K. Downs & Susan May Warren
3rd - Into the Deep - Colleen Coble

NOVELLA
1st - from Simply Christmas, My True Love Gave to Me - Christine Lynxweiler
2nd - Colder Than Ice - Jill Stengl
3rd - The Christkindl’s Gift - Kathleen Morgan

Winners of the Noble Theme Contest for 2005 were announced by coordinator Greg Williamson as follows:

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
1st - Cheryl Wyatt - COVENANT SEAL
2nd - Tamara Cooper - HONOR BOUND
3rd - Ruth Logan Herne - THE SHEPHERD

GENERAL FICTION
1st - Ruth Logan Herne - THE FIRST GIFT
2nd - Cindy Woodsmall - WHEN THE HEART CRIES
3rd - Paula Moldenhauer - THE LITTLE CHURCH THAT WOULDN'T DIE

GENERAL HISTORICAL
1st - Sara Probasco - WINDOWS IN THE DARK
2nd - Christina Miller - DISTANT THUNDER
3rd - Jill Johnson - SOLEMN VOWS

HISTORICAL ROMANCE
1st - Carolyn Slaughter - LOVE ON A DIME
2nd - Audra L. Harders - PRECIOUS POSSESSIONS
3rd - Julie Lessman - A CHASING ON THE WIND

MYSTERY/SUSPENSE/THRILLER
1st - Camy Tang - FURIOUS DRAGONS
2nd - Rebecca L. Deel - HOME RUNS
3rd - Robin Miller - ASSAULT OF EVIL

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
1st - Margaret Mosely - UNDO THE DARK
2nd - Suzan Robertson - VOICE OF BELLS
3rd - Katie Cushman - BROKEN

SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/ALLEGORY
1st - Lynette Sowell - STAR'S DAUGHTER
2nd - Kristine E. Pratt - RIDERS OF THE DREAM
3rd - Ronie Kendig - LIBERTY'S SON

In October it was announced that Camy Tang would coordinate the 2006 Genesis Contest and Mike Ehret had joined the newsletter staff as an assistant to Kristin Bliss.

November brought announcements that held promise to make the 2006 ACFW National Conference even better than its predecessors. Liz Curtis Higgs had agreed to keynote, while appointments would be organized and coordinated by Wanda Dyson. An awards banquet would replace the regular Saturday night dinner during which winners of the Mentor of the Year, Book of the Year and Genesis Contest would be announced.

The ACFW Book Club launched in November. The club was on Yahoo Groups and open to members and non-members alike. Members would read and discuss ACFW member-authored books. Pam Hillman agreed to coordinate the club.

December brought more changes to the personnel manning the many functions of ACFW. Pamela James and Roni Kendig began working as moderators, assisting Meredith Efkin in the oversight of the ACFW e-mail loops. Kim Sawyer stepped down as list hostess due to a tight schedule, and Cindy Woodsmall took over duties. Jessica Ferguson was appointed as ACFW Historian.

The Board announced that a “suggestion box” was available for members at large to make suggestions that might help to make ACFW a better organization. The e-mail generated box would shoot the suggestion straight to a Board member who would disseminate it to the appropriate person for response.

Sydney Zech was hired in January to be the 2005 coordinator for the 2005 ACFW conference which will be held in Nashville.

During the combined Board meeting in Nashville the terms of the Operating Board officers were changed from one year to two years. It was agreed that some of the current board members would serve a three-year term to get the terms into a staggered format so that not all members stepped down at the same time. Exactly who would stay on for an additional year would be determined later.

In October, Kaye Dacus stepped down as Operating Board Vice President. Mary Griffith agreed to move from Publicity Officer to V.P. and Lisa Tuttle was asked by the Advisors to be the Publicity Officer.

As the year closed, Sydney Zech agreed to coordinate the 2006 conference in Dallas.

Continue to 2006