Quills Nominating Board Deadline Imminent

Independent booksellers in the Book Sense marketing program who wish to be a part of the inaugural Quill Awards Nominating Board must respond by e-mail to The Quill Foundation's Ann Binkley at [email protected] no later than Friday, April 15. The online invitation from Gerry Byrne, chair of The Quills Literacy Foundation, outlines the information that must be provided by each bookseller who wishes to participate.

In January, Reed Business Information and the NBC Universal Television Stations announced the launch of The Quill Awards to honor excellence in book publishing. The awards will be presented in October 2005 during a ceremony to be carried on the 14 NBC Universal television stations.

Nominating Board booksellers will vote on titles in 18 book categories over the course of three months -- May, June, and July -- with approximately six categories available for voting during each month. Voting will take place online at www.quillsliteracy.org.

From August 15 - September 15, consumers will vote electronically to select the final winners from the "short list" of nominated books, which will be drawn from the Book Sense Picks lists, starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, and other sources.

Bookstores subscribing to Publishers Weekly are automatically on the Quills Nominating Board; however, stores with Book Sense that are not already receiving PW will receive a complimentary subscription during the nominating period, and all nominators from these stores will be entered into a drawing to be held by The Quills for a prize chosen just for Book Sense stores.

For more information about the Quills, visit www.wnbc.com/quills/index.html. To read an earlier BTW story about the Quills, go to news.bookweb.org/read/3378.