Category Archives: Awards

Shortlist for British National Short Story Prize announced

Posted on April 13, 2007 by Keren

The shortlist for the British National Short Story prize has been announced.  The prize, only in its second year, is the world’s richest short story prize, with £15,000 going to the winner, a prize of £3,000 for the runner-up and £500 going to each of the other finalists.
The five finalists are:

  • ‘Slog’s Dad’ by David Almond
  • ‘The Morena’ by Jonathan Falla
  • ‘The Orphan and the Mob’ by Julian Gough
  • ‘How to Get Away with Suicide’ by Jackie Kay
  • ‘Weddings and Beheadings’ by Hanif Kureishi

The prize exists to raise the profile of the often-neglected short story in Britain.  The chair of the judges, Mark Lawson, said:

“This prize exists partly because many – perhaps even most – publishers and literary editors still regard the novel as the most important form of story-telling and are suspicious of short stories,” he said. “But this year’s selection makes very clear that there is no connection at all between word-count and the scale of subject matter or characterisation that can be achieved.”

Link to the Yahoo News article

Posted in Articles, Awards, Contests, Short stories |

Vidal to receive new PEN/Borders award

Posted on April 10, 2007 by Keren

Author Gore Vidal has been declared the first recipient of the new PEN/Borders Literary Service Award (which, incidentally, does not come with a cash prize).  The prize is given to “a truly distinguished American writer whose critically acclaimed work helps us to understand the human condition in original and powerful ways.”

“The breadth and depth of Gore Vidal’s brilliant work, his courage in speaking out, even at times when free speech has been at risk in our country, and his lifelong commitment to democracy, justice, reason, and common sense make him the ideal recipient of the inaugural PEN/Borders Literary Service Award,” Borders Group CEO George Jones said Tuesday in a statement.

(From the Yahoo News article.)

Posted in Authors, Awards |

Hugo Award nominees announced

Posted on March 29, 2007 by Keren

The nominees for 2007′s Hugo Award (also known as the Science Fiction Achievement Award), one of the top science fiction and fantasy awards of the year, has been announced.  The winners will be elected and announced at this year’s Worldcon in Yokohama, Japan this September.
Here are the nominees in some of the main categories:

Novel
Michael F. Flynn, Eifelheim (Tor)
Naomi Novik, His Majesty’s Dragon (Del Rey; also, Voyager, 1/06, as Temeraire)
Charles Stross, Glasshouse (Ace)
Vernor Vinge, Rainbows End (Tor)
Peter Watts, Blindsight (Tor)

Novella
“The Walls of the Universe” by Paul Melko (Asimov’s, April/May 2006)
“A Billion Eyes” by Robert Reed (Asimov’s, October/November 2006)
“Inclination” by William Shunn (Asimov’s, April/May 2006)
“Lord Weary’s Empire” by Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s, December 2006)
Julian: A Christmas Story by Robert Charles Wilson (PS Publishing)

Novelette
“Yellow Card Man” by Paolo Bacigalupi (Asimov’s, December 2006)
“Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth” by Michael F. Flynn (Asimov’s, December 2006)
“The Djinn’s Wife” by Ian McDonald (Asimov’s, July 2006)
“All the Things You Are” by Mike Resnick (Jim Baen’s Universe, October 2006)
“Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter” by Geoff Ryman (F&SF, October/November 2006)

Short Story
“How to Talk to Girls at Parties” by Neil Gaiman (Fragile Things, William Morrow)
“Kin” by Bruce McAllister (Asimov’s, February 2006)
“Impossible Dreams” by Timothy Pratt (Asimov’s, July 2006)
“Eight Episodes” by Robert Reed (Asimov’s, June 2006)
“The House Beyond Your Sky” by Benjamin Rosenbaum (Strange Horizons, September 2006)

Link (via BoingBoing)

Posted in Awards, Contests, Reading, Science fiction/fantasy |

Win a trip to the Nebula awards

Posted on March 20, 2007 by Keren

AbeBooks is offering speculative fiction fans a chance to win tickets to this year’s Nebula awards. The Nebulas are one of the biggest speculative fiction events of the year, and they’re a great chance to hear and meet authors and publishers in the SF business.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and AbeBooks.com have teamed up to give a pair of lucky speculative fiction fans the chance to attend the Nebula Awards ceremony and banquet on May 11-12 2007 in New York. The Nebulas acclaim the best science fiction / fantasy fiction published in the United States during the two previous years.

Anyone interested in buying tickets or getting more information about the event can do so at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America website www.sfwa.org . However, you can win a pair of tickets (each worth $125) to the awards ceremony and banquet plus a two-night stay in the Marriott New York where the event is being stayed. Just answer this simple question:

Who was awarded the Nebula for “Best Novel” last year (2006) in Tempe Arizona?

Know the answer (or got Google)? Enter to win here (via Futurismic).  US and Canada residents only, unfortunately.

Posted in Awards, Contests, Events, Science fiction/fantasy |

Banco del Libro wins Lindgren prize for promotion of reading

Posted on March 19, 2007 by Keren

Banco del Libro, a nonprofit Venezuelan network that has been distributing books to children for nearly half a century, is the 2007 winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature.

The award, which includes a cash prize of $710,000, was established by the Swedish government in 2002 and is the largest children’s book award in the world.

Banco del Libro, or the Book Bank, has helped distribute books in the South American country since 1960, and was honored as a pioneer in “disseminating books and promoting reading among children in Venezuela,” the award jury said in announcing the honor on Wednesday.

“The Banco del Libro has had very difficult moments, moments of strong economic crises,” Banco del Libro Executive Director Maria Beatriz Medina told The Associated Press in an interview from Caracas, Venezuela. The prize money will go to continue its efforts and “reach other corners of the country where we haven’t reached.”

She said the organization has won other international prizes but that “this prize is the most important, it is like the Nobel in the promotion of reading.” It was the fifth time the organization was a candidate.

Link to the Yahoo News article

Posted in Articles, Awards, Education |

Shortlist announced for Independent foreign fiction award

Posted on March 11, 2007 by Keren

The shortlist, drawn from 80 novels entered, is:

· The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa translated from Portuguese by Daniel Hahn
· The Story of Blanche and Marie by Per Olov Enquist translated from Swedish by Tina Nunnally
· Four Walls by Vangelis Hatziyannidis translated from Greek by Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife
· Your Face Tomorrow 2: Dance and Dream by Javier Marías translated from Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa
· Vienna by Eva Menasse translated from German by Anthea Bell.
· Shyness and Dignity by Dag Solstad translated from Norwegian by Sverre Lyngstad.

The annual award, which was revived in 2001 after running from 1990-95, is supported by the Arts Council and celebrates English translations. The £10,000 prize money is shared between authors – who have previously included WG Sebald and Orhan Paumuk – and their translators.

The winner will be revealed at a ceremony in the National Portrait Gallery on May 1.

Link to the Guardian article

Posted in Authors, Awards |

Economist to chair 2007 Booker jury

Posted on February 25, 2007 by Keren

The director of the London School of Economics, Howard Davies, will chair the judges of the 39th Man Booker prize.

He will be joined on the panel for the 2007 award by the poet Wendy Cope, the journalist and novelist Giles Foden, the biographer Ruth Scurr and the actor Imogen Stubbs.

The competition is already showing the benefits of putting an economist at the helm. The longlist, which has ballooned to around 20 books over recent years, will be cut down this year to just 12 books. An announcement is expected in August.

The shortlist of six titles will be announced in early September. The winner of the 2007 prize will be announced on October 16.

Link to the Guardian article.

Posted in Articles, Awards, Contests |

Deadlines: Week of 18/2 – 24/2

Posted on February 18, 2007 by Keren

Artist Trust
Grants for Artist Projects
Grants of up to $1,500 each are given annually to Washington State poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers to support the development of new work. Submit up to eight pages of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction by February 23. There is no entry fee.

Link to the website for complete guidelines.

Stadler Center for Poetry
Philip Roth Residence in Creative Writing
A four-month residency, including a $4,000 stipend, at the Stadler Center for Poetry at Bucknell University is given annually to a poet, fiction writer, or creative nonfiction writer. The 2007 Philip Roth Residence is open to U.S. prose writers over the age of 21 and not enrolled in a college or university. Submit up to 20 pages of prose, a curriculum vitae, and three letters of recommendation by February 24.

Link to the website for complete guidelines.

Blurbs from the Poets & Writers, Inc. contest calendar.

Posted in Awards, Contests |

Romantic Novel of the Year shortlist (UK)

Posted on February 13, 2007 by Mark

From Guardian Unlimited:

For the second year running a man has made it on to the shortlist of the Romantic Novel of the Year award, only the sixth to be in with a chance of the prize in the award’s 46-year history. Matt Dunn is up for the £5,000 prize for The Ex-Boyfriend’s Handbook, his humorous tale of a man who attempts to make himself over in a bid to win back his girlfriend.

Continue reading on Guardian.co.uk.

Posted in Awards, Romance |

'Not Published Yet' prize: for booksellers who write

Posted on February 12, 2007 by Keren

Inspired by the example of Sarah Waters and David Mitchell, who both worked as booksellers before becoming bestsellers, the Not Published Yet competition invites submissions from unpublished authors working in the book trade to win a publishing contract with Faber and Faber, and an advance of at least £2,000.

The competition is open to writers of both fiction and non-fiction, whether they work for a chain or an independent bookshop. First-time authors working full- or part-time for organisations that are members of the Booksellers Association can send in 10,000-word extracts, proposals, outlines or synopses of their work by June 29 2007.

Link to the rest of the Guardian article

Posted in Articles, Awards, Booksellers, Contests |