Blythe Barnhill:

It's always exciting to see a year's worth of nominating, voting, and eliminating result in a final group of winners. This year's contest has been the most successful ever, with twice as many voters participating as last year. Readers (and authors!) have spoken, and the following covers are our big winners:

Winner in Historical: Single Cover	Winner Historical: With Stepback

Winner in Contemporary	Winner in Non Historical with Stepback

Winner in Series	Winner Historical Series

Winner in Alternate Reality	"Winner" in Worst

There are some interesting overall trends to note this year. Some categories were very competitive, and others were less so (the winner for "worst" really trounced the competition). But it was interesting to note that several themes came up again and again in reader comments, no matter what cover was being voted upon.

• Readers like covers that accurately depict the contents of the book. It sounds so simple, but so many covers go astray in this area. Readers notice when the cover highlights a scene that actually happens in the book, and they notice if the artist has added the right hair color. They also like the mood of the book to match the cover; paranormal books should be eerie and maybe a little foreboding, whereas Regency covers should be elegant and romantic.

• Readers like natural poses. Poses can be sexy, flirty, or even reserved - but readers like the people on their covers to look like people. No one wants to see a couple posed like Barbie and Ken dolls at the prom, and no one wants to see a hero and heroine contorted in an anatomically impossible position just because they are in a sexual frenzy.

• Readers love sexy - as long as it's tasteful. Let's face it; many romance readers love reading about sexy men. We don't mind looking at sexy men either, as long as the cover shows them in a tasteful way. Covers that were sexy and modern without being tacky fared well with voters. We'd rather not see the heroine's hand in the hero's pants, but we're not above a steamy, sexy shower shot.

• Authors love gorgeous covers too. This year we had more authors vote and comment in the contest than ever before. It's a trend I applaud; after all, who has more riding on a good cover than an author? Several authors are quoted in the results column, and in most cases, I simply used their first names (as I did with reader comments).

On behalf of AAR and Coverballot; I'd like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who participated this year, whether by nominating a cover, voting, or leaving a comment or two. Your terrific, insightful, and sometimes funny comments are what make this column possible. I'd also like to give another thank you to the members of coverballot, who spend all year voting on covers and preparing this slate for you.

To the Historical: Single Cover Results

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