During the judging, we agreed that we wanted the focus to remain on all the terrific indie bookstores around the country - that was the point of the contest from the very beginning. So we'll keep it short here - each of these five stores were well-represented on Twitter by their passionate fans, and are deserving of your ongoing interest & support & patronage.

The five winning bookstores, in alphabetical order:

• Copperfield's Books (Sonoma & Napa Counties, CA) - on Twitter and on the web.
• Next Chapter Bookshop (Mequon, WI) - on Twitter and on the web.
• Oblong Books & Music (Millerton & Rhinebeck, NY) - on Twitter and on the web.
• Page & Palette (Fairhope, AL) - on Twitter and on the web.
• WORD (Brooklyn, NY) - on Twitter and on the web.

Winning bookstores, your prize boxes are on their way to you!

Thanks to everyone who nominated their favorite indie bookstore,

Geoffrey Jennings - Rainy Day Books (Fairway, KS) - on Twitter and on the web.
John Mesjak - my3books.com - on Twitter, too.

The prizes: Five winning indie bookstores will each win a complete autographed hardcover set of the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. The winners can do whatever they choose with the signed books - turn them around and make them the centerpiece of a contest for their own customers, use them in a charity auction, donate them, even sell them!

How to enter your favorite indie bookstore in the contest: We are looking to bookstore customers, publishers, sales reps, individual booksellers, bookstores themselves, book reviewers, authors - anyone who is an open champion of independent booksellers - to enter their favorite independent bookstore in the contest.
* Send us your tweets, naming your favorite indie bookstore and telling us why.
* Tag your entry tweets with the hashtag #RDB714.
* Stores may be entered multiple times, and we recognize that it may take more than one tweet to fully express your passion.

The deadline: Entries must be received by midnight, July 14, 2009 - Bastille Day. (On that day, we will all eat cake.)

The judging: @RainyDayBooks and @mesjak will judge each store's entries based on three criteria: fervor of support, how they might "pay it forward", and overall spirit to determine the winners.

Why would we do this? Rainy Day Books and my3books.com celebrate Independents Week by celebrating the spirit of independent bookselling. All independent booksellers give back to their community. Indie bookstores support local charities, partner with local organizations, volunteer our time and resources, and contribute more to our local economies than our chain and online competitors combined.

This year, we want to give back to a special community: the independent booksellers of America. So we’re offering something equally special, the chance to pay it forward.

Rainy Day Books hosted Stephenie Meyer on May 8, 2008. It was an amazing event, and we were delighted to meet a young woman who worked very hard to achieve her dream. Stephenie deserves every bit of success that’s come her way. She gets people excited about reading, the very reason independent booksellers thrive. She’s cool, and she’s always said thanks along the way. So now we want to showcase how independents can pay it forward like noone else.

The fine print:
* Each winning bookstore will receive a complete autographed hardcover set of the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. The first three books (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse) are signed on the title page, Breaking Dawn is signed on a special bookplate laid onto the title page.
* Rainy Day Books will provide the books, shipped via Priority Mail at our expense.
* To be a valid contestant, bookstore must be a member of IndieBound. Visit www.indiebound.org to find out if your nominated bookstore is a member.

Independent booksellers, we salute you!

Geoffrey Jennings - Rainy Day Books - on Twitter: @RainyDayBooks
John Mesjak - www.my3books.com - on Twitter: @mesjak