Best literary awards help us navigate the sea of written words. Keeping track of the most prestigious book awards is an asset for any bookworm and literature enthusiast. Your reading list will always be full of titles, and you will be able to stand out in any conversation. Discover below the six most prestigious literary awards given in 2022!
Do you know how many books are printed per minute worldwide and in the US? How many books have been written throughout the history of humankind? It’s hard to imagine abstract numbers, but here is an example. In 2013, 304,912 new titles and re-editions were printed in the US only (according to UNESCO). And these titles are just a tiny fraction of all the literary pieces out there (including all those classic books you promised yourself to read and a bunch of professional literature on your list).
Why We Need to Follow Prestigious Literary Awards
Staying up-to-date with the literary awards is one possible strategy to handle this mass of printed words. In the film industry, there are the Oscars, the Cannes Festival, etc., that help us stay updated about the latest movies. In the literary world, there are several similar milestones—and we’ll review six of them below.
However, there is much more to discover beyond these mainstream prestigious literary awards. You can read about the best book awards in more detail here and decide which ones you prefer to follow.
Some awards are given for specific genres (like young adult literature), while others distinguish female authors (check the renowned Women’s Prize for Fiction) or authors from minority groups. While most of the awards are decided by a board of critics and authors, there are also awards based solely on readers’ choices. For example, in Goodreads Choice Awards, readers decide on their favorite works in several genres based on online voting.
What do you do next when you’ve set your mind on following a few literary awards? You can read only the winning pieces, or you can dive deeper and pick a few books from shortlisted and longlisted works. We are positive, there’re more than just a few literary treats awaiting you! You can also participate in a Monthly Book Award reading challenge.
Here is a helpful list that includes the dates of the longlist, shortlist, finalist, and winner announcements for all significant book awards—mark your calendars! If you are not interested in a contemporary literary scene, you can check, for example, the Pulitzer prize winners of the 50s and replenish your reading list.
Whatever books you choose to read, BookScouter will help you find them at the lowest prices, even if it is a rare edition! Below is a list of the top six most prestigious literary awards that we’ve been expecting in 2022!
One of the Most Prestigious Book Awards: The Nobel Prize in Literature
This is the oldest literary award bestowed since 1901. The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded 115 times to 119 Nobel Prize laureates between 1901 and 2022.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2022 was awarded to Annie Ernaux “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory.”
The Pulitzer Prize
Established back in 1917, the Pulitzer Prize is now awarded for literary works of American authors in 21 categories, including drama, music, and breaking news photography. You can check all the winners of 2022 here. That year, The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead won the Pulitzer for Fiction.
The Pulitzer for Fiction was awarded to The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family, by Joshua Cohen.
The Booker Prize
From 1969 onwards, the Booker Prize is awarded to a novel written in English and published in the UK or Ireland.
The 2022 Booker Prize was awarded to Shehan Karunatilka for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.
The International Booker Prize
The Man Booker International Prize—a sibling of the Booker Prize—is awarded to the best work in Fiction written in a foreign language, translated into English, and published in the UK or Ireland. This award distinguishes both the work of the author and the translator.
The 2022 International Booker Prize was won by Tomb of Sand, written by Geetanjali Shree and translated by Daisy Rockwell.
PEN America Literary Awards
PEN Awards have been endowed since 1963 for outstanding works of various genres, including poetry, essays, and fiction. The 2022 PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD ($75,000) was given to The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation’s Neglect of a Deadly Disease, by Daisy Hernández. Check other winners on the PEN 2022 Awards page.
National Book Award
From 1950 onwards, this literary prize was one of the most prestigious book awards in the US. The National Book Award is given in five nominations: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. The 2021 award in Fiction was given to Jason Mott for Hell of a Book.
The 73rd National Book Awards Ceremony will be broadcast live on November 16, 2022 at 8pm ET.
Dare to explore further, dive into the archives of these awards or look beyond these prestigious literary awards to diversify your reading list. Whatever book you choose, BookScouter can help you get the books you need at the best price!
