Alan Averill won the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for general fiction with The Beautiful Land. At the same time, Regina Sirois won the young adult fiction category of the same award for On Little Wings.

Here’s more from the release: “Both authors have received a publishing contract from Penguin Group (USA) that includes a $15,000 advance … This year’s competition drew thousands of submissions from aspiring writers around the world – the most entries in the history of the contest. Through several rounds of judging, six finalists rose to the top. An expert panel of authors, agents and editors weighed in with comments on the finalists’ work, and in the end, Amazon.com customers voted to select the winners.”

Click here to read a free sample of The Beautiful Land. Follow this link to read a free sample of On Little Wings. Above, we’ve included a photo of Averill (via Sue Nyre).