Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainmen ... 334420.stm

Rowling and Dylan win book awards

JK Rowling was honoured for her latest Harry Potter instalment
JK Rowling has shared honours with singer Bob Dylan at a book awards ceremony in the US.


The author scooped book of the year and best children's book for her latest novel Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at the first Quill Book Awards.

Dylan won best biography or memoir for Chronicles: Volume One, his personal history as a musician.

Neither were in New York to collect the gongs. The public voted for them from a list compiled by 6,000 book experts.

With a red carpet entrance, comedy entertainment and television figures the ceremony is a less serious affair than the heavyweight National Book Awards and Pulitzer prize.

Author and actress Kim Cattrall and writer Candace Bushnell, both of the TV series Sex and the City, attended the prize giving.

The awards covered 19 categories including audio books, children's books and graphic novels.

what is a 'book expert'?

"book expert" - one that has the ability to spot a book from a distance of 100 feet without using magnification.

"Look!! There's a book over there in those trees."

"How can you tell? It's so far. It could be a brick."

"Nah.. it ain't no brick... that's a book! I'm a book expert from way back. I've looked at and observed books for years... some good ones and some that aren't so good."

"Damn... far out. Can you tell what book that is in the tree?"

"Easy! That's a first edition of 'The Complete Trees of North America' by Thomas S. Elias."

"How can you tell?"

"By the colors of the jacket and the thickness of the book... how else?"

"Wow... I reckon you are a 'book expert'. Cool."

AT a prior ceremony, out of a list of 6 billion people, 6thousand book experts were selected on the basis of:

height (taller than the average book ((average book size was selected in a prior ceremony from a survey of 6 million books)))

literacy (a test was administered to ensure an expert proficiency in the written tongue - including French, Zulu and English)

communicative skills (contestants were examined for their innate ability to express their opinions)

Hence, 6 thousand experts once selected were duly invited to contribute to the choosing of the Award at some US ceremony.

(relatives of the Award Agency were not eligible for prizes)