Books One Book Award Down
posted by on February 25 at 11:50 AM
The Quill Awards, the self-described “only book awards to pair a populist sensibility with Hollywood-style glitz,” are suspended and will probably never return again. The Quills were an attempt by Publishers Weekly and other media companies to try to have a televised sort-of Oscars for books. The nominees were decided by a large number industry employees, librarians, and booksellers (full disclosure: I voted in the 2005 Quills. It was an embarrassing experience, and none of the books I chose even made it to the nomination stage), and the winners were chosen by the public on the Quill Awards homepage.
Past winners of The Quills’ three historic years of operation include some Harry Potter book or another, The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore, He’s Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, and, the 2006 Book of the Year winner, Don’t Make a Black Woman Take off Her Earrings: Madea’s Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life, by Tyler Perry. Nobody will ever miss The Quill Awards—except maybe Marley and Me author John Grogan, who will never, God willing, win another award ever again—and they’ll be forgotten the minute you stop reading this post.
Why do people think curlicue fonts mean "classy"? Why do books have to be associated with curlicue rubbish? Talk about poshlust. It's just tragic, that picture.
@1, so we can assume you were not nominated for anything right?
I'm pretty sure my lack of nominations is attributable to the fact I've never written a book.
Good riddance! And I say that as a publisher who has been nominated...
If it weren't for this post, I would have never known they existed at all.
@3: Bah! If you were truly talented, that wouldn't matter!
I agree with Fnarf. Any organization that would utilize those fonts and that shitty design for a press release, deserves to die...esp a so-called literary and publishing organization that should know better.
Wasn't Chip Kidd available?
"Past winners of The Quills’ ... He’s Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt"
Oh sweet Jesus.
They would have made it if they had Oprah
What a dumb idea. Movies are a visual media and thus are worth a performed awards show. Books are written and not exactly visually glamorous. It's like having a televised awards show for paintings or pottery. It just doesn't make sense and there's no market or demand for it.
Just stupid wankery.
This was always a dumb award. I, too, voted the first year and swore never to be associated with the thing again. It was embarassing. While all book awards are marketing ploys this one was blatantly, obnoxiously geared to a book as product mentality. And the winners were just mortifying. Airport books. Blech. Good riddance... The font is the least of the problems with the Quills (my god, the name...).
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