Awards

Last week, in a presentation ceremony at Central Park's Loeb Boat House, Hyperion/Voice editorial director Barbara Jones (left) received the W Award from the YWCA of the City of New York. The prize recognizes "[Jones's] contribution to the book and magazine publishing industry and for being a role model to a younger generation of women." The award was presented by meteorologist Janice Huff of New York's WNBC.

Jones joined Hyperion as an executive editor in February of 2008 after serving as a deputy editor at More; soon thereafter, she became the editorial director of Hyperion's Voice imprint, and was named editorial director of Hyperion itself just shy of three months ago.

Investigative journalist and author Seymour Hersh has won the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) Founders Award for Excellence in Journalism, celebrating 40 years of work.

Since beginning his career on the police beat in Chicago, Hersh has won five George Polk Awards, two National Magazine Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the My Lai massacre in 1969. He's written eight books, most recently "Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib." The distinguished list of winners included Tom Brokaw of NBC News and John F. Burns of The New York Times.

Here's a statement from ICFJ chairman James F. Hoge, Jr.: "Sy Hersh can find the hidden story like no other ... Without him, many critiques of policy and policy-makers would never have been part of our public dialogue or history."

Starting this week, NPR Books has called for readers to nominate "uber beach picks" for an upcoming feature about the Best Beach Books of All Time.

On July 15, NPR will let listeners vote on their favorite nominated books--the final list will be unveiled on July 30. The program is part of an ongoing Summer Books series. If you need inspiration, the Philadelphia Examiner interviewed authors about their summer reading.

Here's more from the NPR release: "Discussion is underway as reader suggestions pour in, nominating everything from Yann Martel's 'The Life of Pi' to 'Songs of the Humpback Whale' by Jodi Picoult to James Ellroy's 'L.A. Confidential.'"

Yesterday, the Pritzker Military Library announced that its annual $100,000 prize for "lifetime achievement in military writing" would be bestowed upon Gerhard L. Weinberg, the author of several books about the Second World War, most notably A World at Arms. In the webcast announcing Prof. Weinberg's selection (seen above), the Library's executive producer, Ed Tracy, praised his writing for being "encyclopedic yet highly readable." Prof. Weinberg will formally receive the prize in October, when the Pritzker library holds its annual "Liberty Gala" in Chicago.

According to the literary blog The Millions, "The Known World" by Edward P. Jones is the most prize-winning novel since 1995. "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen came in second.

The blog added up literary prizewinners and nominations, counting two points for every time a novel was shortlisted for a literary prize and three points for every win. The list of counted awards included: Booker Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize, and the Costa Book Award.

Here's the methodology behind the count: "Because I wanted the British books to 'compete' with the American books, I also looked at a couple of awards that recognize books from both sides of the ocean, the National Book Critics Circle Awards and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. The IMPAC is probably the weakest of all these, but since it is both more international and more populist than the other awards, I thought it added something. The glaring omission is the PEN/Faulkner, but it would have skewed everything too much in favor of the American books, so I left it out." (Via Publishers Weekly)

First-time novelist Michael Thomas won the 'world's richest literary prize' for his novel, "Man Gone Down." The author (pictured, photographed by Ben Russell) won 100,000 Euros in the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award yesterday.

The Boston native now lives in New York with his wife and three children, and his book faced stiff international competition with 145 titles, nominated by 157 public libraries from 41 countries.

The judges had this statement: "We never know his name. But the African-American protagonist of Michael Thomas' masterful debut, "Man Gone Down," will stay with readers for a long time. He lingers because this extraordinary novel comes to us from a writer of enthralling voice and startling insight. Tuned urgently to the way we live now, the winner of the International Dublin IMPAC Prize 2009 is a novel brilliant in its scope and energy, and deeply moving in its human warmth."

Today thirty-five poets will converge in Abu Dhabi, competing for the coveted title of "Prince of Poets." This is the third time the televised competition has been held.

According to the Book Bench, thousands of people flock to the poetry recital contest and millions more will watch the show on television. Variety reports that 4,000 poets entered the contest in 2007 and were judged by a panel of five poets.

Here's more from the Book Bench: "The first year of 'Prince of Poets' was marred by controversy; there were claims that the judges, hoping to engender national pride, awarded the top prize to the Emirati poet Karim Maato, when the Palestinian poet Tamim Al-Barghouti was favored to win (he came in fifth). It's Al-Barghouti, though, whose stardom increased. His poem 'In Jerusalem' even became a ringtone." (Photo via)

Marilynne Robinson (pictured) has won the £30,000 Orange Prize for Fiction for her third novel, "Home." The Orange Prize is an annual award for "the woman who, in the opinion of the judges, has written the best, eligible full-length novel in English."

In addition, Francesca Kay won the Orange Award for New Writers 2009 for "An Equal Stillness" and Helen Barton won the 2009 Orange/Harper's Bazaar Short Story Competition.

Here's more from Fi Glover, who chaired the judging committee: "["Home" is] a kind, wise, enriching novel, exquisitely crafted. We were unanimously agreed--it is a profound work of art."

Two writers received $60,000 Pew Fellowships in the Arts today. They are: founding editor of n +1 magazine Marco Roth and author Ken Kalfus.

These authors joined ten other 2009 Pew fellows working in different artistic mediums, and the winners were selected out of a pool of 400 applicants. The judging panel was chaired by author Francine Prose.

The press release singled out Kalfus: "This year's winners have a breadth of talent and accomplishments. Ken Kalfus is a highly accomplished writer of short story collections and novels including "A Disorder Peculiar to the Country," which was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award."

At a Belmont University ceremony, the International Country Music Conference awarded the University of Illinois Press a Lifetime Achievement Award for the book series, Music in American Life. It was the 26th annual event for the country music conference.

The Illinois UP series includes "Bluegrass: A History" by Neil V. Rosenberg, and a wide range of other titles that range from topics like Mexican American music to opera.

Here's more about the series: "Music in American Life is a longstanding series that embodies the twin goals of documenting the place of music in American culture and the cultural life that gives rise to particular musical forms. Encompassing the broadest range of music, from classical through all forms of American vernacular music, the series welcomes a variety of approaches to the topic of music in American life, including monographs, biographies, memoirs, reference books, readers, and edited collections."