Using Awards Lists As A RA Tool: Anthony Awards Edition

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.  

Recently, the Anthony Awards released their nominees. This is a crime fiction award but it is VERY different from the Edgars (even if the novel nominees look very similar). 

From their About page: 

The Anthony Awards

A special Anthony Award committee (separate from the Board of National Bouchercon and the Local Organizing Committee) manages all parts of the process. Nominations are due April 30th. Nominations are counted and the finalists announced around May 7th.

Voting occurs at Bouchercon 2023. You must be present to vote. Voting ends early on Saturday and the award are presented to the winner at the Anthony Awards on Saturday evening (after the Banquet).

Again, click here for the 2022 nominees to be voted on at this year's Bouchercon.

Now, this info leads to a few other questions. What is Bouchercon for one? From their FAQ page: 

Since 1970, Bouchercon has been a convention dedicated to the field of mysteries, suspense, thriller, and crime writing. It’s an event put on by fans, for fans. If you like to read books in that field, this event should interest you.

Bouchercon is a convention for fans by fans, but also, writers will be there. This year, it is in San Diego. It moves every year but you can go here for the most recent event's information.

Back to the Anthony Awards, which are always given at Bouchercon no matter where it happens to be. The process works like this, fans who are registered for the convention had until 4/30 to nominate titles in each of the categories. Then, those nominations were tallied and the short list was announced here.

While the convention is going on, the Anthony Awards committee will take votes in each category, tally them, and announce the winners during the event. It makes me tired thinking about it, but it also makes for a 100% fan selected award.

Because of this award being reader driven, I often have had better luck suggesting these titles to readers at the library than with other crime focused awards. And this is exactly why I am explaining how this award is chosen and not just posting the list. How an award is picked matters in terms of who we could best suggest those titles to.  

All past winners are also archived here in one easy to use webpage as well. The winners from the past 5 years are still an excellent choice for your RA needs.

The winners are not being chosen until late August, but the nominee list is what is most helpful to you as you help readers, so start using the Anthony Awards short lists for displays, collection development, suggestions, and conversation starters.