THE DOVE FOUNDATION—KNOWN FOR FILM AND DVD REVIEWS AND ENDORSEMENTS—ADDS BOOKS

Dove.org

Grand Rapids, Mich. – Jan. 14, 2013 – The Dove Foundation, known for awarding its highly-regarded blue-and-white “Family Approved” seal to movies and DVDs, announces the addition of a new books category for reviews and endorsements.

“We’ve always tried to respond to the market demand for our services,” said Dove CEO Dick Rolfe. “And we began moving in the direction of books by reviewing movie screenplays from writers who were looking for our endorsement as a means of attracting producers and investors.”

For more than 21 years, the foundation has set the standard for family friendly content in entertainment. Dove’s informative reviews of theatrical films and DVDs reach an estimated 1 million online viewers through www.dove.org and several syndication partners’ websites. Reviews and endorsements also are sent regularly via email to approximately 80,000 supporters and subscribers.

Contacted by CBA officials in 2010, Dove created a task force that resulted in the addition of “Faith Friendly” and “Faith Based” seals to identify films that contain religious content. Soon Dove started receiving requests from movie producers to review novelizations and supplementary books attached to their films. As an example, Dove was asked to review five books based on the hit Christian movie from Sherwood Pictures COURAGEOUS.

“Just as we valued Dove’s ‘Family Approved’ seal for our film, we wanted readers of the various books associated with COURAGEOUS to have the same level of confidence,” said Alex Kendrick, who co-wrote, directed and starred in the film and co-wrote the novelization.

What followed were discussions with several publishers, making Dove aware of the need for reviews of books, especially teen and young adult novels and children’s books, according to Dove Client Services Director Scott Rolfe.

“So we trained a team of skilled book reviewers and an editor in Dove’s unique review process,” he said. “Now we have the infrastructure in place to handle the increased demand from publishers, authors and agents.”

Dove has published reviews of more than 100 books and manuscripts to date. Additionally, the foundation has retooled its website at www.dove.org to include a new books category alongside theatrical and DVD reviews.

For additional information, contact Scott Rolfe (scott@dove.org), or call 616-454-5021, ext. 21.

ABOUT DOVE
The Dove Foundation® is the nonprofit “keeper” of the familiar blue-and-white “Family Approved” seal, which is awarded to movies, DVDs and books that meet its criteria. The foundation also awards a “Faith Friendly” and “Faith Based” seal to stories that convey positive religious themes. The foundation’s mission is to encourage and promote the creation, production, distribution and consumption of family friendly entertainment.