book awards

Best literary awards help us navigate the world 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. Check the six most prestigious literary awards given in 2023!

Do you know how many books are printed per minute in the US and worldwide? 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, the Oscars, the Cannes Festival, etc., 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 on Wikipedia 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 the 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 are more than just a few literary treats awaiting you! You can also participate in a Monthly Book Award reading challenge.

Here is a list of 20 of the most famous literature awards:

Sustainable reading
    1. Nobel Prize in Literature
    2. The Booker Prize
    3. Pulitzer Prize
    4. National Book Award
    5. PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
    6. Man Booker International Prize
    7. National Book Critics Circle Award
    8. Hugo Award
    9. Newbery Medal
    10. Caldecott Medal
    11. The O. Henry Prize
    12. The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction
    13. The Windham Campbell Prize
    14. The National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35
    15. The Goldsmiths Prize
    16. The Costa Book Awards
    17. The Walter Scott Prize
    18. The Dylan Thomas Prize
    19. The Women’s Prize for Fiction
    20. The International Dublin Literary Award

These literature awards are recognized for their contribution to the literary world and have celebrated outstanding authors and their works over the years. Now, let’s take a look at the six most prominent literature awards.

One of the Most Prestigious Book Awards: The Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature is a highly prestigious and the oldest literary award established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895. It’s been awarded 116 times between 1901 and 2023 to 120 individuals. Out of these, 103 were men and 17 were women. The award is usually given to an author for their exceptional body of work. Some of the prominent winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature include Rabindranath Tagore (1911), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1982), Toni Morrison (1993), and Bob Dylan (2016). The award is traditionally the last prize presented at the Nobel Prize ceremony.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 was awarded to Norwegian author Jon Fosse “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.“

The Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during the preceding calendar year. The prize was established in 1917 with seven prizes and has been awarded every May since then. The awards are made by Columbia University, based on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize Board, composed of judges appointed by the university. Some notable recipients of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction include Colson Whitehead for The Nickel Boys, Richard Powers for The Overstory, Andrew Sean Greer for Less, and Colson Whitehead for The Underground Railroad.

Last year, The Pulitzer for Fiction was awarded to The Immortal King Rao, by Vauhini Vara. You can check all the winners of 2023 here.

The Booker Prize

The Booker Prize is a prestigious literary award given annually to the best original novel written in English and published in the UK or Ireland. Established in 1969, the prize recognizes and rewards the finest contemporary fiction. The winner of the Booker Prize receives £50,000, and each of the six shortlisted authors is awarded £2,500. The judging panel for the 2024 Booker Prize includes artist and author Edmund de Waal, Fiction Editor of the Guardian, Justine Jordan, writer and professor Yiyun Li, and musician, composer, and producer Nitin Sawhney.

The 2023 Booker Prize was awarded to Paul Lynch for Prophet Song.

The International Booker Prize

The Man Booker International Prize—a sibling of the Booker Prize—is awarded to the best work of 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 Man Booker International Prize was established in 2005 to promote quality fiction from around the world and recognize the crucial role of translators. The prize money of £50,000 is split equally between the author and the translator, with each shortlisted author and translator receiving £2,500 as well. One of the esteemed literary awards, the International Booker Prize has been awarded to renowned authors such as Olga Tokarczuk and David Grossman in the past.

The 2023 International Booker Prize was won by Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel.

PEN America Literary Awards

The PEN America Literary Awards were founded in 1963 to recognize outstanding literary works in different genres such as fiction, poetry, science writing, essays, sports writing, biography, children’s literature, and drama. The awards program offers over 20 fellowships, grants, prizes, and awards annually, providing almost $350,000 in support of writers and translators.

The 2023 PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD ($75,000) was given to Dr. No, by Percival Everett. Check other winners on the PEN 2023 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 award comes with a cash prize of $10,000. It’s presented by the National Book Foundation, which aims to “celebrate the best literature published in the United States, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in our culture.” Among the remarkable writers who won the National Book Award are William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Ralph Ellison, and Toni Morrison.

The 2023 Award in Fiction was given to Justin Torres for Blackouts.

Most Prestigious Book Awards to Expect in 2024

Here’s an extended list of book awards by month for 2024:

Here is a helpful list of the awards that took place in the previous years. It 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.

Feel free to read about must-attend book conventions and festivals.

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!