Book awards grow like weeds, but that is not a bad thing. Acclaim (or at least recognition) is a way to find out about the notable, the rare, the special in the vast flood of books. Over the years we have discovered that some awards are more trustworthy or more relevant to our customers than others. The award winners and sometimes the nominees are featured here. A quick explanation:

• the Caldecott Medal is intended for the best illustrated children’s book,

• the Newbery Medal is intended for the best young adult book (flexible in definition),

• the National Book Award is given by the National Book Foundation,

• the National Book Critics’ Circle Award by a professional association of American book review editors and critics (originally the Algonquin Round Table),

• the Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America,

• the Hugo Award by the yearly World Science Fiction Convention (professional affiliation not required),

• the Nebula by the Science Fiction Writers of America,

• the Spur Award by the Western Writers of America,

• the Booker Prize by a changing committee of eminent UK writers and critics,

• and the Pulitzer Prize by Columbia University as endowed by newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer.

As a reminder, the Nobel Prize for Literature is for a lifetime body of work, not for a single work in a particular year, as are all the others featured here.