2024 PrizeCAT Planning Thread

January: Long-Running Prizes - pamelad
February: A Prize from Your Own Country - NinieB
March: A Prize That's New to You - pamelad
April: Women's Writing Ish63
May: Doubling Up - books that won two or more awards - Robertgreaves
June: Book Lists - Tess_W
July: A Prize from a Country Other than Your Own - JayneCM
August: A Prize for a Genre - susanna.fraser
September: A prize winner/longlist/shortlist that also fits another CAT/KIT- NinieB
October: One That Missed Out - a book on a shortlist/longlist that didn't win - JayneCM
November: Children's Book Awards - Tess_W
December: A Prize of Your Choice - antqueen

The Wiki

"You wouldn't need monthly hosts, just general discussion threads."

I would definitely hope for something more structured than that. I liked the old structure, where each month was devoted to specific awards. That would do more to push me outside my usual boxes, which is what I like most about these challenges.

>2 KeithChaffee: Ideally a CAT will introduce you to some interesting books you might not have considered reading. We all have different interests, so the more choices we have the more likely we are to find something that we'll enjoy. If we did end up choosing a flexible structure, you could construct your own more restrictive challenge within it.

Hi, Pam. Thanks for organizing this. I like your suggestion of the 12 topics in any order......

I am open to any interpretation/structure that the majority would like. Happy to host a month if you end up doing it that way.

I prefer a topics approach, with a preference as well for a different topic each month. That said I could live with the any-order approach.

I prefer a structured approach with awards to choose from.

Broader might be something like: read a book in translation that won an award.

I was hesitant to do this CAT (not always big on award-winners), but thought I might jump in anyway. I do like the idea of general topics (rather than specific awards).

However if it's a route when anyone reads any of the topics any month, I'm not sure. Like >2 KeithChaffee: I do prefer more structured.

I assume that threads would be set up for each topic at the start of the year, and we would plunk our reads into the appropriate topic? I suppose I could just pick one each month for myself and do it that way. I'll see how things go.

So far, it's looking as though people are leaning towards monthly topics. I hope everyone will be able to accommodate general topics, because it would be good to branch out and to leave room for interesting discoveries. We could certainly suggest awards for each category.

My personal preference is for not being constrained to read, for example, any Nebula Award winners or children's books, or too many North American prize-winners, but to provide the option for other people to read them.

ETA You could add wards announced that month as a second string to each topic.

Looking back at the 2013/2017 AwardsCATs, it looks as if each month's host chose two very different awards for their month. Might that be a good general guideline? If one of your choices is very genre-specific, maybe make a point to choose something a bit broader to go with it.

>11 KeithChaffee: I want to avoid tying us down and don't want to repeat the same format. A lot of those awards hold no interest for me at all. If we chose broader topics the host can suggest awards that fit. We're on opposite ends of the structured to flexible spectrum!

>10 pamelad: I like the monthly topics but agree that it is much easier if they are not a specific award but a more general topic.
If you want to start adding hosts, I can do any month from July onwards - topic would be 'read a prize winner from a country other than your own'.

I'd like to do A Prize That's New to You in January, if everyone is OK with that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_literary_awards

Thanks Jayne. I'll put the topics and hosts in >1 pamelad:.

>14 pamelad: Good one to start the new year!

>13 JayneCM: I was also thinking maybe I should take out the word 'winner' so we can cover reading from the longlist/shortlist as well. Opens up more options.

I've moved these suggestions from >1 pamelad: so I can use that for months and hosts. Please feel free to suggest your own topic.

AwardCATs ran in 2013 and 2017. In both years readers had two or more awards to choose from per month, and where possible the awards were linked to the dates the awards were announced.

I'd like to suggest a less restrictive structure, with general topics that allow more choice. Some suggestions follow.

A prize awarded in your country.
A prize from a country other than your own.
An international prize (one that covers authors/books from many countries).
A prize winner from your tbr pile or wishlist, or a book bullet.
A prize that's new to you.
A prize specifically for women's writing.
A prize for a genre (because there are so many genres and so many prizes we could have this one twice).
From a book list e.g. Guardian 1000, 1001 Books, and many others
A long-running prize (needn't be still going) e.g, James Tait Black Memorial Prize
It's an Honor Just to Be Nominated, where readers can choose books that didn't win but made the shortlist or finalists for a prize of their choice >30 susanna.fraser:
Read a book in translation that won an award >8 majkia:

>16 JayneCM: Done, I've put you in July for now. Thank you, Jayne.

We're on our way!

I'd like to take June, and do LGBT+ book awards.

>19 KeithChaffee: Thanks Keith.

>19 KeithChaffee: Could we expand that to include prize-winning books by LGBT+ writers? i.e. they won other prizes e.g. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson won the Whitbread Award.

I'd prefer to stick with specifically LGBT+ awards. There are several of them, and they cover a wide range of genres -- fiction, non/fiction, drama, children's and YA, poetry... There will be plenty of range for people to choose from.

>8 majkia: That would be nice and broad. Lots of possibilities: International Booker, Nobel Prize....

>22 KeithChaffee: Let's leave it up to individuals to interpret the topic.

Like you said, pamela, you and I are at opposite ends of the structured/freeform spectrum. I thought I was offering something that offered enough possibilities to keep the freeformers happy, but had enough definition to keep the structured folks happy. Apparently that wasn't the case, so I think I'll bow out of this particular CAT. Neither of us needs the drama, and there's plenty of LT where we can both be happy.

>25 KeithChaffee: Most of the LGBT+ awards are in the US, so people like the Australian Christos Tsiolkas wouldn't qualify. No drama!

ETA It's the norm to leave it up to individuals to interpret a topic. Happens all the time!

How about a prizewinning book that fits multiple CATs and/or challenges. Could include longlisted books.

Ok, with how this is going, I am going to do my best to participate in most months. I'm hoping I'll be able to do every month!

Since my fiction reading is almost all of the genre rather than the literary variety, I'll take A Prize for a Genre for August.

Also, another suggestion for a topic: Runners-Up, or It's an Honor Just to Be Nominated, where readers can choose books that didn't win but made the shortlist or finalists for a prize of their choice.

I will take November please for Children's Book Awards (Caldecott, Newberry, Hans Christian Anderson, Coretta Scott King, Hugo Book Awards, etc.)

I'll take February with a prize from your own country.

>29 susanna.fraser:, >31 Tess_W:, >32 NinieB: Thank you! Added you to >1 pamelad:

>30 susanna.fraser: Great title. Adding it to >17 pamelad:.

How about A Prize of Your Choice for December? Any takers?

I don't mind taking a second month: A prize winner/longlist/shortlist that also fits another CAT/KIT in September.

I was going to cut down on hosting next year, but I will take Doubling Up - books that won two or more awards for May

>35 NinieB:, >36 Robertgreaves: Thank you Ninie and Robert.

>34 pamelad: I'll take the easily-prepared-for suggestion of A Prize of Your Choice in December :) Not bad to end the year with a catch-up category.

>38 antqueen: Thank you!

March, April, June and October remain.

There are plenty of prizes listed on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_literary_awards, The list starts with International Awards, which could be a good topic. There are also awards by region and country, by genre and awards for translation. If anyone were interested in a topic on prizes for women's writing, there's a useful list here: https://www.womenandbooks.org/literary-awards--prizes.html

More suggestions in >17 pamelad:. Or suggest your own topic.

Monthly hosts are in >1 pamelad:.

I can do women’s writing in April.

>41 lsh63: Thank you!

I'll do a second month, March, which will leave June and October.

What about Book lists? e.g. Guardian 1000, 1001 Books, H.R.F. Keating's 100 Best Crime and Mystery Books.

>42 pamelad: I can do June for Book lists

>43 Tess_W: Thanks Tess.

One month to fill - October.

What about A Prize-Winning Book in Translation?
A Prize-Winning Book that is a Book Bullet, on your Wish List, or a Book You Own?

Should have been a contender - a book that you think deserves a prize?

>46 pamelad: or How on Earth did THAT win a prize - but then we wouldn't want to inflict those books on each other, would we?

I'm happy to do October. I was thinking One That Missed Out - a book on a shortlist/longlist that didn't win.

Thanks Jayne.

>47 Robertgreaves: Two Nobel Prizes I'd remove: Bob Dylan's and Sinclair Lewis's. And perhaps Knut Hamsen for his politics.

Done! Thank you very much to all of you who volunteered to host. And special thanks to NinieB, Tess_W and JayneCM who are doing two months.

The Wiki

It's also in >1 pamelad:.

Thank you, Pam, for organizing this. RL has been challenging for the last few weeks and for the first time I haven't volunteered for anything. It's starting to settle down now and I'm looking forward to the new year's challenges - reading challenges, that is!

>50 pamelad: You're welcome! And thank you for organising, I am looking forward to this one.
I have been slowly reading my way through certain prizes and have made a Canva image for all the years from 1929 (where I have only the Newbery Medal, the Pulitzer and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize) to current (where I am trying to read winners from 18 prizes).
Yes, I am a nerd who likes to make lists! Ticking off lists is my favourite!

>52 VivienneR: I hope 2024 is a better year for you, Vivienne. See you in the PrizeCAT!

>53 JayneCM: You've given yourself quite a task there, Jayne: 18 current prizes plus catching up on the older ones. Let me make it harder! Two more oldies for you. The Hawthornden Prize, which started in 1919 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthornden_Prize) and a nice obscure one, the Prix Femina Vie Heureuse, which ran from 1920 to 1940 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prix_Femina bottom of the page) and is for books translated from English into French. I found it when I read Dangerous Ages by Rose Macaulay.

There's an LT List: https://www.librarything.com/bookaward/Prix+Femina+Vie+Heureuse+Anglais When I first mentioned this prize in a review, I received an enthusiastic thank-you from an LT member who was adding prizes to Common Knowledge.

>54 pamelad: Ooh, off to check them out! I have so many other prizes I would love to add to my list but I think I need to limit myself!

>50 pamelad: You're welcome, and thanks to you for also covering two months!

Thanks to everyone! RL is a bit of a mess right now and I haven't been in the right place to focus on next year's challenge, but I am looking forward to it.

I've swapped January and March so we're starting with long-running prizes, which will be easier.

The January PrizeCAT thread is up. https://www.librarything.com/topic/355859

February PrizeCAT--A Prize from Your Own Country has now been posted.

March PrizeCAT is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/358442

April PrizeCAT: https://www.librarything.com/topic/359238

The May thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/360096

June PrizeCAT: https://www.librarything.com/topic/360832