As any writer will tell anyone who asks, the field of literature is one of ordinary men and women and a few giants who tower over all. However, the exact measure of an author’s status in the literary world is never a solid, easily quantifiable thing.
Sales of books and works are of course the simplest measure of an author’s success, and certainly the one most writers would like most. Becoming a widely popular author is the dream of many authors and carries with it a great deal of prestige and financial security if the writer is careful with their money. However, sometimes success in literature is measured in more than sales.
A literature award can bring significant respect and regard to a writer, even if their works are not yet on the best seller lists. Luckily, a literature award can boost sales, allowing a writer to win on both fronts. Still, it is not easy to receive a coveted literary award, as even in limited fields there are many contenders and only one real winner.
A Quick History
The history of literature awards is a bit murky. In the early days of mass marketed literature, authors measured their success in sales, much as they do now, but with the rise of mass literacy, many scholars began to perceive a difference between popular literature and quality literature.
Throughout the nineteenth century, this division was largely a matter of theory and at times late night discussion. Some popular authors of the era, who in their time were regarded as low brow entertainers, have since moved on to establish entire genres, from mystery fiction to horror. Other once popular authors have since faded into obscurity. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the will of Alfred Nobel, most famously the inventor of dynamite, established the Nobel Prize in Literature, intended to use some of Nobel’s fortune to acknowledge and award an author with what was determined to be the highest quality body of life-time work.
After the idea of a literature award caught on, soon there were many types of literature award appearing in diverse genres. Some literature awards focus on an author’s entire body of work, created over the course of their career as a writer. Other literature awards focus on specific works, such as singular novels or short stories. Most literature awards have a specific focus; be it in a particular genre, such as history or horror, or inside a specific language or country. Some prizes are widely known and others are less renowned or confined to a specific field of literature; while the Hugo award may be the pinnacle of a science fiction author’s career, few people who aren’t avid readers of science fiction are aware of it.
Earning an Award
Earning a literature award is not easy. It takes a lot of practice at the craft of writing to even be considered for a literature award. Further, an author needs to submit their work relentlessly until they can get published, reviewed and most importantly talked about in literary circles. It’s a harsh, grueling process to become a serious author who can be considered for a prestigious award. To win the award, the author must submit their work to the committee that gives the award for consideration, alongside a variable number of other contenders for the prize. After considering all the works on hand, the award committee will then pick one winner out of the lot.
While literature is a largely subjective field, some elements of it are tangible. And, while a literature award is given mostly based on the award committee’s personal preferences, an author who does reach the prize is considered among the best of the best.
While most award-winning authors would certainly extoll the many benefits of being an award winner, many of them give the same advice to aspiring writers when asked about the pursuit of awards and acknowledgments: Pursue the goal of great writing first, and the awards and recognition will come on their own, being merely a by-product of the effort.