LIST OF MAJOR AWARDS
Welcome,
This is a list
of the top literary awards. Click on an award to see past winners; then click on
a book to view info such as price.
The awards:
Booker Prize:
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction represents the very best in contemporary
fiction. One of the world’s most prestigious awards, and one of
incomparable influence, it continues to be the pinnacle of ambition for
every fiction writer. It has the power to transform the fortunes of authors,
and even publishers. In 2004, not only did Alan Hollinghurst’s
The Line
of Beauty reach the bestseller lists, but previous winners
Life of
Pi (2002) and
Vernon God Little (2003) were also amongst the
bestselling books of the year.
Pulitzer Prize: The Pulitzer
Prize has been awarded by Columbia University since 1917. The awards are given
on the recommendations of a board of jurors for Journalism, Letters, Music and
Drama. We have only chosen to display the winners for fiction.
Miles Franklin Literary Award:
The annual Miles Franklin Literary Award is one of the most
illustrious events on the Australian literary calendar.The
award, now worth $42,000(AUD), was bequeathed by the will of the
Australian novelist Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, for a
‘published novel or play portraying Australian life in any of
its phases’. All entries for the Award must have been published
in the previous calendar year. The Miles Franklin Literary Award
not only rewards Australian authors but, as Frank Moorhouse said
in his winner’s acceptance speech on 5 June 2001, it also
'honours the great art of story telling.'
National Book Award: On March
15, 1950, a consortium of book publishing groups sponsored the first annual
National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New
York City. Their goal was to enhance the public's awareness of exceptional books
written by fellow Americans, and to increase the popularity of reading in
general.
Since then, The National Book Awards have become the nation's pre-eminent
literary prizes, and The National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner the most
important event on our literary calendar. Today, the Awards are given to
recognize achievements in four genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Young
People's Literature. The Winners, selected by five-member, independent judging
panels for each genre, receive a $10,000 cash award and a crystal sculpture. In
this list we have just included the fiction winners.
Orange Prize: The Orange
Prize for Fiction is the UK's largest annual literary award for a single novel.
Since its launch in 1996 it has become one of the most prestigious and
influential awards in the literary calendar.
The prize was the brainchild of a group of senior women in the publishing
industry. They met in the winter of 1992 to discuss why so few novels by women
were making it to the shortlists of the established literary awards.
Together, they created the Orange Prize for Fiction. Its aim: to celebrate
novels of excellence by women writers. The prize also helps promote women
writers to as wide a range of readers as possible.
A management committee, administered by the Book Trust and sponsored by Orange,
runs the prize. Entrants are short-listed for an annual prize of £30,000 and a
bronze figurine created by Grizel Niven known as 'The Bessie'. The award
ceremony is in June each year.
Whitbread: First awarded
in 1971, this prize was established to celebrate the most enjoyable books
published in the UK in five categories - novel, first novel, biography, poetry
and children's - from which one overall winner is chosen. Each category winner
receives £5,000 and the overall winner receives a further £25,000.
This is a list of the fiction winners.
Vogel (Australian authors only):
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award is Australia's richest and most prestigious
award for an unpublished manuscript and has launched the careers of some of its
most successful writers, including Tim Winton, Kate Grenville, Gillian Mears,
Brian Castro, Mandy Sayer and Andrew McGahan. Vogel-winning authors have gone on
to win or be shortlisted for other major awards, such as the Miles Franklin
Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Booker Prize.
Hugo (sci-fi)
The Hugo Award was named in honour of Hugo Gernsback, "The Father of
Magazine Science Fiction," as he was described in a special award given to him
in 1960.
The Hugo Award, also known as the Science Fiction Achievement Award, is given
annually by the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS). The distinguishing
characteristics of the Hugo Award are that it is sponsored by WSFS, administered
by the committee of the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) held that
year, and determined by nominations from and a popular vote of the membership of
WSFS. In general, a Hugo Award given in a particular year is for work that
appeared in the previous calendar year.
More awards to come soon...
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