Crossword Book Award

Crossword Book Award
Sponsor Crossword Bookstores
Raymond Group
Country India
Host Crossword Bookstores
Reward 300,000
First awarded 1998
Official website http://www.crossword.in/crossword_book_award_html

The Crossword Book Award (in full: Crossword Book Award (1998–2003), Hutch Crossword Book Award (2004–07), Vodafone Crossword Book Award (2008–10), Economist Crossword Book Award (2011–13), Raymond & Crossword Book Award (2014–present))[1] is an Indian book award hosted by Crossword Bookstores and their sponsors.[2] The Award was instituted in 1998 by Indian book retailer Crossword with the intention of competing with The Booker Prize, Commonwealth Writers' Prize or The Pulitzer Prize.

While several Indian writers have won awards abroad, we had observed that there was no equivalent award in India. We therefore decided to take on the role of encouraging and promoting good Indian writing and instituted the Book Awards, in 1998. It is the only Indian award that not only recognizes and rewards good writing but also actively promotes the authors and their books.[3]

Nominations are on the basis of sales as tracked by Crossword, and the eventual winners are chosen based on a public poll that's partly online and partly real world (voting at Crossword outlets).[4] The awards consist of a cash prize of 300,000 (₹three lakhs), or about US$5,000, awarded in each of four categories.[2]

The award was initially for a single work of fiction by an Indian citizen. In 2000, an additional prize was offered for an Indian writing in any Indian language translated into English. There was no award between 2001–03. Starting in 2004 the award was sponsored by Hutch Essar an Indian telecommunications company and called the Hutch Crossword Book Award. Starting in 2006 additional categories of a nonfiction prize and a popular award, voted on by the public, were added. Starting in 2008, Hutch Essar was purchased by English telecommunications company Vodafone Group and the award was called Vodafone Crossword Book Award. Beginning in 2011 through 2013, it was sponsored by The Economist in association with Principal Mutual Funds and Standard Chartered, and renamed the Economist Crossword Book Award.[2] Beginning in 2014, it was sponsored by Raymond Group.[5]

Winners

Previous winners.[2]

1998

1999

2000

2004

2005

Awarded in 2006 for books published in 2005. Last year known as the Hutch Crossword Book Award. Inaugural year of Non Fiction and Popular Award categories.

2006

Awarded in 2007 for books published in 2006. Name change to Vodafone Crossword Book Award.

2007

Awarded in 2008 for books published in 2007.

2008

Awarded in 2009 for books published in 2008.[6]

2009

Awarded in 2010 for books published in 2009.[7] Inaugural year of Children's category.

2010

Awarded in 2011 for books published in 2010. The longlist was announced in May,[8] the shortlist in July[9] and the winners on September 2, 2011.[10]

2011

Awarded in 2012 for books published in 2011. The longlist was announced June,[11] the shortlist was announced in September 2012.[12] The winner was announced October 18, 2012.[13][14]

2012

Award renumbered to reflect the year of the award ceremony, previously it was the year the books were published.

2013

Awarded in 2013 for books published between January 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013.[16] The longlist was announced in June.[17] The shortlist was announced in November.[18] The winner was announced December 6, 2013 at the Times Literary Carnival.[19]

2014

The 2014 shortlists were announced in April 2015.[5] The winners were announced April 29, 2015.[20]

Notes

  1. Vodafone Crossword Book Award at Encyclopedia Britannica.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "The Economist Crossword Book Award". Crossword. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
  3. Vodafone Crossword Book Award at the Wayback Machine (archived November 26, 2010)
  4. Peter Griffin (September 12, 2012). "Of book prizes and short-lists". Forbes India. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Raymond Crossword Book Award 2014– Shortlist Announced". India Infoline News Service. April 4, 2015. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  6. "Amitav Ghosh, Neel Mukherjee win Vodafone-Crossword award", Thaindian News, July 23, 2009
  7. "Mumbaikar brings home fiction award", The Times of India, August 21, 2010
  8. Longlist for Vodafone Crossword Book Award, The Asia Writes Project, May 8, 2011
  9. "Shortlist 2011". Crossword.in. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  10. "Vodafone Crossword book awards 2010 announced", IBN Live, Sep 3
  11. "The Economist Crossword Award's longlist". CNN-IBN. June 12, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  12. "The Economist Crossword Book Award 2011 shortlist announced". CNN-IBN. September 21, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  13. "The Hindu’s Aman Sethi bags award for A Free Man". The Hindu (Chennai, India). October 19, 2012. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
  14. 1 2 Shruti Dhapola (October 19, 2012). "Anuradha Roy, Aman Sethi win at Economist-Crossword awards". Retrieved October 19, 2012.
  15. Pramod K. Nayar (April 3, 2011). "Cultures in Transformation". The Hindu (Chennai, India). Retrieved April 3, 2011.
  16. "The Crossword Book Award Enters its 12th Year" (Press release). Crossword. May 8, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
  17. "Crossword Book Awards: All the eligible titles". IBN Live. June 26, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
  18. "Crossword Book Award 2013 – Shortlist Announced". IBN Live. November 20, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
  19. "'Popular choice' ruled at book awards". Times of India. December 7, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
  20. Zafar Anjum (April 29, 2015). "India: Raymond Crossword Book Award 2014 winners announced". kitaab.org. Retrieved April 29, 2015.

External links

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