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Opinion

And the Oscar Goes To… Should There be Oscars for the Book World?

Wallace Yovetich

Staff Writer

Wallace Yovetich grew up in a home where reading was preferred to TV, playing outside was actually fun, and she was thrilled when her older brothers weren’t home so she could have a turn on the Atari. Now-a-days she watches a bit more TV, and considers sitting on the porch swing (with her laptop) “playing outside”. She still thinks reading is preferable to most things, though she’d really like to find out where her mom put that old Atari (Frogger addicts die hard). She runs a series of Read-a-Longs throughout the year (as well as posting fun bookish tidbits throughout the week) on her blog, Unputdownables. After teaching for seven years, Wallace is now an aspiring writer. Blog: Unputdownables Twitter: @WallaceYovetich

In the literary world, a book has to have it all in order to win an award. With television and movies, they break the art form down and give awards to pieces of the work as well as the work as a whole. Why don’t we do that? Why are there not awards for characters, plot, author, genre of the year, etc.? Why must writers create an entire package of “perfection” to be awarded? What if we had an Oscars type of award for books? If you were part of the Academy, which would you nominate for 2011? Let’s pretend there are these awards, and you (the readers) are the Academy… make your nominations below:

For 2011:

Best Protagonist*

Best Antagonist*
Best Supporting Character in a Book*
Best Author of the Year*
Best Genre of the Year
Best Overall Book of the Year

*When nominating for the categories, make sure you include which books they come from. 
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Wallace Yovetich reviews an eclectic mix of literature spanning from graphic novels to classic literature on her book blog, Unputdownables. Follow her on Twitter: @BookishWallace