Fiona, Helene and I were amongst the 350 romance writers who had a fantastic time at the Romance Writers of Australia conference this past weekend in Melbourne. The conference is always wonderful – warm, friendly, inspirational, and full of learning and fun. It was great to catch up with old friends and meet new ones, and to hear about so many great books that are on the horizon.

But the absolute best part of the conference for me was the awards dinner on Saturday night – when the Romantic Book of the Year Award for a book with Romantic Elements went to our very own Helene Young for her debut novel, Wings of Fear. Here’s a slightly dazed Helene with her award:

And here is a photo of Helene, me, Fiona and soon-to-be-published rural romance author Margareta Osborn:

Unfortunately Fleur couldn’t join us at this conference, but there were a number of phone calls to her, and we’re planning to ensure that she’s at the Perth conference in 2013!