Okay, I admit it, I'm curious: they've announced that:
One problem with the prize I have is the requirement:
Also: the whole concept of PR and publicity is beyond me, but even I can see that this prize has not done a good job of introducing itself to the wider world or building up anticipation. Yes, they have a nice website, but a very late-day press release (which the likes of me, for example, did not even receive), a Twitter feed -- @WindhamCampbell -- that had all of 22 followers, last I checked (a week before the prizes are announced !) ... this campaign has gone nowhere fast. Sure, the papers will pick up the big-money announcement when the prizes are announced -- but that's flash-in-the-pan-coverage that really doesn't help establish the prize, or help build up its reputation.
The first recipients of the Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes at Yale will be announced at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library on Monday, March 4, at 10 a.m. The milestone announcement will be made by Peter Salovey, President-elect of Yale University, and will be live-streamed on the Yale YouTube channel.Why am I curious ? Why might I tune in ?
In the last phase of the process, a selection committee meets at Yale to name up to nine writers to receive prizes. In addition to a citation and a prize diploma, recipients are each awarded $150,000 to support their writing.Okay, it's limited to "English-language writers", but with awards in fiction, non, and drama (but not, interestingly enough, poetry) these are pretty big author prizes by American standards (putting them in Lannan Literary Awards territory).
One problem with the prize I have is the requirement:
Winners must receive their awards in person at a ceremony at Yale in September and take part in a three-day literary festival celebrating their work.What if a writer who simply can't or won't travel -- Barley Patch-author Gerald Murnane comes to mind as a deserving author who you couldn't get out of Australia -- is deemed worthy ?
Also: the whole concept of PR and publicity is beyond me, but even I can see that this prize has not done a good job of introducing itself to the wider world or building up anticipation. Yes, they have a nice website, but a very late-day press release (which the likes of me, for example, did not even receive), a Twitter feed -- @WindhamCampbell -- that had all of 22 followers, last I checked (a week before the prizes are announced !) ... this campaign has gone nowhere fast. Sure, the papers will pick up the big-money announcement when the prizes are announced -- but that's flash-in-the-pan-coverage that really doesn't help establish the prize, or help build up its reputation.