Book Award Season
breaking down book prizes
Book award season is in full swing! There are different times of the year for different books to be released and a lot of hopeful award-winning books are published during the fall, which is why we’re seeing an influx of BIG BOOKS right now.
Many book award judges have already received advanced review copies well ahead of the books’ September / October releases, which is why they are sometimes announced as book award nominees even before the book has been officially released. In this post, I’m focusing on fiction awards, although many of the following offer awards in categories other than fiction.
For funsies, I thought I’d walk you through various book awards (I can’t cover them all), tell you what they focus on and link up to which books are on the longlist or shortlist list this year. A book award nomination is but a few people’s opinions, but I will say, I discovered my favorite read of the year through a book award nomination. (I’ll be announcing it on my Instagram Live on Monday, October 2 at 9 a.m. PT)
The Awards:
The Pulitzer: This award is for American work. There are 22 categories and the winner receives $15,000. This year, there were two winners (does that mean they split the prize money?)
Trust by Hernan Diaz (I read it and LOVED it.) Trust is published by Riverhead Books, one of these publishing houses I tend to gravitate towards.
And
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. (I have not read this book, but I’ve heard great things.)
The Booker: This award recognizes the best novel written in English and published in the UK or Ireland. However, in 2020, it opened up to include authors from all over the world. The winner receives International publicity.
Click here to see this year’s long and shortlist.
The only book I’ve read from this list so far is The Bee Sting, which I absolutely loved.
Next up: The National Book Awards:
I just got my complimentary ticket to virtually attend this award ceremony on November 15th. You can get yours by registering here! These awards honor outstanding books in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young people’s literature.
The finalists will be announced October 3rd. Click here to see the full list.
The only book I’ve read from this list is Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and I have a lot more to say about this book on my podcast, Books Are My People.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is another award that recognizes an author, body of work, or significant contribution to literature awarded annually to an author from any country. The prize will be announced on Thursday, October 5th.
Up next is The Hugo Awards which celebrates the best in science fiction and fantasy literature and media. Click here to see this year’s nominees.
The winner will be announced on Saturday, October 21st. I haven’t read any of this year’s nominees, but The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is on my to-read list!
The Edgar Awards are presented by the Mystery Writers of America and honor the best in mystery fiction. The 2023 awards were announced in April 2023. Click here to see winners in all of the categories. The winner of the fiction category is Danya Kukafka’s Notes on an Execution. I have this novel bedside and have heard incredible things about it.
Finally, The National Book Critics Circle Awards recognizes outstanding books in fiction and other categories. The 2023 winners were announced in March 2023 for books written in 2022. The winner in the fiction category was Bliss Montage: short stories by Ling Ma.
You can check out the full list here.
There are many, many other book awards out there! What do they mean? Do they measure success? I feel like this has to do with whether or not you align yourself with the judges’ reading sensibilities, which can be wholly subjective. I like seeing who wins these awards as a way to learn about authors and books I haven’t heard of.
And, fun fact, I will be judging a writing award this October alongside two other judges! But I’m not allowed to say which one yet. Stay tuned…
Do you follow any book awards? Are there any favorites I’ve left off this list? Any book award book you can’t wait to get your hand on?
Share in the comments section below!