Middle Tennessee Medical Center’s new history book, A Time To Build Up, has received the 2011 National Indie Excellence Book Award for Best Coffee Table Book.

The National Indie Excellence Book Awards recognizes independent and self-published titles. The book was researched and written by Patsy B. Weiler, with Susan S. Grear serving as executive editor.
 
“Winning the award was a wonderful surprise,” said Weiler. “From the beginning, Susan and I set the bar very high for the quality of book we wanted in both content and design. Neither of us had taken on a publishing project of this magnitude and many hours were poured into the effort, so to have our work honored on a national level is humbling, yet gratifying.  We’re very proud of the book’s success and share this recognition with the hospital public relations team, as well as all of the fascinating people we met on this interesting journey, who so graciously gave of their time and told us their stories and memories."
 
A Time To Build Up shares the history of Middle Tennessee Medical Center from its beginnings in 1927 through the opening of its new facility in 2010. Weiler and Grear conducted more than 90 interviews with people ages 12 to 97 to capture their memories of MTMC and their hopes for its future. The 120-page, hard-bound, coffee table book is a limited edition, and includes more than 200 photographs, some from private collections, which have never been published before.
 
"Excellence is not easy to achieve and the book industry needs it more than ever. We salute authors and publishers who make excellence a priority," said Ellen Reid, founder of The National Indie Excellence Book Awards based in Beverly Hills, Ca. “The judges for this competition are industry leaders that take their responsibility very seriously. We had the best pool of submissions ever and it was not easy because of the excellent books we received in every category this year. I am constantly thrilled at the outstanding work we’re seeing.”
 
The book is available for purchase at the MTMC Gift Shop, 1700 Medical Center Parkway, and at The Write Impression, 120 S. Maple Street in Murfreesboro. All proceeds benefit the MTMC Foundation. For more information, visit www.mtmc.org/historybook.