National Book Award

[ nash-uh-nl bookuh-wawrd, nash-nuhl ]

/ ˈnæʃ ə nl ˈbʊk əˌwɔrd, ˈnæʃ nəl /

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noun

any of several awards given annually to an author whose book is judged the best in its category: presented 1936–42, reestablished 1950, and since 1998 administered by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization. Abbreviation: NBA, N.B.A.

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Compare American Book Award.

Words nearby National Book Award

National Anthem of the United States, National Assembly, national assistance, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, national bank, National Book Award, National Bureau of Standards, national cemetery, national church, National City, national code

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

MORE ABOUT NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS

What are the National Book Awards?

The National Book Awards are U.S.-based literary awards presented annually in several categories, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people’s literature.

The awards are presented by the National Book Foundation. Judging panels for each category consist of writers in that category, including previous winners.

The name of the award is often abbreviated as NBA.

When are the National Book Awards?

The 2021 National Book Award winners will be announced on November 17.

Nominations for the National Book Award are usually announced at the beginning of October, and the awards are usually presented in November.

More information and context on National Book Awards

An award known as the National Book Award was first established in 1936 by the American Booksellers Association, which presented it until 1942. The award was reestablished in 1950 by multiple industry organizations. The awards continued to expand and add categories over the years and were renamed the American Book Awards. Eventually, the National Book Award name was reestablished and the categories were limited to fiction and nonfiction, with administration of the awards coming under the National Book Foundation.

The poetry category was reinstated in 1991. The youth literature category was created in 1996, and the translated literature category was established in 2018.

Notable early winners of the award include Saul Bellow, Truman Capote, Rachel Carson, Ralph Ellison, William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov, Flannery O’Connor, and J. D. Salinger.

What are some terms that often get used in discussing the National Book Awards?

How is National Book Awards discussed in real life?

The National Book Award is considered one of the most prestigious literature awards given in the U.S.

John Lewis' book "March" just won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. #NBAwards

— deray (@deray) November 17, 2016

Pinches self

100's of agent rejections over 3 books of querying,over 50 editor rejections over 2 books, then @FeiwelFriends believed in ME (MOTH), a book about hurt & hoodoo & love & storytelling, which is now a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.

— Me (Amber McBride)⁷ (@ambsmcbride) October 27, 2021

one time when I was 19 I named a character Ambrosius Goldenloin as a joke and then the book got nominated for a National Book Award

— ND Stevenson (@Gingerhazing) January 15, 2017

Try using National Book Awards!

True or False?

The National Book Award is presented in multiple categories.

How to use National Book Award in a sentence

This book-in-verse, a National Book Award finalist, is part road-trip love story, part history lesson and part land acknowledgment.
The 10 Best YA and Children's Books of 2021|Shay Maunz|December 9, 2021|Time
Limón also wrote “Bright Dead Things,” a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award.
Recalling a pandemic year with poetry and machine learning art|Seth Blanchard, Shikha Subramaniam, Leo Dominguez|April 22, 2021|Washington Post
Perhaps the gravity of that debate explains why March’s novel was nominated for the 1955 National Book Award.
Why is ‘The Push’ so popular? Perhaps because it plays into a mother’s worst fears.|Maureen Corrigan|January 21, 2021|Washington Post
Nominated for a National Book Award in 1970, her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings continues to move readers around the world today.
Dr. Maya Angelou Honored With A Barbie Doll|Brande Victorian|January 15, 2021|Essence.com

Yet this, in the end, is a book from which one emerges sad, gloomy, disenchanted, at least if we agree to take it seriously.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Submission is less a novel of ideas than a political book, and of the most subversive kind.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Her latest book, Heretic: The Case for a Muslim Reformation, will be published in April by HarperCollins.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Our Duty Is to Keep Charlie Hebdo Alive|Ayaan Hirsi Ali|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The scheme has been condemned by civil liberties groups and queried by the National Association of Head Teachers.
Britain May Spy on Preschoolers Searching for Potential Jihadis|Nico Hines|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
At some point during his busy schedule, Israel found the time to write a book, titled The Global War on Morris.
Powerful Congressman Writes About ‘Fleshy Breasts’|Asawin Suebsaeng|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The supernaturalist alleges that religion was revealed to man by God, and that the form of this revelation is a sacred book.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
But Mrs. Dodd, the present vicar's wife, retained the precious prerogative of choosing the book to be read at the monthly Dorcas.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
A small book, bound in full purple calf, lay half hidden in a nest of fine tissue paper on the dressing-table.
Hilda Lessways|Arnold Bennett
She did not need a great cook-book; She knew how much and what it took To make things good and sweet and light.
Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I (of 17)|Various
Again the sallow fingers began to play with the book-covers, passing from one to another, but always slowly and gently.
Bella Donna|Robert Hichens