Book Prize Winners 2010-2011

At Treehugger Dan's we have several customers that are systematically reading through the Booker Prize winners and the Nebula Award winners and other book prizes. Before I started a bookstore, I had never heard of half of these, but it seems every 10th book has won something, be it a Whitbread, Orange, Edgar or Pulitzer. Here is what some of the major prizes mean:

Nobel Prize in Literature The very first Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded in 1901 to the French poet and philosopher Sully Prudhomme, who in his poetry showed the "rare combination of the qualities of both heart and intellect". The Pulitzer Prize has several literary categories. The winners in 2011 included:

• Biography or Autobiography: Ron Chernow Washington : A Life
• Drama: August: Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
• Fiction: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
• General Nonfiction: Siddhartha Mukherjee The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
• History: The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner
• Poetry: The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan

National Book Award (US) 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 preeminent literary prizes. Today, the Awards are given to recognize achievements in four genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature. Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon  won for fiction In 2009; Just Kids by Patti Smith won in 2010 for non-fiction; Lighthead by Terrance Hayes won for poetry; and Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine won in the young people's literature category.

The O. Henry Award is the only yearly award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American master of the form, O. Henry. The O. Henry Prize Stories is an annual collection of the year's twenty best stories published in U.S. and Canadian magazines, written in English. The winners in 2010 included Daniyal Mueenuddin: "A Spoiled Man" in The New Yorker September 15, 2008;  James Lasdun: "Oh, Death" in The Paris Review as "The Hollow", Spring 2009 #188; and William Trevor: "The Woman of the House" in The New Yorker, December 15, 2008.

Newbery Medal Sponsored by the American Library Association, the Newberry Medal is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to children's literature published during the preceding year. Only U.S. citizens or residents are eligible. The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. The 2011 Newbery Medal winner was Clare Vanderpool 'sMoon Over Manifest The following received honors: Jennifer L. Holm's Turtle in Paradise; Margi Preus' Heart of a Samurai;  Joyce Sidman's Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night; and Rita Williams-Garcia's One Crazy Summer.

Whitbread/Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards are among the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary awards. However, they are also open to writers from the Republic of Ireland. They were known as the Whitbread Book Awards until 2006, when Costa Coffee, a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship. The awards, launched in 1971, are given both for high literary merit but also for works that are enjoyable reading and whose aim is to convey the enjoyment of reading to the widest possible audience. As such, they are a more populist literary prize than the Booker Prize. The winners in 2011 included:

• Costa Novel Award Maggie O'Farrell -  The Hand That First Held Mine
• Costa First Novel Award Kishwar Desai - Witness the Night
• Costa Biography Award Edmund de Waal - The Hare With Amber Eyes
• Costa Poetry Award Jo Shapcott - Of Mutability
• Costa Children's Book Award Jason Wallace - Out of Shadows

Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction The Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction is awarded to the woman who, in the opinion of the judges, has written the best, eligible full-length novel in English. The prize is open to any full length novel, written in English by a woman of any nationality, provided that the novel is published for the first time in the UK. The 2010 winner was Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna. The shortlisted nominees for 2011 are Kathleen Winter, Aminatta Forna, Emma Henderson, Emma Donoghue, Téa Obreht, Nicole Krauss.

The Man Booker Prize promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the very best book of the year. The prize is the world's most important literary award and has the power to transform the fortunes of authors and even publishers. Now in its 40th year, the prize aims to reward the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. The Man Booker judges are selected from the country's finest critics, writers and academics to maintain the consistent excellence of the prize. Howard Jacobson won the prize in 2010. The short-list included: Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America;  Emma Donoghue's Room; Damon Galgut's In a Strange Room;  Andrea Levy's The Long Song; and   Tom McCarthy's C.

The Man Booker International Prize is unique in the world of literature in that it can be won by an author of any nationality, providing that his or her work is available in the English language. It is awarded every second year. Philip Roth was announced as winner of the Man Booker International Prize 2011. Finalists included: Wang Anyi », Juan Goytisolo », James Kelman », John le Carré , Amin Maalouf », David Malouf », Dacia Maraini », Rohinton Mistry », Philip Pullman », Marilynne Robinson », Su Tong » and Anne Tyler ».

Edgar Awards Founded in 1945, the Mystery Writers of America is the preeminent American organization of mystery writers. Each year in April, the MWA bestows the coveted Edgar Allan Poe Awards for achievement in various categories. An Edgar Award is for the best work in various categories of the mystery field involving writing. Mystery Writers of America presented its first Edgar Allan Poe Awards in 1946. Winners of the 2011 Edgars:

• Best Novel: The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
• Best First Novel: Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva
• Best Paperback Original: Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard
• Best Fact Crime: Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry
• Best Critical Biography: Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang
• Best Short Story: "The Scent of Lilacs" - Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Doug Allyn
• Best Juvenile: The Buddy Files: The Case of the Lost Boy by Dori Hillestad Butler
• Best Young Adult: The Interrogation of Gabriel James by Charlie Price
• Best Play: The Psychic by Sam Bobrick
• Mary Higgins Clark Award: The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
• Grand Master Award: Sara Paretsky

Crime Writers Association (CWA) Dagger Awards. There is a whole range of different dagger awards from CWA. The CWA Gold and Silver Daggers were initially titled the Crossed Red Herrings Award, and this was first presented in 1955 to Winston Graham for The Little Walls. The award was renamed the Gold Dagger in 1960. The Silver Dagger goes to the runner up and came into being in 1969. Between 1995 and 2002, the awards were sponsored by The Macallan Whisky Company and named The Macallan Gold and Silver Daggers. This award was replaced in 2006 by the Duncan Lawrie Dagger and the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger. Only British publishers can submit entries for the awards, and the submissions must have been published in the English language in the UK within a limited period of time. In 2010 Belinda Bauer won the CWA Gold Dagger with Blacklands; Simon Conway won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger with A Loyal Spy; and Ryan David Jahn won the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger with Acts of Violence. Johan Theorin won the CWA International Dagger with The Darkest Room, Ariana Franklin the Dagger in the Library, and Ruth Dudley Edwards the Non-Fiction Dagger for Aftermath: The Omagh Bombing & the Families' Pursuit of Justice. The CWA Short Story Dagger was won by Robert Ferrigno with Can You Help Me Out Here, and the Debut Dagger for a previously unpublished author by Patrick Eden for the opening chapter of his story A Place of Dying.

 
The Hugo Awards are awards for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. They were first awarded in 1953. The awards are run by and voted on by fans. The Hugo Awards are named after Hugo Gernsback who founded Amazing Stories Magazine, the first major American SF magazine, in 1926. Any work is eligible, regardless of its place or language of publication.

2010 Winners:

• Best Novel: TIE: The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK); The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi
• Best Novella: "Palimpsest", Charles Stross
• Best Novelette: "The Island", Peter Watts (The New Space Opera 2; Eos)
• Best Short Story: "Bridesicle", Will McIntosh (Asimov's 1/09)
• Best Related Work: This is Me, Jack Vance! (Or, More Properly, This is "I"), Jack Vance
• Best Graphic Story: Girl Genius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm Written by Kaja and Phil Foglio; Art by Phil Foglio; Colours by Cheyenne Wright 
• And the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (presented by Dell Magazines): Seanan McGuire

The 2011 Hugo Award Nominees

Best Novel

Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis
Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
Feed by Mira Grant
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Best Novella

"The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen's Window" by Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Magazine, Summer 2010)
The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
"The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon" by Elizabeth Hand (Stories: All New Tales, William Morrow)
"The Sultan of the Clouds" by Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov's, September 2010)
"Troika" by Alastair Reynolds (Godlike Machines, Science Fiction Book Club)

Best Novelette

"Eight Miles" by Sean McMullen (Analog, September 2010)
"The Emperor of Mars" by Allen M. Steele (Asimov's, June 2010)
"The Jaguar House, in Shadow" by Aliette de Bodard (Asimov's, July 2010)
"Plus or Minus" by James Patrick Kelly (Asimov's, December 2010)
"That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made" by Eric James Stone (Analog, September 2010)

Best Short Story

"Amaryllis" by Carrie Vaughn (Lightspeed, June 2010)
"For Want of a Nail" by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov's, September 2010)
"Ponies" by Kij Johnson (Tor.com, November 17, 2010)
"The Things" by Peter Watts (Clarkesworld, January 2010)

Best Related Work

Bearings: Reviews 1997-2001, by Gary K. Wolfe
The Business of Science Fiction: Two Insiders Discuss Writing and Publishing , by Mike Resnick and Barry N. Malzberg (McFarland)
Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It , edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O'Shea (Mad Norwegian)
Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century, Volume 1: (1907-1948): Learning Curve , by William H. Patterson, Jr. (Tor)
Writing Excuses, Season 4 , by Brandon Sanderson, Jordan Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells

Best Graphic Story

Fables: Witches, written by Bill Willingham; illustrated by Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)
Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse , written by Phil and Kaja Foglio; art by Phil Foglio; colors by Cheyenne Wright
Grandville Mon Amour , by Bryan Talbot
Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel , written and illustrated by Howard Tayler; colors by Howard Tayler and Travis Walton
The Unwritten, Volume 2: Inside Man , written by Mike Carey; illustrated by Peter Gross (Vertigo)

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2009 or 2010, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award).

Saladin Ahmed
Lauren Beukes
Larry Correia
Lev Grossman
Dan Wells

The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the two previous years The first Nebula were given in 1965 to Frank Herbert's for Dune. Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis won in 2010; Best Novella The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen's Window by Rachel Swirsky; Best Novellett "That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made" by Eric James Stone; Best Short Story "Ponies" by Kij Johnson and "How Interesting: A Tiny Man" by Harlan Ellison^.