RWA cancelled the 2020 RITA Awards after several contestants and judges withdrew due to diversity concerns. In 2019, Kennedy Ryan became the first Black woman to be awarded a RITA. The board issued an apology after the 2019 finalists again underrepresented persons of color or LGBTQ+ persons. In response, the RWA board noted that less than half of 1% of finalists were by Black authors, of which none had ever won the award, and gave a commitment to improve the diversity of the award. Instead, all finalists were about white women, of which all but one fell in love with British aristocrats. This caused controversy in 2018 when Alyssa Cole's An Extraordinary Union, a novel about interracial romance during the American Civil War, made no appearance among the RITA Awards finalists despite winning multiple other awards. The RITA Awards, like the English-language romance fiction industry as a whole, were overwhelmingly dominated by white authors. The nominations were criticized as antisemitic, because the book was set in Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II and featured a Jewish prisoner being saved by an SS officer, falling in love with him and converting to Christianity. In 2015, For Such a Time, written by Kate Breslin and published by Bethany House, was nominated for two RITA Awards, in the Best Inspirational Romance and Best First Book categories.
In recent years, the RITA and Vivian awards have increasingly been at the centers of controversies because of objectionable content and a lack of diversity in the winning works. Winning authors received a gold statuette while book editors received a plaque. Finalists were announced in mid-March and winners were announced at the annual award ceremony, held on the last day of the RWA's National Conference, which was normally held in July. Each title was judged by five separate judges during the preliminary round. Entrants had to supply five printed books by the posted deadline. The RITA Award opened for entries in the fall. The 2022 Vivians were postponed, with works that would have been eligible in 2022 eligible for the 2023 Vivians instead. It was not awarded in 2020, and was replaced by the Vivian Award, awarded for the first time in 2021. It was named for the RWA's first president, Rita Clay Estrada. The purpose of the RITA Award was to promote excellence in the romance genre by recognizing outstanding published novels and novellas.
It was presented by the Romance Writers of America (RWA). The RITA Award was the most prominent award for English-language romance fiction from 1990 to 2019.
Literary award for romance fiction RITA Award
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