[1] Due to the limited number of titles released by LDS authors, several of the genre awards have been combined (such as romance and women's fiction).
There are also two special awards: The Whitney Committee states that it is unlikely that other areas of LDS art—such as music, poetry, or non-fiction books—will be added to the categories.
Finally, ballots are sent to the Whitney Awards Academy, an invitation-only group consisting of authors, bookstore owners/managers, distributors, critics, and other industry professionals.
[5] The awards are presented at a dinner held at the conclusion of the annual LDStorymakers conference and writing "boot camp.
The awards are named after Orson F. Whitney, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as a poet and writer.
[13] One Mormon literature critic initially raised concerns with the heavy involvement of authors published by Covenant Communications in the awards process.