¡Cielo es tan real!, the Spanish translation of Heaven Is So Real by Choo Thomas (published in English by Charisma House in 2006), won the Harold Kregel 2008 Book of the Year award for "most inspiring and impactful book."

Also published by Casa Creación, Aprenda inglés con la ayuda de Dios (learning English with God's help) by Francisco B. Güell was honored as the Best Original Spanish Work of 2008, making this the seventh consecutive year that the Spanish imprint of Strang Communications--Christian Retailing's parent company--has won the category.

In addition, Casa Creación was named Publisher of the Year for the fourth time for its third major SEPA Award.

A major award also went to Ricky Feliciano of Puerto Rico-based Pura Vida Books for Distributor of the Year.

SEPA and Editorial Unilit President David Ecklebarger told Christian Retailing that Pura Vida--which distributes for Grupo Nelson (Thomas Nelson), Editorial Vida (Zondervan), Editorial Unilit, B&H Español (B&H Publishing Group), Tyndale Español (Tyndale House Publishers) and Casa Creación--saw "fantastic growth" in 2008 despite the downturn in the economy.

"At Editorial Unilit, we're doing better working through Pura Vida than with some of the secular distributors," Ecklebarger explained. "It's been a positive thing for the whole industry."

Editorial Unilit won 15 awards--including the top-selling book of 2008, a pocket-sized version of Josh McDowell's Más que un carpintero (More Than a Carpenter)--and the top-selling reference book, fiction books, Bible study and specialized Bible. Editorial Vida won four awards, including best ad and top-selling annotated study Bible and gift book.

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