Award Winners
Christopher Awards: The Christopher Awards acknowledge achievement in literature, film and television. The Christopher's is a non-profit Christian organization that states its goal as improving the standards of human behavior and encouraging acceptance of personal responsibility. Established in 1949, the Christopher Awards were discontinued in 1962 then reinstated in 1969. The awards are given annually.
1998 Tuesdays With Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man, & Life’s Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom, Doubleday, 1998. This true story about the love between a spiritual mentor and his pupil has soared to the bestseller list for many reasons. For starters: it reminds us of the affection and gratitude that many of us still feel for the significant mentors of our past. It also plays out a fantasy many of us have entertained: what would it be like to look those people up again, tell them how much they meant to us, maybe even resume the mentorship? Plus, we meet Morrie Schwartz--a one of a kind professor, whom the author describes as looking like a cross between a biblical prophet and Christmas elf. And finally we are privy to intimate moments of Morrie's final days as he lies dying from a terminal illness. Even on his deathbed, this twinkling-eyed mensch manages to teach us all about living robustly and fully. Kudos to author and acclaimed sports columnist Mitch Albom for telling this universally touching story with such grace and humility.
The Coretta Scott King Award (American Library Association): This award was established in 1969 and designed to commemorate the life and work of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and to honor Mrs. Coretta Scott King for her courage and determination in continuing to work for peace and world brotherhood. The award is presented annually to an African American author and an African American illustrator for an outstanding inspirational and educational contribution published during the previous year. A separate award for illustrator was added in 1979.
Heaven by Angela Johnson. Simon & Schuster Books for young Readers, 1998. Fourteen-year-old Marley’s seemingly perfect life in the small town of Heaven is disrupted when she receives a shoe box of letters and discovers that the mother and father that have been raising her were not her real parents. Her Uncle Jack becomes a big mystery in her life. Her brother Butchy is a stranger not a sibling. Marley feels that she has been lied to by the only family she has known. Suddenly Marley doesn’t know who she is anymore and can only turn to the family she no longer trusts to find out who she really is.
Edgar Allan Poe Awards: the Edgars are presented by the Mystery Writers of America Organization. The awards are named after Mystery Writers of America's patron saint, Edgar Allan Poe, and are awarded to authors of distinguished work in various categories of the genre.
1981 Chiefs by Stuart Woods. 1981. Thorndike Press large print edition, 2001. Beginning in 1920, the experiences of three Georgia police chiefs, who watch the world, their town, and their jobs change. At the heart of this is a 40-year-old mystery each chief must try to crack. Over a 40-year span, seven adolescent boys disappear; the unsolved case of the first death--of a boy found naked and ritually beaten--is forgotten when the first police chief of rural Delano, Georgia, is shot while trying to make an arrest. Stuart Woods has written a low-that embraces three of the town's police chiefs, exploring the vices and virtues of small-town politics as well as pointing up the changing position of southern blacks from the 1920s to the mid-1960s. Involving characterizations, good timing, and a fine sense of the Old and New South's ways and values… from April 1981 Booklist Review. This story was made into a TV mini series some years ago and there are at least three book sequels to Chiefs listed in Novelist under the Lee Family Saga Series.
The Firecracker Alternative Awards were started in 1996 by a group of book industry professionals to celebrate and publicize the best in alternative publishing - or, in the words of the FAB founders, "books that shove a firecracker down the shorts of the mainstream." In 2000, awards were made for Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Sex, Drugs, Music, Art/Photo, Graphic Novel, Kids and for Special Recognition/Wildcard Categories.
The Harry Chapin Media Awards, formerly the World Hunger Media Awards, were created in 1982 to encourage the media to "tell the story of hunger and poverty." The Media Awards honor print and electronic media for their outstanding coverage that positively impacts hunger, poverty and self-reliance. The Media Awards also honor work that focuses on the causes of hunger and poverty and the forces creating self-reliance. This includes work on economic inequality and insecurity, unemployment, homelessness, domestic and international policies and their reform, community empowerment, sustainable development, food production, agriculture, nutrition and the struggle for land. The Awards cover five media categories: Newspaper; Magazines; Broadcast; Photojournalism; and Books.
2001 Fast Food Nation : the dark side of the all-American meal by Eric Schlosser. Houghton Mifflin, 2001. DON'T READ THIS BOOK if you want to continue to feel good about fast food restaurants. You will either hate this author and disbelieve him or really appreciate the information. From a Booknews review: "Journalist Schlosser argues that the fast food industry has triggered the growth of malls in America's landscape, widened the gap between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. He discusses facts about food production and preparation, the ingredients and taste-enhancers in the food, the chains' efforts to reel in young, susceptible consumers, and other unsettling facts. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)." Everyone frets about the nutritional implications of excessive dining at America's fast-food emporia, but few grasp the significance of how fast-food restaurants have fundamentally changed the way Americans eat. Schlosser documents the effects of fast food on America's economy, its youth culture, and allied industries, such as meatpacking, that serve this vast food production empire. Starting with a young woman who makes minimum wage working at a Colorado fast-food restaurant, Schlosser relates the oft-told story of Ray Kroc's founding of McDonald's. The author also tells about the development of the franchise method of business ownership and the health and nutrition implications of fast-food consumption. In a striking chapter, Schlosser gives a glimpse into the little-known world of chemically engineered flavorings, both natural and artificial. The coming together of so many diverse social, scientific, and economic trends in a single industry makes this book a relevant, compelling read and a cautionary tale of the many risks generated by this ubiquitous industry.
