Nominations sought for 2004 W.Y. Boyd Literacy Novel Award

Contact: Cheryl Malden


Program Officer


312-280-3247

For Immediate Release


Septembern 26, 2003

Nominations sought for 2004 W. Y. Boyd Literary Novel Award

Nominations are being sought for the 2004 American Library Association (ALA) W. Y. Boyd Literary Novel Award.
The W.Y. Boyd Literary Novel Award honors the best fiction set in a period when the United States was at war.
The $5,000 award and citation, donated by author W.Y. Boyd, recognizes the service of American veterans and military personnel, and encourages the writing and publishing of outstanding war-related fiction.
The deadline for applications and supporting materials is December 1, 2003.

This prestigious award was established in 1997. Past winners of the award include Brigadier General Edwin Howard Simmons (ret.) for Dog Company Six (Naval Institute Press, 2001)
Owen West for Sharkman Six (Simon and Schuster, 2002), and James Brady for Warnings of War(St. Martin’s Press, 2003).

The donor W.Y. Boyd has experienced war firsthand, and wrote about his many encounters in three books:

A Rendezvous With Death

, which has just recently been published in hardcover; and reissued paperbacks
A Fight For Love and Glory, and
The Gentle Infantryman.

Boyd was a combat infantryman in World War II, and awarded the Combat Infantryman's Badge and Bronze Star medal for exemplary conduct under enemy fire.
He also received three battle stars on his European Theater medal for participating in the campaigns in Ardennes, Alsace, Rhineland, and Central Europe. Boyd's antitank company also received a Presidential Unit Citation for its heroic and successful stand against overwhelmingly superior enemy forces during the winter offensive in Alsace.

For more information on this unique book award visit
www.ala.org or contact the ALA Awards Office at 1-800-545-2433, x3247.