Several organizations meet every year to determine which authors will receive book awards. An award can catapult an author's career making her or him a star overnight.
An award can dramatically increase the value of a book ... and will usually have a positive impact on the author's earlier books.
Awards are usually given in several different categories:
Best novel, best first novel, best paperback original, best non-fiction, best short story, etc.
We are listing the award winners for only the best novel and best first novel (if there is one). We focus on these authors when deciding what to buy.
However, attention should be paid to the other categories ... and also to the authors who were nominated but didn't win. This says that these authors have been recognized as good writers.
They may be the award winner next year.
Click on the following links to check out past awards (going back to 1975):
Here is a calendar of the awards that will be presented in 2008.
Some awards are given during conventions ... and others are presented at a dinner - usually in New York City.
Knowing when the awards will be presented gives me more time to study the finalists ... they are usually announced a month or so before the winners are announced.
Awards
Dates
Locations
Costa Awards (5 categories)
January 3
London
Costa Awards - Book of the Year
January 22
London
National Book Critics Circle Award
March 5 - 7
New York
Penn-Faulkner
March 12
Washington, DC
Agatha Awards
April 25 - 27
Arlington, VA
Nebula Awards
April 25 - 27
Austin, TX
Edgar Awards
May 1
New York
Pulitzer Prize
May
Columbia University
Orange Prize
June
London
CWA New Blood Dagger
July 10
London
Hugo Awards / John W. Campbell Award
August 6 - 10
Denver, CO
Shamus Awards
October 10
Baltimore, MD
Anthony Awards / Macavity Awards
October 9 - 12
Baltimore, MD
Man Booker Prize
October 14
London
World Fantasy Awards
October 30 - Nov 2
Calgary, Alberta
National Book Awards
November 19
New York
Collecting books of authors who have won awards is one of many ways to build a book collection.