When Shelly Beach heard the first line of her novel being read from the stage, she felt a thud in her heart.

Beach’s book “Hallie’s Heart” won a Christy Award in the “Lits” category last July in Orlando, Fla.

“It was a very stunning moment for me. I was very overwhelmed by the grace of God in that moment,” said Beach, who worked full-time for Cornerstone for one year and the Professional and Graduate Studies Division for two years. “To be honored and recognized for a first book was an enormous blessing.”

Previous to the announcement, Beach went up on stage with the other nominees in her category. They were all photographed with medals around their necks, similar to the Olympics according to Beach.

When the beginning of “Hallie’s Heart” was read, Beach heard the name of her character Mona VanderMolen, partly named after Mona Shores High School where Beach attended.

After the thud in Beach’s heart, reality hit.

“I believe the British word was ‘gobsmacked,’” she said. “I was up against Angela Hunt and other well known and esteemed authors. I did not expect to win.”

Besides the initial shock, Beach had to deal with a minor dilemma. She had lost her acceptance speech while traveling.

“I had printed it out before on the computer and had been deliberate about it,” Beach said. I thought, this would sure be something you wouldn’t want to lose.”

Beach had saved the speech on her laptop but was without the ability to print. She was forced to transcribe the speech to notebook paper. Added to the situation was the problem that she broke her glasses two days before going to Florida and had not worn contacts for 10 years.

The scene was set onstage with Beach in contact lenses and reading glasses from the dollar store trying to read a handwritten speech through teary eyes. She was able to make it through the speech and reflected on what the award means to her.

“My sense of the whole thing is that it is the grace of God. It doesn’t change the value of your work or who you are,” Beach said. “It is a blessing for being recognized for doing something well.”

For “Hallie’s Heart,” Beach enjoyed developing the characters and the fun and creativity of inventing a place.

“Through fiction, I am able to tap into your life and get you to explore truth by creating characters and scenes,” Beach said. Beach draws from real-life as she writes about “the anger, and frustration and wrestling with God I have experienced in my life or in my children’s life,” she said.

The Christy Awards consist of eight categories of Christian fiction.  Lynn Austin also won an award in the Historical category, who shared a similar perspective with Beach on the awards. Both noticed that people can treat them with a different regard.

“They look at you as Christy writer,” Beach said. “I am nothing more than a writer down the way.”

Nonetheless, Beach felt the Christy Awards were an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

“It is a huge honor and I am glad there are organizations out there like the Christy organization that honors the hard work of writers,” Beach said. “It was just fun for people that I have always read about and be sitting there with people that I have such high regard for.”

Cynthia Beach, assistant professor of English and of no relation to Shelly Beach, has known Shelly since 2002. They eventually had to meet because people mixed up the two and sent e-mails to the wrong person.

When Cynthia heard that Shelly won the Christy Award, she was “proud of Shelly and so over-the-top happy for her,” Cynthia said. “She had worked on her novel for over a decade and had hoped over it as long.”

Cynthia values Shelly’s authenticity in her writing. “She doesn’t gloss over the struggles and she doesn’t imply that the Christian life is without difficulties,” Cynthia said.

Simultaneous to Beach’s Christy Award win, she was also nominated for an Evangelical Christian Publishing Association Award in the inspiration and gift category for her book “Precious Lord Take My Hand.” However, Ruth Graham won the award.

For future projects, Beach wrote “Ambushed by Grace” which is coming out in November and eventually “Morning Song,” the follow-up to “Hallie’s Heart.”

“For me it is all about giving glory to God,” Beach said. “I am a conduit for passing on stories to someone else.” Her motto for writing is: illuminating truth through the power of story.  “I don’t want the illumination to fall on me,” Beach said. “It is about the illumination being the power of God.”