[DrNefario]

Because I was interested, I investigated the Best Novel nominations for the years the Hunger Games books were eligible. It actually makes a worse showing than I expected.

The Hunger Games itself turns up right at the bottom of the ballot in 2009, with 5 nominations (I'm pretty sure they're only listing books with at least 5 nominations. The results weren't numbered, but I reckon that was about joint 50th). The last of the five shortlisted books got 54.

The extended reports for 2010 and 2011 don't go as deep, and the two sequels don't appear at all. I guess the whole trilogy would have been eligible in 2011, but that didn't trouble the ballots either.

My own feeling is that the first book is the best one, and I wasn't really aware of the series until it was complete. I might not have known about it in time to nominate it even if I had been involved then, and I doubt I'd have wanted to nominate books 2 and 3.

The first book does seem to have missed its opportunity. The second and third were both nominated for the Locus YA award, but the first wasn't. Maybe it was a slow grower?

Edit: Sorry, that's bad information. The Locus awards don't have a classic shortlist like that. The Hunger Games was 9th in the YA poll in 2009. The top three were Graveyard Book, Little Brother and Zoe's Tale, which also made the Hugo shortlist.