Costa and now Blue Peter

[Quoth]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...er-book-awards

Are Book awards/prizes etc important any more or is there limited impact on literacy and 99.9999% of authors?

See also controversy about Hugo award in recent years.

Also is BBC & Guardian book publicity too agenda driven?

Costa used to be Whitbread, the tied house brewing chain who founded Costa coffee chain and sold it to Coca-Cola. No surprise Coca-Cola dropped it.

I was surprised the Blue Peter award is only 22 years old. Blue Peter is 64 years old, though not much like I remember it.

Literary agent Molly Ker Hawn said the loss of the Costa and Blue Peter awards were the latest in a line of closures of “awards that give children’s books this kind of commercial exposure”, citing the end of the Guardian children’s fiction prize and the Nestlé Smarties prize. All these awards, she said, “brought children’s books to the attention of consumers in a way that I’m not sure the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals do”.

But really do any of those six "picks" make any difference to Children, parents or the vast bulk of authors?


Every bookshop gives Children's books plenty of exposure. So do libraries which here are used more by children than adults. I think for under 8 to 10 the printed books are more important than ebooks.

[ZodWallop]

I didn't understand most of your post, to be honest. It felt like I was coming in to the middle of a conversation.

In the U.S. at least, the big children's fiction awards I'm aware of are Newbery and Caldecott awards. Those I think are important. Though marketing and, sadly, media tie-ins likely matter as much or more as far as sales go.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I didn't understand most of your post, to be honest. It felt like I was coming in to the middle of a conversation.

It's UK (and about 90% of people in Ireland watch UK BBC TV). The Costa chain is also in Ireland. The main book wholesale in Ireland is UK centric. There are Irish Publishers (both of English and Irish Language books).

Sigh. Every supermarket and toyshop has Disney titles.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Quoth

It's UK (and about 90% of people in Ireland watch UK BBC TV). The Costa chain is also in Ireland. The main book wholesale in Ireland is UK centric. There are Irish Publishers (both of English and Irish Language books).

Sigh. Every supermarket and toyshop has Disney titles.

<sarcasm>Well...that certainly cleared it up!</sarcasm>

Shari