It’s award season and people are talking - not just those who work in the publishing industry but readers of all kinds. But make no mistake: book prizes offer more than just swanky ceremonies and cash prizes for a handful of winners; in my opinion, the biggest benefit is how competitions create conversation. No matter which titles are selected by juries, many readers weigh in on blogs, at dinner parties, in their offices - Which books should win?, Which books are being overlooked?, What’s the fuss about that author anyway? - and those are valuable questions, valuable discussions.
This fall the UK’s Guardian hosted a book award with a twist - a completely different process but the same criteria: the Not the Booker prize. There was no jury: readers were invited to make the nominations themselves, by piping up online about their favourite books of the year. Guardian blogger Sam Jordison said that one of the by-products of the Not the Booker award was a “worthwhile debate about the nature of democracy and the best way of judging literary achievement.” Whether it’s the masses or an elite jury, they’re asking the same valuable questions.
