Harlequin TEEN Authors Immortalize True Stories of Volunteerism

Recipients of 2013 Harlequin More Than Words award inspire YA page-turners

Nominations for 2014 awards kick off this summer

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Jul 10, 2013, 06:59 ET

TORONTO and NEW YORK, July 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- What better way to celebrate women who are making positive differences in the lives of others than by turning their stories into inspiring novellas? For the first time ever, Harlequin has partnered with its TEEN authors to bring to life the true acts of heroism seen in the 2013 More Than Words award recipients. Since its inception in 2004, the More Than Words program has recognized and rewarded women making extraordinary differences in their communities.

Harlequin TEEN authors Liz Fichera (Cheryl Sesnon), Katie McGarry (Nikki Berti), and Earl Sewell (Elizabeth Roelfs) jumped on the opportunity to feature these inspiring women in their very own novella. By popular vote, the 2013 award winners include Cheryl Sesnon, who runs Jubilee Women's Center in Seattle, a place where troubled women can learn to leave homelessness behind forever; Nikki Berti, who co-founded the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation in Las Vegas, a group that provides 10,000 pairs of shoes to impoverished children each year; and Elizabeth Roelfs, a member of the Diller Community Foundation in Nebraska, a group dedicated to bringing big programs to small town America. Each story will be available in the spring of 2014 in eBook format, available for free download in 2014.

"I wanted to help bring awareness to the winners of the More Than Words competition, specifically The Goody Two Shoes Foundation," said Katie McGarry, lead Harlequin TEEN author. "Foundations like this become advocates for an often voiceless population of America that rely on their services for basic needs. Foundations like Goody Two Shoes not only provide something material, like shoes, they provide hope. Isn't hope something that all of us should be willing to give to one another?"

This summer, fans and readers of Harlequin will have another opportunity to immortalize their real-life heroines. Nominations for the 2014 Harlequin More Than Words award opened on April 19^th. The 2014 winners will receive a $15,000 reward for their organizations and have their Harlequin TEEN-authored stories in eBook format, available for free download in 2015.

Nominations are open to the public until August 9^th and narrowed down to the top five finalists for a public voting phase. By visiting www.HarlequinMoreThanWords.com, public voters can select their favorite nominee and the three nominees with the highest amount of votes will be chosen as the 2014 Harlequin More Than Words award recipients.

The Harlequin More Than Words program is a corporate social responsibility initiative that aims to raise awareness of worthy causes that are of concern to women and mobilize others to take action in their communities. Since 2004 – the inception of the program – an internal Harlequin employee committee has selected the winners of the Harlequin More Than Words award from written submissions, which were judged on specific criteria, including capacity to inspire others and contribution to the community.

About Harlequin

Harlequin is one of the world's leading publishers of books for women, with titles issued worldwide in 31 languages and sold in 111 international markets. The company publishes more than 110 titles monthly and more than 1,200 authors from around the world. Harlequin is a wholly owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation, a broadly based media company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TS.B). Harlequin's website is located at Harlequin.com. Harlequin has offices in 19 countries, including offices in Toronto, New York and London. For more information, please visit www.Harlequin.com.