FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The National Association of Real Estate Editors (NAREE) gives
The Skinny On the Housing Crisis its top book award for 2009
June 23, 2009 (Washington D.C.) – The Skinny on the Housing Crisis by Jim Randel was awarded first prize in the Bruss Book Competition sponsored by the National Association of Real Estate Editors (NAREE). NAREE is an organization of 650 journalists and business experts who follow housing, finance and real estate matters. The award was given this past weekend in Washington, D.C. at NAREE's annual convention.
This prestigious award is a recognition of excellence in writing and The Skinny won over 15 finalists. Second prize went to Doubleday’s House Lust and third prize to Wiley’s Confessions of a Mortgage Broker.
The judges released a statement on the winning book, noting, "Wow. What a concept, having stick people tell the story of one of the beefiest, multifaceted, complex, and confusing bits of recent economic history in terms everyone can understand ... original, informative, easy to read and funny to boot."
The Skinny on the Housing Crisis is part of the newly created "The Skinny On™" book series by RAND Publishing. The first book in the series takes a difficult topic and explains it in a quick and entertaining read that is enhanced with illustrations, a story line, and dialogue. The books give "the skinny on life's most important lessons" written especially for the time-starved and information-overloaded reader.
Founder Jim Randel is an author and attorney who is also a sought-after speaker. Randel, a contributor to the Huffington Post, has appeared on numerous media programs about business and financial issues.
"We are very grateful for NAREE's recognition, a highly respected group of business journalists," said RAND CEO Katie Rose Hope. "It is especially satisfying to see that our approach to communication - far from traditional - is being recognized for excellence in a competition against some of the nation's largest publishers."
Judges of the Robert Bruss award included Michael Frolove, an Instructor at the Real Estate Institute, Temple University, Allen Norwood, retired Homes Editor for The Charlotte Observer (former NAREE Vice President), and Ken Lanterman, former assistant business editor at the Houston Chronicle.
NAREE board members include Lauren Beale of The Los Angeles Times, Ken Harney of The Washington Post, Alan J. Heavens of Philadelphia Inquirer, Lois Weiss of The New York Post, Stephen Gandel of Money magazine, Hui-yong Yu of Bloomberg News, Elizabeth Rhodes of the Seattle Times, and Andrea Jares of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
THE SKINNY ON™ BOOK SERIES:
After years of studying how people learn, RAND Publishing created The Skinny On™ series of books that provide a plain English analysis of today’s most critical issues. Information is presented in an entertaining story format. Each book is a synthesis of the most important writing and research on a given subject and can be read in about one hour. Other Skinny books now available include: The Skinny on Credit Cards, The Skinny on Willpower, and The Skinny on Real Estate Investing.
Many more Skinny books are now in production including The Skinny on Tenacity, The Skinny on Income Taxes, The Skinny on Direct Selling, The Skinny on Online Dating and The Skinny on Social Networking.
Visit theskinnyon.com for more information about RAND Publishing.
For more information and media requests, contact Jennie Dunn, Publicity Associate, RAND Publishing at 203-226-8727 or jdunn@randmediaco.com.
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