Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's Amazing Grace Named Audies Finalist

March 5, 2008

Colorado Springs, CO -- Focus on the Family Radio Theatre’s Amazing Grace, a prequel to the major motion picture of the same name, is a finalist in two categories for the 2008 Audies awards. Winners will be announced in Los Angeles on May 30 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel.

Ending where the film begins, the 5-CD audio production incorporates the talented voices of over 80 actors and explores some of the major life experiences of William Wilberforce, John Newton and Olaudah Equiano.

“By taking a glimpse into the lives of these three heroes, we also see the providential nature of God in a way we would otherwise miss,” says writer Dave Arnold. “Each of their lives is charged with an historic destiny. It was an honor to represent those lives in this drama and for their lives to be recognized by the Audies judges.”

The Audies gala is an awards program hosted by the Audio Publishers Association and is dedicated to recognizing audio entertainment excellence. Over the past five years, Focus on the Family Radio Theatre^® productions have been selected numerous times as Audies finalists and have won five awards, including Best Audio Drama in 2007 for The Life of Jesus: Dramatic Eyewitness Accounts from The Luke Reports. This year, Focus on the Family Radio Theatre’s Amazing Grace is being acknowledged as a finalist in two categories: Achievement in Production and Audio Drama. Seven other finalists are competing in these combined categories.

“It’s an honor to have our work recognized in this way,” says Paul McCusker, Radio Theatre writer and director. “But of more importance, we want the work of these three heroes to be made real to those who don’t know them. If these dramas inspire listeners to do good things now, in our time, in the name of God, then we’ve done well.”

Finding Home, an audio book narrated by Focus on the Family President and CEO Jim Daly and released by Oasis Audio, is also an Audies finalist in the Inspirational/Spiritual category. Finding Home is the true account of Daly's childhood as an orphan in the California foster care system, brilliantly illustrating the role that the Gospel, godly mentorship and the predetermined plans of a sovereign God have in shaping the stories of His children.

For more information about the Audies gala, visit http://www.audiopub.org*

*(Note: Referrals to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family are for informational purposes only and do not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.)

For more information, contact Sara Woodard at (719) 268-4890 or press@family.orgsara.woodard@fotf.org.