Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: RUSA Book and Media Awards Edition Includes Genre Picks!

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.

Last night the top awards for Adult Books and Media were awarded including the most prestigious prize The Andrew Carnegie  Medal for Excellence in Fiction and  Nonfiction (I was on this selection committee). Below are the individual links for the lists a winners with the ACM titles singled out. For each award I will also explain what it is for, but note, these are all the best and most readable titles for a general adult audience. 

Please go to the excellent RUSA Book and Media website which has a link for each award with the current winners displayed and very easy backlist access. That backlist access is here, but please note, you need to use the links below for last night's winners until they update the main page.

The Andrew Carnegie  Medal for Excellence in Fiction and  Nonfiction: The Carnegie Awards, established in 2012, serve as a guide to help adults select quality reading material. They are the first single-book awards for adult books given by ALA and reflect the expert judgment and insight of library professionals and booksellers who work closely with adult readers.

Please go to the website for the finalists, long list, and backlist, but the 2023 winners were: 

Fiction: The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka and Nonfiction: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong 

The other awards are for multiple titles.

• 2023 Notable Books: An annual best-of list composed of  titles written for adult readers and published in the US including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. (Includes both ACM winners) 
• 2023 Sophie Brody Medal Winner and Honor Books: Given to encourage, recognize and commend outstanding achievement in Jewish literature. Works for adults published in the United States in the preceding year are eligible for the award.
• 2023 Listen List: The Listen List: Outstanding Audiobook Narration. This year’s committee evaluated 293 titles with a total listening time of more than 2,838 hours.  The final deliberation produced a list of 13 winners. 
• The 2023 Reading List: An annual best-of list comprised of eight different fiction genres for adult readers. A shortlist of honor titles, up to 4 per genre was also announced. The genres are: Adrenaline, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Relationship Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction

Again, please peruse all of the winners from last night here. And explore the rich and easily searchable backlist of titles here.

Now get out there and suggest some great reads to start your week.