Each autumn, the Library of Virginia hosts the Annual Virginia Literary Awards Celebration. This gala event, sponsored by U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, attracts authors, publishers, and those who enjoy the written word. It's a wonderful opportunity to meet and engage promising new authors, as well as literary legends. Seven different awards are presented at the celebration.

The Library of Virginia Literary Awards are given to outstanding Virginia authors in the areas of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Past winners include Deborah Eisenberg, Donald McCaig, Suzanne Lebsock, Carrie Brown, Charles Wright, Richard Bausch, Ruth Stone, Melvin Patrick Ely, and Edward P. Jones. This is a juried award, and winners in each category receive a $3,500 prize and engraved crystal book. A list of the 2008 nominees is available online. The judges met in August and selected the finalists for this year's Literary Awards. These awards are sponsored by U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, and Weinstein Properties.

The Carole Weinstein Prize in Poetry is also awarded at the event. This award, founded in 2005, is given each year to a poet with strong connections to central Virginia. The $10,000 annual prize recognizes significant recent contribution to the art of poetry and is awarded on the basis of a range of achievements in the field of poetry.

Also awarded at the celebration are the Annual People’s Choice Awards for the best works of fiction and nonfiction by a Virginia author. The awards are chosen by readers voting in public libraries and bookstores, as well as online. The winners each receive a $3,500 prize and an engraved crystal book.

The newest addition to the awards, first given in 2007, is the Whitney and Scott Cardozo Award for Children’s Literature. The books are selected by a juried panel from nominated titles by authors whose works focus on literature for children ages four through eight. Readers online and at public libraries and bookstores vote for the winner, who receives $2,500 and an engraved crystal book.

Join us for the 11th Annual Literary Awards Celebration on Saturday, October 18, 2008. For information call the Library of Virginia at 804-692-3592.

Library of Virginia Announces Finalists for the 11th Annual Literary Awards

Nominate a book for the 2009 Awards (books published in 2008) and read the competition guidelines.

View photos from the 2007 celebration.