National Book Awards

The National Book Awards are a set of prestigious literary awards that honor books written by American authors. The awards, presented by the National Book Foundation, are given in five categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young people's literature, and translation. In addition, two lifetime achievement awards—the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community—are awarded on an annual basis. The foundation also recognizes five promising debut fiction writers each year with the 5 Under 35 Honors. The awards promote American literature to the public by expanding exposure of works deemed to be the year's best.

In the awards process, any book written by a United States citizen and released by an American publisher between December 1 and November 30 of the previous year is eligible. Books must be nominated by their publishers, although authors may ask their publishers to submit their work for nomination. A panel of five judges in each of the four categories are chosen by the National Book Foundation; all judges are authors selected based on their continuing reputation in a particular genre. After the panelists have read each nominated book, a list of ten books chosen by the panel is announced in each category in September, with a shorter list of five finalists released in October. At the November awards ceremony in New York, winners are presented with a $10,000 prize; the other finalists are awarded $1,000.

History

The National Book Awards initially began in 1936 as part of the national convention of the American Booksellers Association (ABA). The awards were given in four categories. All booksellers within the ABA had an equal vote and were asked to select their favorite work from among the nominees. This initial incarnation of the awards was suspended in the early 1940s as a result of World War II.

In 1950, the National Book Awards were reorganized under the sponsorship of the American Book Publishers Council, the Book Manufacturers' Institute, and the American Booksellers Association. Three awards—in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry—were presented. By the 1960s, the parameters of the awards were broadened to sponsor awards in ten new categories, including for best translation, autobiography, first novel, and children's book.

Internal divisions between the publishers who were funding the awards and the panelists who selected the winners led to the awards being renamed the American Book Awards in 1980. This change also brought an altered emphasis on what types of books were honored.

During this time, the awards were expanded to twenty-eight prizes in sixteen categories, with each genre separated into awards for hardcover and paperback editions, and a new set of technical awards (such as best jacket design and best book design) were added to the slate. The selection process was changed from a panel of authors to an "academy" of more than two thousand voters. The selection process was modeled after the methods used by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Oscar selections. The ceremony itself was converted to a more television-friendly format that was intended to make the book awards more engaging to the broader public.

Due to the continuing tepid response from the public to these changes after several years, the National Book Awards were restored in 1986 and ultimately brought under the oversight of the National Book Foundation, which was created to govern the awards, which were reduced to two categories: fiction and nonfiction. The foundation's board of directors consists of representatives from both the publishing industry and various literary institutions, in hopes of balancing the interests of objectivity with the continued relevancy of the awards.

Since 1986, the foundation has re-established or created several award categories and broadened eligibility. The poetry award returned in 1991 and the award for young people's literature was established in 1996. In 2005, the foundation gave its first Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community to poet, publisher, and bookseller Lawrence Ferlinghetti. In 2018, the foundation introduced a translated literature award that honored both the author and translator for the first time. That same year, the foundation launched a petition process to extend eligibility in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's literature to authors who were either pursuing or unable to pursue US citizenship. The foundation further expanded eligibility for those same award categories in 2024 to authors who "[maintained] their primary, long-term home in the United States, US territories, or Tribal lands

Criticisms and Controversies

The National Book Awards have been the subject of recurring criticism claiming that the honorees are obscure works with little popular appeal. Such concerns reflect a perception among critics that best-selling works are often overlooked so that lesser-known works may be publicized. Many critics also argue that the selection process is slanted to honor books with a presumed cultural prestige only of interest to insiders in the field of literature. As a result, many popular and critically well-received authors have never been finalists for a National Book Award.

The transformation into the American Book Awards in the 1980s was made in response to these criticisms; organizers also hoped the transition might heighten public interest. However, the broad scope of the changes alienated many publishers and authors, and several nominees withdrew their books from the competition in response. The members of one prestigious literary society even created their own award, the PEN/ Faulkner Award, in protest.

The return to old methodologies under the National Book Foundation in 1986 was welcomed by authors but brought a renewal of old criticisms. Among the 2004 nominees, for instance, only one of five finalists had sold more than one thousand books by the time the finalists were announced. The conflict between recognizing books that may be overlooked versus honoring those with either popular appeal or already widespread critical appreciation remains an unresolved point of contention regarding the National Book Awards' selection process.

Bibliography

Alter, Alexandra. "The Globalization of the National Book Awards." The New York Times, 31 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/books/the-globalization-of-the-national-book-awards.html. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

"Deadlines & Guidelines." National Book Foundation, National Book Foundation, 2024, www.nationalbook.org/national-book-awards/submissions/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

Fehrman, Craig. "The Short, Unsuccessful Life of the American Book Awards." The New York Times, 28 Oct. 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/books/review/the-short-unsuccessful-life-of-the-american-book-awards.html. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

"5 Honors Awarded on the Year's Books; Authors of Preferred Volumes Hailed at Luncheon of Booksellers' Group." The New York Times, 26 Feb. 1937, p. 20.

Kachka, Boris. "Did the National Book Awards' Bet on the Bigtime Pay Off Last Night?" Vulture, New York Media LLC, 21 Nov. 2013, www.vulture.com/2013/11/national-book-awards-2013-james-mcbride-maya-angelou.html. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

Mendelsohn, Daniel, and Jennifer Szalai. "Whom or What Are Literary Prizes For?" The New York Times, 19 Nov. 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/books/review/whom-or-what-are-literary-prizes-for.html. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

Miller, Laura. "How the National Book Awards Made Themselves Irrelevant." Salon, 12 Oct. 2011, www.salon.com/2011/10/12/how‗the‗national‗book‗awards‗made‗themselves‗irrelevant/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

"Mission & History." National Book Foundation. National Book Foundation, www.nationalbook.org/about-us/mission-history/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

"Timeline." National Book Foundation, National Book Foundation, 2024, www.nationalbook.org/awards2024/timeline/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.