Companies and authors are invited to enter their top releases in the 2013 Christian Retailing’s Best awards, honoring the best products in the Christian retail market. Feb. 15 is the deadline to enter this year’s awards program, now in its 13th season.

There are 62 categories of books, Bibles, gifts, music, DVDs and more, along with a Backlist category. Click here to nominate. Those nominating will be invoiced for the entry fee of $60 per nomination.

Daily Wisdom for Women: 2013 Devotional Collection (Barbour Publishing) charts at No. 1 again on the General best-sellers list from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), tracking sales for the week ending Jan. 26, according to Pubtrack Christian data.

The rest of the Top 20 General best-sellers were:

2. Jesus Calling, Sarah Young, hardcover (Thomas Nelson);
3. Jesus Calling, Young, large print deluxe (Thomas Nelson);
4. The Circle Maker, Mark Batterson (Zondervan);
5. Praying God's Word, Beth Moore (B&H Books);
6. The Harbinger, Jonathan Cahn (FrontLine/Charisma House Book Group);
7. Jesus Today, Young, hardcover (Thomas Nelson);
8. Jesus Calling, Young, deluxe (Thomas Nelson);
9. Crazy Love, Francis Chan (David C Cook);
10. Jesus Calling, Young, women’s edition (Thomas Nelson);
11. Multiply, Francis Chan, Mark Beuving (David C Cook);
12. Heaven Is for Real, Todd Burpo (Thomas Nelson);
13. Forgotten God, Chan, Danae Yankoski (David C Cook);
14. The 5 Love Languages, Gary Chapman (Northfield Publishing);
15. Not a Fan, Kyle Idleman (Zondervan);
16. I Declare, Joel Osteen (FaithWords);
17. Boundaries, Henry Cloud, John Townsend (Zondervan);
18. One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp (Zondervan);
19. Made to Crave, Lysa TerKeurst (Zondervan);
20. The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan).

Verity Gospel Music Group has been renamed RCA Inspiration. Geo Bivins, who also remains senior vice president of urban promotion for RCA Records, has been named general manager to run day-to-day operations.

In addition, Stanley Brown has been promoted to head of A&R, and Cheryl Marks to vice president of marketing. All three will remain in the company's New York City headquarters.

"I am very excited to be working with so many great gospel artists," Bivins said. "RCA Inspiration will continue the tradition held by Verity Gospel Music Group as the leader in inspirational music. In addition to great music, I am equally excited to work with the best A&R, promotion and marketing team in the business."

During his music career, Bivins, senior vice president of urban promotion for RCA Records since 2007, was responsible for the promotion of hits from many mainstream artists, including Snoop, Chingy, R. Kelly, Busta Rhymes and Notorious Big.

Brown, who had served as senior director of A&R for Verity since 2010, is an accomplished musician, producer and label executive with more than 20 years experience in the music business. Brown's label executive experience includes vice president of A&R for Island Black Music, where he signed and oversaw projects by Karen Clark Sheard, Donald Lawrence and Bishop T.D. Jakes.

Marks previously served as senior director of marketing for Verity, spearheading award-winning campaigns for Kirk Franklin, Marvin Sapp, Fred Hammond, Hezekiah Walker and the "Wow Gospel" series.

RCA Inspiration kicked off the year Jan. 22 with Bless This House, the eighth release from Kurt Carr. Other projects set for 2013 include Fred Hammond's United Tenor; a debut album from BET's Sunday Best audience favorite Latice Crawford; and the next installment from the "Wow Gospel" series.

Retail sales will increase 3.4% this year, slightly less than the preliminary 4.2% growth seen in 2012, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

The subdued sales forecast, which excludes automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, comes on the heels of a holiday season that went head-to-head with political wrangling over fiscal cliff concerns, shifting consumer spending plans downward. Holiday sales in 2012 grew 3%, NRF said.

Wesscott Marketing has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) to release for the first time 10 classic dramatic films on DVD.

Four BGEA films will be released April 2, including Caught (1987); Time to Run (1972); For Pete's Sake (1966); and PowerPlay (1994).

Films to be released later include Oiltown U.S.A. (1953); Come the Morning (1993); The Heart is a Rebel (1958); Two a Penny (1970); The Home Coming (1996); and Repeat Performance (1996).

BGEA films have been shown around the world since 1953, and after watching them, viewers made more than 2 million decisions for Christ.

Wesscott Marketing was formed in 1999 by Tim Hetchler, a former World Wide Pictures (now known as BGEA Films) sales and marketing executive. Since the marketing company's formation, Wesscott has represented BGEA in the Christian retail channel.

Movieguide and the John Templeton Foundation have announced the semi-finalists for the eighth annual Kairos Prize for Spiritually Uplifting Screenplays. The list will be narrowed down to around a dozen finalists before the 21st Annual Movieguide Faith & Values Awards, to be held Feb. 15 at the Universal Hilton Hotel near Hollywood.

The Kairos Prize is funded by the foundation and presented by Movieguide. In addition to the $50,000 prize, the top three winners will have their scripts read by top studio executives, including those at Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures.

"Many of Hollywood's elite are taking note of the Kairos Prize," said Ted Baehr, founder of Movieguide. "As winning scripts continue to be optioned and ultimately produced, we know that future audiences will discover a better understanding of God and His grace through these compelling scripts."

Click here to see the semi-finalists' list.

The Parable Group has announced the launch of its new corporate identity with the rollout of a new logo and tag line.

The refreshed brand identity is the first in 28 years for the San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based marketing firm and presents the tag line, “Delivering Your Story.” The refresh correlates to several recent corporate shifts, including the merging of the company’s online display marketing division, Parable Agency—which offers digital marketing services to faith-based organizations—with the flagship side of the business. The Parable Group has also experienced increased interest in its data services, which has become a significant part of its business. In addition, the company has moved into digital products that include apps, electronic books and email services through SnapRetail.