Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing

by admin | Dec-23-2010

The National Book Critics Circle invites its members to make submissions for the 2010 Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. 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- wrote The Creative Present (1969) with Charles Simmons. She died in 1991.Previous winners of the citation include Joan Acocella, Daniel Mendelsohn, Thomas Mallon, Maureen McLane, Steven G. Kellman, Laurie Stone, Scott McLemee, Albert Mobilio, JoAnn Gutin, David Orr, Elizabeth Ward, George Scialabba, and Ron Charles.


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, 2011, in order to be eligible for the award. All submitted reviews must have been published in 2011.


Submission Procedures

Submissions must be postmarked no later than Thursday, December 31, 2011. Send up to five book reviews (all published in 2011) 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. Please check back soon for more information on the 2011 submission process.

The National Book Critics Circle invites its members to make submissions for the 2011 Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. 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- wrote The Creative Present (1969) with Charles Simmons. Previous winners of the citation include Parul Sehgal (2010), Joan Acocella, Ron Charles, JoAnn Gutin, Steven G. Kellman, Thomas Mallon, Maureen McLane, Scott McLemee, Daniel Mendelsohn, Albert Mobilio, David Orr, George Scialabba, Laurie Stone, and  Elizabeth Ward.

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, 2011, in order to be eligible for the award. All submitted reviews must have been published in 2011.

Submission Procedures
In 2011, submissions may be made by email. Emails must be timestamped no later than midnight Saturday, December 31, 2011. 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 2011) 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, 2011. Send up to five book reviews (all published in 2011) 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.

Where to send your submission:
All materials should be sent to the Balakian Committee chair, Carolyn Kellogg. email: carolyn@bookcritics.org

Print submissions should be sent to every member of the committee:

Carolyn Kellogg
730 1/2 East Edgeware Rd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026

David Biespiel
Director, Attic Institute
4232 SE Hawthorne Boulevard
Portland, Oregon 97215

Stephen Burt
Harvard University
Dept of English
Barker Center
12 Quincy St
Cambridge MA 02138

Barbara Hoffert
Library Journal
Library Journal
160 Varick Street
New York, NY 10013

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

Laurie Muchnick
Bloomberg News
731 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Benjamin Moser
Postbus 366
3500 AJ Utrecht,
Netherlands

Carlin Romano
Critic-at-Large
The Chronicle of Higher Education
ASC/University of Pennsylvania
3620 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, Pa. 19104

Elizabeth Taylor
Chicago Tribune (bio »)
435 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611

Marcela Valdes
Publishers Weekly
922 Jackson Street
Annapolis MD 21403

Eric Miles Williamson
3913 Martin Avenue
McAllen, TX 78504