Quill Award Voting Underway
The organizers of a national book award are hoping the pizzaz of a “Hollywood-style” ceremony and its consumer-driven online voting process will help draw some mainstream attention back to the written word.
With the announcement of the nominations this week for the second annual edition of the Quill Book Awards, online voters will have the next month to vote for the books they believe deserve to be presented on network TV as the best of the year.
This year’s nominated books for the Quill Awards were released on NBC’s “The Today Show” earlier this week. The network, the award’s broadcast partner, will also air a one-hour version of the Oct. 10 award ceremony--scheduled to be held at the American Museum of Natural History--on Oct. 28.
The Quills Foundation, the organization behind the awards, is heavily supported by Reed Business Information and NBC Universal Television Stations in putting the awards together. Several other partners include Parade Magazine, Borders, Barnes & Noble and The American Booksellers Association.
“We are thrilled with the excellent work of the nominating board, which has provided us with a powerful list of outstanding finalists,” said Gerry Byrne, chairman of the Quill Awards and Chairman of the Quills Literacy Foundation. “Now, we enter the stage that sets the Quills apart among book awards--turning the voting process and final decision-making over to consumers.”
The 95 nominees, in 19 different categories, were selected by a nominating board of 6,000 invited booksellers and librarians across the United States. Online visitors can vote on five nominees in each category through Sept. 30 at WWW.QUILLSVOTE.COM and at WWW.QUILLS.MSNBC.COM.
“NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams presented J.K. Rowling with the book of the year award for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” during last year’s ceremony. All nominated books are eligible to win the top prize for 2006.