This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.
This week the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction and Nonfiction 2022 Longlist was announced. From that announcement:
Forty-five books (23 fiction, 22 nonfiction) have been selected for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction longlist. The six-title shortlist—three each for the fiction and nonfiction medals—will be chosen from longlist titles and announced on November 8, 2021. The two medal winners will be announced by 2022 selection committee chair Terry Hong at the Reference and User Services Association’s Book and Media Awards (BMAs) event, during ALA’s first annual LibLearnX on Sunday, January 23rd at 4:30 p.m. Central. The celebratory event, including presentations by the winners and a featured speaker, will take place at the 2022 ALA Annual Conference in June 2022 in Washington, D.C.
What I love about this list is that it is an excellent and reliable go-to resource for "best books" readers and not just those who only prefer literary fiction. [Also, don't underestimate how nice it is to have such a long list of vetted titles].
Because the people on this committee are library workers and booksellers first, the range of titles they are offering for this "literary" award is much more representative of what is best across the publishing landscape-- fiction and nonfiction.
This award is about the quality of these titles combined with how enjoyable they are to read. This is a realistic list of what is "best" in terms of the writing but also the readability by the average book lover.
And the website has EASY access to all backlist information right at the top of the page with a clickable tab for every single year going back to 2012-- year 1 of this award.
You should not only check your catalogs and make sure you have all 45 books on order or in your collections, but you should also bookmark this website for helping your end of the year patrons looking for a "best book" option.
They will be coming soon. Patron who only read a book or two a year and want something worth their time. Something others have deemed worthy for them. The Carnegie Medal website can get you something into their hands be it from this year's longlist or from last year's or even further back. They are still worthy, even if from a few years ago, and the chance of them being on the shelf is greater.
Also, this is a reminder to start getting your "Best of 2021" display lists ready. Use the link at the top of this page to access award announcements across all genres, or go to my genre resource page to start compiling lists of all of the books that were nominated for major awards in all genres.
The year end onslaught is about to begin. Get your ducks in a row now.
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