Book awards for quality literature

There was a time when books were very important in the lives of most people, a time when reading was a delight and a useful source for finding out and for learning new and exciting things. Nowadays, people rarely have the time to read a book, be it for one’s pleasure or because one has to do it. Unfortunately, the wonderful world of books has undergone replacement by that of technology and computers. Fewer and fewer people are familiar with the works of contemporary artists, with book awards. Perhaps these book awards do not mean much for common people, but for the writer who received this distinction, they represent the recognition of one’s writings, of one’s lifetime work. In this manner, we thank those persons who managed to make us experience wonderful things, to visit new places, and to meet new people, by means of their books. The major book awards are Booker Prize, Caldecott Medal, Newbery Medal, and Nobel Prize for Literature, Faulkner Award, Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. The National Book Award takes place once a year and it honors a variety of literary genres, both fiction and nonfiction. Some book publishing groups sponsored the first National Book Award on March 15, 1950. Besides the recognition of merits of some writers, the goal of this action was to increase the popularity of reading. This is how the National Book Award became one of the most important literary prizes in the United States. Nowadays, this book award recognizes achievements in four major genres: fiction, non-fiction, poetry and young people’s literature. The winners receive a cash award and a crystal sculpture. The award for Young People’s Literature occurs annually in November and it aims at recognizing the contribution to children’s literature. This category of awards appeared for the first time in 1996 and one should not neglect it, because children should be aware of the importance of reading. Book awards are very useful not only for children, but also for adults, because they focus on the best writings, fiction and non-fiction. Books are important for various reasons: they introduce people to new places and ideas, they enlarge one’s vocabulary, and they keep us informed. Moreover, books help us define who we are, what we want from life and how we must behave in certain situations. It is very easy to obtain the summary of a book from the Internet and it is even easier to scan that summary instead of reading a whole book. Nevertheless, where is the pleasure in that? Can a quick search on the internet replace books? We seriously doubt that, because books encapsulate not only information, but also experiences and feelings and, most of all, they comprise different worlds. These books make us aware of all the possibilities that we have at our disposal. For some of us, books represent a way of escaping real life even if only for a few hours or minutes, a way of relaxing and forgetting about problems and about daily routine. For others, books represent a way of getting advice for a better life and for the daily problems.