Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing

The Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing is awarded each year to recognize outstanding work by a member of the NBCC. The award is given each year in honor of Nona Balakian, a founding member of the National Book Critics Circle, where she served as the board’s first secretary. The eminent critic and longtime editor at the New York Times Book Review also served on the Pulitzer Prize committee, the Board of Directors of PEN, and the Authors Guild board, was the author of Critical Encounters: Essays (1978), and co-author (with Charles Simmons) of The Creative Present (1969). A complete list of Balakian winners follows the list of committee members.

2012 Submission Guidelines

You must be a member of the NBCC to be considered. If you are not a member, you can join online anytime before December 31, 2012, in order to be eligible for the award. All submitted reviews must have been published in 2012.

2012 Submission Procedures

Submissions may be made by email. Emails must be timestamped no later than midnight Saturday, December 31, 2012. Submissions may also, as in the past, be submitted in hardcopy by mail.

What to submit via email:
–Send up to five book reviews (all published in 2012) of no more than 5,000 words collectively. The total word count for the submissions must not exceed 5,000, on pain of the entire submission being disqualified from consideration for the award.
–In your email, include a note listing the venue, title and word count of each piece submitted.
–Send links to your reviews as published online.
–Due to the capricious nature of the online world, links may expire. If you can, attach PDFs or screenshots of your book reviews as they appeared online or in print.
–Please make a print backup of your submission. In other words, make sure you have one print copy of each book review, preferably the published version. If there is a problem with your electronic online submission, you may be asked to submit a print version.

What to submit via mail:
Submissions must be postmarked no later than Saturday, December 31, 2012. Send up to five book reviews (all published in 2012) of no more than 5,000 words collectively, with a brief cover letter listing the title and word count of each piece submitted. The total word count for the submissions must not exceed 5,000, on pain of the entire submission being disqualified from consideration for the award.

For questions about the award and submission process, e-mail the Balakian Committee chair, Carolyn Kellogg. email: carolyn@bookcritics.org

Please submit all materials for the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing to every member of the Balakian committee:

Carolyn Kellogg
carolyn@bookcritics.org
730 1/2 East Edgeware Rd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026

David Biespiel
db@atticwritersworkshop.com
Director, Attic Institute
4232 SE Hawthorne Boulevard
Portland, OR 97215

Stephen Burt
burt@fas.harvard.edu
Harvard University
Dept of English
Barker Center
12 Quincy St
Cambridge MA 02138

Barbara Hoffert
bhoffert@mediasourceinc.com
Library Journal
160 Varick Street
New York, NY 10013

Steven G. Kellman
kellman1@gmail.com
Freelance Critic
302 Fawn Drive
San Antonio, TX
78231-1519

Laurie Muchnick
lmuchnick@bloomberg.net
Bloomberg News
731 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Benjamin Moser
bfmoser@gmail.com
Postbus 366
3500 AJ Utrecht,
Netherlands

Elizabeth Taylor
etaylornbcc@gmail.com
Chicago Tribune
435 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611

Marcela Valdes
valdes.marcela@gmail.com
Publishers Weekly
922 Jackson Street
Annapolis MD 21403

Eric Miles Williamson
guniter@earthlink.net
3913 Martin Avenue
McAllen, TX 78504

Past Recipients of the Citation for Excellence in Reviewing

2011

Kathryn Schulz (Critical Mass interview)

2010

Parul Sehgal (Critical Mass interview | acceptance speech)

2009

Joan Acocella

2008

Ron Charles

2007

Sam Anderson

2006

Steven G. Kellman

2005

Wyatt Mason

2004

David Orr

2003

Scott McLemee

2002

Maureen N. McLane

2001

Michael Gorra

2000

Daniel Mendelsohn

1999

Benjamin Schwarz

1998

Albert Mobilio

1997

Thomas Mallon

1996

Dennis Drabelle

1995

Laurie Stone

1994

JoAnn Gutin

1993

Brigitte Frase

1992

Elizabeth Ward

1991

George Scialabba

1988

William Logan

1987

Josh Rubins