The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S.

literary awards A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Ma ...

. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The National Book Awards were established in 1936 by the

American Booksellers Association The American Booksellers Association (ABA) is a non-profit trade association founded in 1900 that promotes independent bookstores in the United States. ABA's core members are key participants in their communities' local economy and culture, and t ...

, "Books and Authors", ''The New York Times'', 1936-04-12, page BR12. "Lewis is Scornful of Radio Culture: Nothing Ever Will Replace the Old-Fashioned Book ...", ''The New York Times'', 1936-05-12, page 25. abandoned during World War II, and re-established by three book industry organizations in 1950. Non-U.S. authors and publishers were eligible for the pre-war awards. Now they are presented to U.S. authors for books published in the United States roughly during the award year. The

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

National Book Foundation was established in 1988 to administer and enhance the National Book Awards and "move beyond heminto the fields of education and literacy", primarily by sponsoring public appearances by writers. Its mission is "to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture." National Book Foundation
"Mission and History of the National Book Foundation"
Retrieved 2019-01-03. In 2018, there were 1,637 books nominated for the five award categories, led by the Nonfiction category with 546 nominations. The 2018 ceremony was held on November 14 in New York City. National Book Foundation: About Us

Retrieved 2012-01-05.

Winners and finalists

* List of winners of the National Book Award, winners only. National Book Foundation: Awards
"National Book Award Winners: 1950 – 2009"
Retrieved 2012-01-05. * National Book Award for Fiction, winners and finalists. * National Book Award for Nonfiction, winners and finalists. * National Book Award for Poetry, winners and finalists. *

National Book Award for Translated Literature The National Book Award for Translated Literature is one of five annual National Book Awards recognising outstanding literary works of translation into English administered by the National Book Foundation. This award was previously given from 1967 ...

, winners and finalists. *

National Book Award for Young People's Literature The National Book Award for Young People's Literature is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation (NBF) to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".< ...

, winners and finalists.

Current process

National Book Awards are currently given to one book (author) annually in each of five categories:

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

nonfiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

, poetry, translation, and young people's literature. There have been awards in many other categories but they have been retired or subsumed in the current five. The National Book Foundation also presents two lifetime achievement awards each year: the "Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters" and the "Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community". National Book Foundation: About Us
"History of the National Book Awards"
Retrieved before 2011-10. Only publishers nominate books for the National Book Awards, but panelists may request particular nominations from publishers. Each panel comprises five judges, including writers, librarians, booksellers, and literary critics. In 2013, the judging panels were expanded to include experts in the literary field in addition to established writers. Each panel considers hundreds of books each year in each of the five categories. In 2013, the Foundation announced the addition of a National Book Awards longlist—announced in September and consisting of ten titles per category—to precede the finalists list, announced in October and comprising five titles per category. A fifth category, the

, was added in 2018, recognizing works in translation for the first time since 1983. At the National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner held in New York City each November, the chair of each judging panel announce the winners of the year's National Book Awards. All finalists receive $1,000, a medal, and a citation written by the judging panel; winners get $10,000 and a bronze sculpture. National Book Foundation: Awards
"National Book Award Selection Process"
Retrieved before 2011-10.

History

Pre-war awards by booksellers

The first National Book Awards were presented in May 1936 at the annual convention of the

, one month after ''The New York Times'' reported institution of the "new annual award". The winners were authors of four 1935 books selected by a vote of ABA members.

Virginia Kirkus Virginia Kirkus (December 7, 1893 – September 10, 1980) was the founder and president of the Kirkus Reviews, Virginia Kirkus Bookshop Service from 1933 to 1962. In 1969, the service became ''Kirkus Reviews''. Before creating her service in 1933, ...

chaired the central committee of seven including the ABA president, three bookshops, '' Publishers Weekly'', and

American News Company American News Company (ANC) was a magazine, newspaper, book, and comic book distribution company founded in 1864 by Sinclair Tousey, which dominated the distribution market in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th ce ...

. Three were called "the most distinguished of 1935" (novel, biography, and general nonfiction) and one "the most original" (novel). Two of the books were advertised by their publishers as "The most distinguished autobiography of 1935" and "The most distinguished general non-fiction book of 1935" in ''NYTimes'' on May 12, the same day that the newspaper reported yesterday's awards. For the next six years, 1937 to 1942, the awards were announced from mid-February to early March. "5 Honors Awarded on the Year's Books: Authors of Preferred Volumes Hailed at Luncheon of Booksellers Group", ''The New York Times'', 1937-02-26, page 23.
"Booksellers Give Prize to 'Citadel': Cronin's Work About Doctors Their Favorite--'Mme. Curie' Gets Non-Fiction Award TWO OTHERS WIN HONORS Fadiman Is 'Not Interested' in What Pulitzer Committee Thinks of Selections", ''The New York Times'' 1938-03-02, page 14. "Book About Plants Receives Award: Dr. Fairchild's 'Garden' Work Cited by Booksellers", ''The New York Times'' 1939-02-15, page 20. "1939 Book Awards Given by Critics: Elgin Groseclose's 'Ararat' is Picked as Work Which Failed to Get Due Recognition", ''The New York Times'', 1940-02-14, page 25. "Books and Authors", ''The New York Times'', 1941-02-16, page BR12. "Neglected Author Gets High Honor: 1941 Book Award Presented to George Perry for 'Hold Autumn In Your Hand'", ''The New York Times'', 1942-02-11, page 18. The "Most Distinguished" Nonfiction, Biography, and Novel (for 1935 and 1936) were reduced to two and termed "Favorite" Nonfiction and Fiction beginning 1937. Master of ceremonies Clifton Fadiman declined to consider the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

s (not yet announced in February 1938) as potential ratifications. "Unlike the Pulitzer Prize committee, the booksellers merely vote for their favorite books. They do not say it is the best book or the one that will elevate the standard of manhood or womanhood. Twenty years from now we can decide which are the masterpieces. This year we can only decide which books we enjoyed reading the most." The Bookseller Discovery officially recognized "outstanding merit which failed to receive adequate sales and recognition" (quoted by NYT) Finally that award stood alone for 1941 and the ''New York Times'' frankly called it "a sort of consolation prize that the booksellers hope will draw attention to his work." The winning authors and books were selected by a nationwide poll of booksellers (ABA members); during the 1937/38 cycle, ballots were received from 319 stores, triple the number who voted in the first rendition early in 1936. In a 1941 advertisement, the Booksellers described the "significance of the awards" thus: "The Booksellers of America Announce Their National Awards", ''The New York Times'', February 23, 1941, page BR21.
• More than half of the advertisement featured the three prize books of 1937, announced earlier that month. The "Discovery of the Year" sported a dust jacket with stylized "First Prize" ribbon affixed and the Novel was promoted in its "National Book Award Edition" (also advertised ten days earlier: February 13, 1941, page 17).

In effect, his ballot says, "Of all the books of the year these are the three I enjoyed most – ''in two ways''! I enjoyed reading them; and I enjoyed selling them." And that to a bookseller means people who, on his recommendation, read and enjoyed – and sent in other people who also read and enjoyed. The National Book Awards give you perhaps a greater guarantee of reading pleasure than any other literary prizes.

Reestablished by the book industry

In January 1950 three book industry organizations announced that "works by Americans published here" would be recognized by three awards in March (at the annual convention?). There would be three distinct panels of five judges. "Book Trade Plans to Honor Writers: Industry Will Award Annual Prizes for Poetry, Fiction ...", ''The New York Times'', January 22, 1950, page 68. The fifteen judges were "Elmer Davis, John Kieran, Henry Steele Commager, Fairfield Osborn and Norman Cousins for non-fiction; Mary Colum, Glenway Wescott, Max Gissin, W. G. Rogers and Malcolm Cowley for fiction; and W. H. Auden, Louise Bogan, Babett Duetsch, Horace Gregory and Louise Untermeyer for poetry." That winter Harper placed several advertisements promoting the awards. "first annual NBA dinner of the book industry in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Thursday"

arch 16 An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

with speakers Senator Paul Douglas, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Frederick Lewis Allen. A one-half hour program from the Awards Dinner, including Mrs. Roosevelt's address, was broadcast locally at 9:30 and again at 10:00pm. "PROGRAMS ON THE AIR" (radio), ''The New York Times'', March 16, 1950, page 46. The awards were administered by the National Book Committee from 1950 to 1974, when the Committee disbanded after publishers withdrew support. "Book Award Goes to 'La Vida'; 'The Fixer' Wins Fiction Prize: 3 Others Will Be Honored at a Cerem nynbsp;...", ''The New York Times'', March 5, 1967, page 39. In 1950 and 1967, at least, the prize sponsors were three book-industry organizations American Booksellers Association, the

American Book Publishers Council American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and the Book Manufacturers Institute. In 1973 NYTimes still called the National Book Committee a nonprofit funded "by publishers and by organizations involved in the book trade" A temporary Committee on Awards Policy handled 1975.

New categories and split awards

In 1964 Nonfiction was divided in three.
"National Book Awards – 1964"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-01-31. Compare 1963 (via menu at top of page). The National Book Award for Translation was introduced in 1967 and split between two books,
"National Book Awards – 1967"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-01-31. Compare 1966 (via menu at top of page). the first split. Children's literature was first recognized as one of seven categories in 1969.
"National Book Awards – 1969"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-01-31. Compare 1968 (via menu at top of page). Two awards were split in 1973 for the first time.

Eric Pace, ''The New York Times'', April 11, 1973. Retrieved 2012-01-25. Publishers dropped their support after 1974 and the National Book Committee was disbanded. In 1975 the temporary administrator "begged" judges not to split awards. "The Last of the National Book Awards?" (The Guest Word), William Cole, ''The New York Times'', May 4, 1975, page 288. Three of 27 awards were split in 1983 before the drastic cutback that also required selection of a single winner in all three categories for 1984. "Three Writers Win Book Awards". ''The New York Times'', November 16, 1984, page C32. The currently active Poetry category was added in 1991, followed by Young People's Literature in 1996, and Translated Literature in 2018.

"American Book Awards"

In 1980 the "National Book Awards" were canceled and replaced by "American Book Awards" on the film industry model (Oscars). "It will be run almost exactly the way the Academy Awards are run," a spokesman told reporters.""The Short, Unsuccessful Life of the American Book Awards"
Craig Fehrman, ''The New York Times'', October 28, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-31. There would be nearly 30 awards presented in an extravagant TV-friendly ceremony, to winners selected by a standing "academy" of more than 2,000 people in the book industry. Implementation was poor, the episode a disaster. Most new categories survived only one to four cycles, 1980 to 1983. There were seven awards categories in 1979, twenty-eight in 1980, nineteen in 1983 (plus graphics awards, see below), three in 1984."National Book Awards – 1979"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-04."National Book Awards – 1980"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-04. Compare 1983 and 1984 (via menu at top of page). In 1983 there were 30 award winners in 27 categories including 14 categories of literary achievement in writing for adults; in turn, five for hardcover editions, six for paperback editions, and three general. 1983 awards categories (27) * 8 for graphics: Pictorial Design, Typographical Design, Illustration Collected Art, Illustration Original Art, Illustration Photographs, Cover Design, Jacket Design * 5 for children's literature: (Children's) Fiction hardcover and paperback, Nonfiction, Picture Books hardcover and paperback * 14 for adults' literature: General Nonfiction hardcover and paperback, History hardcover and paperback, Biography hardcover and paperback, Science hardcover and paperback, Translation, Fiction hardcover and paperback, Poetry, First Novel, Original Paperback Late that year, the AAP Board voted to fund a new version of the Awards, which had been "close to expiring from lack of support". At the time, AAP and Harper & Row president Brooks Thomas anticipated "probably fewer than ten" categories, including some "only for original paperbacks, not reprints". Edwin McDowell reported that "many book-industry officials hope ... orank in importance with the $15,000 Booker McConnell Prize for Fiction" (British). "Publishing: New Life for American Book Awards", Edwin McDowell, ''The New York Times'', November 4, 1983, page C28. For 1983 publications (January to October) there would be no awards. A committee comprising American Book Awards executive director Barbara Prete and four publishers designed the new and improved program, implemented fall 1984 for a publication year beginning November 1983. They cut the roster to merely three (Nonfiction, Fiction, and First Work of Fiction), moved the ceremony from early spring to late fall, and redefined eligibility to require publication during the calendar year of the awards (roughly, see Annual eligibility). There were only fiction and nonfiction awards in 1986. In 1987 the "National" award returned in name. Covering the November ceremony, Edwin McDowell of ''The New York Times'' remarked upon the recurring changes in format and contrasted 1983 in particular, when there were 96 finalists in 27 awards categories (listed above). The surviving awards for general

Fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

and

Nonfiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

, now with precisely five finalists each, were administered by National Book Awards, Inc., whose Chairman of the Board was the president of Hearst Trade Book Group. He declaimed that "Book people are really not actors, and there's a realization now that we should not try to reward things like who did the best book blurb.""An Upset at the Book Awards", Edwin McDowell, ''The New York Times'', November 10, 1987, page C13. The fixed number five finalists was retained through 2012,National Book Foundation: Awards
"How the National Book Awards Work"
Retrieved 2012-01-05. while the number of book categories has doubled with the addition of Poetry in 1991 and Young People's Literature in 1996. Beginning with 2013, the Foundation announced there would be a "longlist" of 10 titles in each of the four categories in September (40 titles), followed by a "finalist" list of 5 titles in October (20 titles), and then the winners in November (4 titles). In 2018 a fifth award category was announced, the

. It is for living translators and authors and for fiction and non-fiction. The foundation previously gave a translation award from 1967-1983, but did not require the author to be living and was for fiction only.

Annual eligibility

Currently a book must be published "between December 1 of the previous year and November 30 of the current year." Its publisher must complete a nomination in the spring and mail copies to the panelists. The panelists read all the valid nominees during this time, and the panels compile shortlists in September. The pre-war awards were announced in the winter, usually February, and described with reference to the year of publication, if any; for example, "National Book Awards for 1939" announced February 1940. "1939 Book Awards Given by Critics: Elgin Groseclose's 'Ararat' is Picked as Work Which Failed to Get Due Recognition", ''The New York Times'', February 14, 1940, page 25. The 1950 to 1983 awards, as the National Book Foundation now labels them, were presented in the spring to works published during the preceding calendar year. "American Book Awards Announced", Edwin McDowell, ''The New York Times'', April 14, 1983, page C30. "Book Publishers Make 3 Awards: ... Gold Plaques", ''The New York Times'', March 17, 1950, page 21. From 1984 the NBAs are presented in the fall, usually November, to books published roughly during the current calendar year (December of the previous year through November ). "11 Nominated for American Book Awards", Edwin McDowell, ''The New York Times'', October 18, 1984, page C25.

Medal for Distinguished Contribution (lifetime)

The Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters is a lifetime achievement award presented by the Foundation at the final ceremony for the Book Awards. The medal comes with a cash prize of $10,000. It recognizes someone who "has enriched

merican ''Merican'' is an EP by the American punk rock band the Descendents, released February 10, 2004. It was the band's first release for Fat Wreck Chords and served as a pre-release to their sixth studio album ''Cool to Be You'', released the follow ...

literary heritage over a life of service, or a corpus of work." National Book Foundation: Awards
"Distinguished Contribution to American Letters"
Retrieved before 2012-01-07. *1988: Jason Epstein *1989:

Daniel Boorstin Daniel Joseph Boorstin (October 1, 1914 – February 28, 2004) was an American historian at the University of Chicago who wrote on many topics in American and world history. He was appointed the twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress in ...

*1990: Saul Bellow *1991: Eudora Welty *1992: James Laughlin *1993: Clifton Fadiman *1994:

Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetr ...

*1995: David McCullough *1996: Toni Morrison *1997:

Studs Terkel Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for '' The Good War'' and is best remembered for his oral his ...

*1998:

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth ...

*1999:

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

*2000: Ray Bradbury *2001: Arthur Miller *2002: Philip Roth *2003:

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

*2004: Judy Blume *2005:

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...

*2006: Adrienne Rich *2007: Joan Didion *2008:

Maxine Hong Kingston Maxine Hong Kingston (; born Maxine Ting Ting Hong;Huntley, E. D. (2001). ''Maxine Hong Kingston: A Critical Companion'', p. 1. October 27, 1940) is an American novelist. She is a Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, wher ...

*2009: Gore Vidal *2010: Tom Wolfe *2011:

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

*2012:

Elmore Leonard Elmore John Leonard Jr. (October 11, 1925August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but he went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thri ...

*2013: E. L. Doctorow *2014: Ursula Le Guin *2015: Don DeLillo *2016: Robert Caro *2017:

E. Annie Proulx E is the fifth letter of the Latin alphabet. E or e may also refer to: Commerce and transportation * €, the symbol for the euro, the European Union's standard currency unit * ℮, the estimated sign, an EU symbol indicating that the weig ...

*2018: Isabel Allende *2019: Edmund White *2020: Walter Mosley *2021:

Karen Tei Yamashita Karen Tei Yamashita ( ja, 山下てい ; born January 8, 1951) is a Japanese-American writer. Early life Yamashita was born on January 8, 1951, in Oakland, California. Career Yamashita is Professor of Literature at the University of Calif ...

*2022: Art Spiegelman Five of the seventeen medalists through 2004 were previous National Book Award winners (Bellow, Welty, McCullough, Updike, and Roth, all but McCullough for fiction). Between 2005 and 2018, all of the medalists except Leonard and Allende have been previous National Book Award winners.

Literarian Award for Outstanding Service (lifetime)

The Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community is a lifetime achievement award presented by the Foundation annually from 2005. It recognizes "an individual for outstanding service to the American literary community, whose life and work exemplify the goals of the National Book Foundation to expand the audience for literature and to enhance the cultural value of literature in America." National Book Foundation: Awards
"Literarian Award – 2005"
Retrieved before 2011-10. *2005: Lawrence Ferlinghetti *2006:

Robert B. Silvers Robert Benjamin Silvers (December 31, 1929 – March 20, 2017) was an American editor who served as editor of ''The New York Review of Books'' from 1963 to 2017. Raised on Long Island, New York, Silvers graduated from the University of Chicago ...

and

Barbara Epstein Barbara Epstein ( Zimmerman; August 30, 1928 – June 16, 2006) was a literary editor and founding co-editor of ''The New York Review of Books''. Life and work Epstein, née Zimmerman, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a Jewish family, and g ...

*2007: Terry Gross *2008: Barney Rosset *2009: Dave Eggers *2010: Joan Ganz Cooney *2011: Mitchell Kaplan *2012:

Arthur Sulzberger Jr. Arthur Ochs "Pinch" Sulzberger Jr. (born September 22, 1951) is an American journalist. Sulzberger was the chairman of The New York Times Company from 1997 to 2020, and the publisher of ''The New York Times'' from 1992 to 2018. Early life and ...

*2013:

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

*2014:

Kyle Zimmer Kyle Joseph Zimmer (born September 13, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals from 2019 to 2021. The Royals selected Zimmer in the first rou ...

*2015: James Patterson *2016: Cave Canem Foundation *2017: Richard Robinson *2018:

Doron Weber Doron Weber (born 1955) is an American author best known for his memoir, ''Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir'', and a foundation executive. Born on a kibbutz in Israel in 1955, he attended Forest Hills High School in Forest Hills, New York where he wa ...

*2019: Oren J. Teicher *2020: Carolyn Reidy *2021: Nancy Pearl *2022:

Tracie D. Hall Tracie D. Hall (born 1968) is an American librarian, author, curator, and advocate for the arts who served as the executive director of the American Library Association from 2020 to 2023. Hall is the first African American woman to lead the asso ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{Official website Literary awards honoring lifetime achievement Awards established in 1950 1950 establishments in the United States Awards established in 1936 1936 establishments in the United States Awards disestablished in 1943 1943 disestablishments in the United States American literary awards English-language literary awards