The National Book Awards are among the most eminent literary prizes in the United States. Started in 1950, the awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the prior year, as well as lifetime achievement awards including the "Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters" and the "Literarian Award". The purpose of the awards is "to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America." In 1988 the National Book Foundation was established which now oversees and manages the National Book Awards.
Awards are given in each of four categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's literature. Awards have been given in various other categories, which have since been retired or subsumed into the remaining categories.

The winners are selected in each category by an independent, expert and volunteer five-member judging panel. Panels typically consider hundreds of books in each category. A chair from each panel announces the runners-up and winner during the "The National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner" held each year in November. The winners each receive a $10,000 cash prize and a bronze sculpture; finalists each receive $1,000, a medal, and a citation from the panel jury.

Winners of the National Book Awards

• List of winners of the National Book Award

Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters

The "Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters" (DCAL) is a lifetime achievement award. The medal comes with $10,000. The recipient is a person who "has enriched American literary heritage over a life of service, or a corpus of work."

• 1991: Eudora Welty

• 1992: James Laughlin

• 1993: Clifton Fadiman

• 1994: Gwendolyn Brooks

• 1995: David McCullough

• 1996: Toni Morrison

• 1997: Studs Terkel

• 1998: John Updike

• 1999: Oprah Winfrey

• 2000: Ray Bradbury

• 2001: Arthur Miller

• 2002: Philip Roth

• 2003: Stephen King

• 2004: Judy Blume

• 2005: Norman Mailer

• 2006: Adrienne Rich

• 2007: Joan Didion

• 2008: Maxine Hong Kingston

• 2009: Gore Vidal

Literarian Award

The "Literarian Award" is a lifetime achievement award. It is "presented to an individual for outstanding service to the American literary community, whose life and work exemplify the goals of the National Book Foundation to expand the audience for literature and to enhance the cultural value of literature in America."

• 2005: Lawrence Ferlinghetti

• 2006: Robert B. Silvers and Barbara Epstein

• 2007: Terry Gross

• 2008: Barney Rosset

• 2009: Dave Eggers

See also

• The Man Booker Prize

• The Commonwealth Writers Prize

• The Prix Goncourt

• The Costa Book Awards, formerly the Whitbread Book Awards

• The Governor General's Award

• Literary festival