The Award
In 2025, I came up with a plan to begin my own literary award as a response to the dismaying and predictable fact that large literary prizes almost can’t help but be corrupt. Big prizes also draw a lot of attention to a very few books and it can feel as if these single, very good and, even, excellent novels and story collections get a kind of sheen that, then, draws more attention to them. This is wonderful for the few but not great for the many.
I wanted to start something that was simply a gift of noticing: a favourite book by any living author whom I did not personally know and which I had read that year. I called it “The Award” because the silly pomposity of it made me laugh.
“The Award” has no monetary value. It is an anti-award award or, maybe better, a grassroots award. At its heart, “The Award” is simply a nice letter and a hand-drawn trophy—something like a first prize ribbon at a county fair. At first, I considered delegating the prize “jurying” on occasion to someone else to iron out the issue of not being able to give “The Award” to a deserving author I happened to know (I know a lot of writers). But this seemed like a lot for me to take on alone.
Then, in year two (2026) of “The Award,” the winner’s publisher put a notice on their social media and another writer, Madeleine Moss, asked if she might send out her own “The Award.” I liked this idea and we met to talk about some possible best practices for others who might want to send out their own “The Award.” I love the possibility of other people giving out their own “The Award” annually to the book they most love. Things get both more serious and funnier as “The Award” becomes a multiplicity of ardour.
Let us love books more.
If you would like to send out your own “The Award” please have a look below at my Best Practices for “The Award” and remember this is both a cheeky and a deadly serious occupation.
FYI, I won’t be vigilant in promoting “The Award” on social media because, in fact, as many of you know, I am trying very hard not to engage there anymore. I will be sending out irregular newsletters, though, so if you want to have the scoop, signing up for that is the best way to keep in the know.
Recipients
2026
Maria Stepanova, translated by Sasha Dugdale
The Disappearing Act (2026)
Book*hug Press.
From “The Award” letter:
I read The Disappearing Act as an Advanced Reading Copy in order to endorse it. It was the easiest endorsement I have ever written. It was my favourite book in a year of intensive reading. The Disappearing Act is a tightrope of a novel. I love its odd sense of humour and the melancholia that mixes into that. If you will indulge me, I especially loved this one sentence from page 104 in the English translation: “The man beside them was young, with a little beard, the sort everyone has now, as if the clocks had gone back to the early twentieth century, before the advent of total catastrophe.” This sentence is a perfect sentence, Maria. It has everything in it: character, voice, perspective, propulsion, theme, plot. This sentence is a masterpiece.
2025
Susie Boyt
Loved and Missed (2023)
New York Review Books
From “The Award” letter:
In your case, I loved two books, namely Loved and Missed and The Small Hours, both of which are nestled in my heart for all time. Even so, I bestow “The Award” to Loved and Missed, only because, by my own criteria, I have to choose.
Best Practices
If you would like to send out your own “The Award” please have a look below at my Best Practices for “The Award” and remember this is both a cheeky and a deadly serious occupation.
- The Award” is given to your favourite book in a given year (you decide how to regulate your year-end) by a living author whom you do not personally know
- Your “The Award” never has money attached to it
- Your “The Award” is mailed by regular post to the author’s agent or publisher WITH NO EXPECTATION OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
- Your “The Award” is always handmade (see examples above but, really, do your own thing)
- Your “The Award” letter credits Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer for the concept of “The Award”
- You give your “The Award” annually (or try to)
- You are a writer or, if not a writer, a serious reader
- You use the template letter below to help you craft your own “The Award” letter
- You may or may not publicize your giving of “The Award”
Click on the template below if you want some guidance with your "The Award" letter.
Get in Touch
Kathryn is a dynamic public speaker, essayist, and workshop facilitator. Uniquely positioned by virtue of her lifelong writing practice, her scholarly work on creativity, and her twenty-year dedication to the teaching of fiction at various institutions (the University of Toronto, the University of Guelph, Colorado College, the New York Times Knowledge Network), Kathryn is also a passionate and results-oriented writing coach, mentor, and editor.
Reach out for her availability and rates.