Award Winning Reads

There are awards given for almost any category of book you can think of. Here are a few to consider:

Pulitzer Prize - [items in our catalog]

The Pulitzer Prize has been awarded by Columbia University each spring since 1917. The awards are chosen by a board of jurors for Journalism, Letters, Music and Drama. The awards for Letters include Nonfiction, Poetry, Biography or Autobiography, History, and Fiction.

National Book Award - [items in our catalog]

The National Book Awards are awarded each fall by the National Book Foundation. Categories include Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Young People's Literature, and the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

Man Booker Prize - [items in our catalog]

The Booker prize aims to promote the finest in fiction by rewarding the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland.

Nobel Prize for Literature - [items by winners in our catalog]

Based on the recipient's entire body of published work, the Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded "to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency."

Genre awards

Almost every genre has its own writers' association, and its own award(s).

Edgar Award - [items in our catalog]

The Edgar Award, in honor of Edgar Allan Poe, is given by The Mystery Writers of America to the best in mystery, crime, suspense, and intrigue produced the previous year.

Agatha Award - [items in our catalog]

The Agatha Awards honor mystery writing in the tradition of Agatha Christie. The genre is generally characterized by mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore or gratuitous violence; usually featuring an amateur detective, they have a confined setting and characters who know one another.

Hugo Award - [items in our catalog]

The Hugo Award is awarded by the current members of the World Science Fiction Convention, in dozens of categories including novel, novella, novelette, short story, graphic story, dramatic presentation, and fan writer.

Nebula Award - [items in our catalog]

The Nebula Awards are chosen by the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) in the following categories: novella, novellette, short story, script, and novel.

Stoker Award - [items in our catalog]

The Bram Stoker Awards, named for the author of the historic Dracula, are given annually by the Horror Writers Association. The awards currently fall into 12 categories, including novel, first novel, short fiction, long fiction, fiction collection, poetry collection and anthlogy.

Spur Award - [items in our catalog]

The Spur Awards, given annually by Western Writers of America, recognize the best in writing about the American West. The awards have expanded to include recognition of television and movie projects.

Vivian Award (formerly the RITAs) - [items in our catalog]

The Vivian Awards, given annually since 2021 by Romance Writers of America, recognize the best romance writing in several categories. These include contemporary, historical, suspense, speculative, and erotic.

Christy Award - [items in our catalog]

The Christy Awards recognize novelists and novels of excellence in several genres of Christian fiction.

Eisner Awards - [items in our catalog]

The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the Comics Industry's equivalent of the Oscar Awards.

James Beard Award - [items in our catalog]

The James Beard/KitchenAid Awards recognize the best books on culinary topics in categories including Cookbook of the Year, Wine and Spirits and Baking and Desserts.

LGBTQ awards - [items in our catalog]

The Lambda, Triangle, and Stonewall awards highlight the best lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender books and authors.

Youth awards

Awards for youth literature, both for children and teenagers, are awarded by divisions of the American Library Association.

Newbery Medal - [items in our catalog]

The Newbery Medal honors the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

Caldecott Medal - [items in our catalog]

The Caldecott Medal honors the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

Geisel Award - [items in our catalog]

The Geisel Award is awarded to the most distinguished American book for beginning readers.

Printz Award - [items in our catalog]

The Michael L. Printz Award annually honors the best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit.

Alex Awards - [items in our catalog]

The Alex Awards are given annually to ten books written for an adult audience that have special appeal to young adults.