Two Westminster John Knox Press (WJK) titles were awarded with Gold and Silver place at the ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards in the religion category. Ben Daniel’s Neighbor: Christian Encounters with “Illegal” Immigration was named the first-place winner, while David Beckmann’s Exodus from Hunger: We Are Called to Change the Politics of Hunger placed second. ForeWord’s Book of the Year Awards represent the best independently published books from 2010. Winners in sixty categories—selected by a panel of librarian and bookseller judges—were announced at the American Library Association conference in New Orleans on June 25.

In Neighbor, Ben Daniel offers a journalistic account of the controversial issues surrounding immigration in the United States. Daniel, a Pastor in San José, California, recounts several real-life stories of undocumented migrants while providing a historical sketch of immigration laws in the United States. In doing so, he counters common arguments against welcoming undocumented migrants, particularly those used by faith groups. “Daniel leaves us no room to hide anti-immigrant prejudice behind a fig leaf of piety,” writes Frank Schaeffer in the foreword. The book includes interviews with Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and federal court judge Honorable Robert C. Brack.

David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World and winner of the 2010 World Food Prize, sets forth a workable plan for ending world hunger in our lifetime in Exodus from Hunger. Beckmann presents an impassioned plea for people of faith and others to muster the political will to end hunger. It includes an endorsement from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a foreword from Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

These ForeWord awards follow an already impressive year of recognition for WJK titles. Earlier this year, the Press was also honored with a Christianity Today Book of the Year award for Elise Erikson Barrett’s What Was Lost: A Christian Journey through Miscarriage, while the Academy of Parish Clergy named William C. Placher’s Mark, from the series Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, its Reference Book of the Year.

Westminster John Knox Press is the trade and academic imprint of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC). With a publishing tradition of more than 170 years, PPC publishes approximately fifty books per year and has more than 1,700 active titles in print and sold around the world.