Promotional Tools BAK

The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence were established in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. during the previous year, and are ALA's first single-book awards for adult trade fiction and nonfiction.

The strong library connection is what distinguishes the Andrew Carnegie Medals from other book awards. The finalists and eventual winners reflect the expert judgment and insight of the seven member selection committee of library professionals and independent booksellers who work closely with adult readers.

Help promote the awards

The 2016 medal winners will be announced on Sunday, January 10, by selection committee chair Nancy Pearl at the Reference and User Services Association’s Book and Media Awards event at ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Boston. Winning authors each receive $5,000, and the four finalists each receive $1,500.

Follow @ALAlibrary for live tweets of the announcements and use the hashtag #ala_carnegie to join the conversation on social media.

Use your social media channels, websites, newsletters, and other communications to share the news of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. Link to ala.org/carnegieadult where people can find useful background on the awards as well as the latest information.

Promote the Shortlist

#SeasonsReadings Book Giveaway

Each week, from Monday, November 30 to December 18, we’ll be running a #SeasonsReadings Book Giveaway.

Each week a different fiction and nonfiction title will be featured.

Two randomly chosen winners will receive two copies, one for themselves and one to give as a gift.

To enter the contest, readers will be asked to post who they would gift the second copy of the book to and why.

Example: My Mom, a lover of WWII history. #SeasonsReadings #ala_carnegie

To be eligible for the drawing players must post to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram before the weekly deadline and include both #SeasonsReadings #ala_carnegie.

Week One: November 29-December 4

Week Two: December 6-11

Week Three: December 13-18

Making the most of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in your library, bookstore, and reading group.

The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction offer great programming opportunities, help you highlight outstanding titles, and can encourage your patrons to read books recognized for their excellence by a selection committee of library professionals.

There’s huge general national interest in these awards—ALA and Carnegie Corporation’s initial announcement in March 2012 was picked up by more than 100,000 news, general media, and social media outlets, and the awards garnered over 451,000 web mentions in 2014.

The two winners are picked by library professionals who work with adult readers from a shortlist of six titles, in turn picked from the previous year’s Booklist Editors’ Choice and RUSA’s Collection Development and Evaluation Section’s Notable Books List. These lists in themselves offer a wealth of further reading suggestions to keep you busy!

Award Seals

Call attention to the shortlist and finalist titles with award seals for the covers of winning and finalist books. Seals are available at the ALA Store.
For questions regarding other uses of the images of the seals or medals in displays, please contact permissions@ala.org or Mary Jo Bolduc, 312-280-5416.

Create displays in your library or bookstore

Use the free bookmark, postcard and display handout in the “Resources” tab where you found this overview to enhance your displays. You can also use the annotations for each title as listed below and quotes from the Booklist reviews.

Want to enhance your summer reading program? Our experts have compiled a list of read alikes for the 2015 shortlist for readers to enjoy! Not enough time to read? Don’t forget the audiobook editions!

The 2015 shortlist read alikes were selected by the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) Notable Books Council, which is comprised of expert readers’ advisors and librarians that work closely with adult readers.

Promotional tools from previous years

Library display poster: print this 11" x 17" poster to show off the 2015 winning and finalist titles at your library!

Library display postcard: print out the 2015 shortlist postcard for expert recommended reading for your patrons!

Library display handout: showcase the 2015 shortlist with this 8.5"x11" display sign!

Andrew Carnegie Medals Finalists Bookmark: Download the two-sided bookmark, which showcases the most current finalists and explains the award, to share with your staff, patrons, and bibliophiles! (Prints two-sided in color at 8.5" x 11", 3 bookmarks per page.)

Resource Guide: Making the most of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction in your library, bookstore, and reading group.

Discussion Guides: Need a new title for your book group?
Stay tuned! RUSA's Notable Books Council will be creating the 2016 discussion guides after the announcements in January!

2015 Winner Discussion Guides:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

2014 Winner Discussion Guides: Print them out here for your next book club meeting!
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The American Library Association offers resources on how to form a book group, how to structure a meeting, how to select books and how to facilitate a meaningful literary discussion. For more information visit ala.org/tools/atoz/book-discussion-grps.

Read alikes:
2015 shortlist read alikes
2014 shortlist read alikes

Andrew Carnegie Medals, author videos: Watch finalists and winners comment on their shortlist nominations, speak on the importance of libraries, and extol the power of librarians.

• Junot Díaz, author of This Is How You Lose Her and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2013 finalist
• Louise Erdrich, author of The Round House and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2013 finalist
• Anne Enright, author of The Forgotten Waltz and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2012 winner
• Russell Banks, author of Lost Memory of Skin and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2012 finalist
• Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia! and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2012 finalist
• James Gleick, author of The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2012 finalist