Preface: I was recently contacted by a PhD student in Ireland who is doing her dissertation on how literary prizes are perceived by and affect authors. These are my answers to the questions she asked me.
In what way(s) has winning a literary award(s) changed your life?
It
has changed my life in mostly small ways. I was asked to be a featured author
at a large book festival because of the award, and I have been invited more
frequently to submit my work to anthologies and magazines. My profile as an
author is a bit higher than it would have been otherwise. Personally, it has
given me a better sense of validation.
Do prizes motivate you to write?
I am
certainly happy when I win a prize, but the unpredictable prospect of winning
one is not a primary motivator for me. I have a fundamental need to write, and
past that my writing is a necessary source of income for me; I also have a
personal desire to write as well as I can whether I stand to win an award or
not.
What, for you, are the positives of literary prizes?
They're
a validation of the quality of your work, which can be a real confidence booster, and they raise awareness of the work and your profile as an author a
little to a lot, depending on the prize and its publicity value. Prizes
generally lead to invitations for speaking appearances and invitations to write
for projects. And sometimes there's a bit of money included with the prize, and
that's a positive for most any working writer.
What, for you, are the negatives of literary prizes?
Some
people (readers, editors, etc.) are biased against some literary awards, for whatever reason, and they will scorn the authors that win them. And sometimes
a work wins an award and eclipses other works that are arguably better and more
worthy of attention from a wide audience.
What do you think is the difference between the exercise of one’s literary
taste and the exercise of one’s literary judgement?
I can
like a work and know that it's not written particularly well; conversely, I
can judge a piece to be of excellent literary quality, but find it not to my
taste.
As a consumer, are you influenced by the appearance of prize labels on books
when making your literary choices?
Sometimes.
A prize is often but not always an indicator of special quality; the book would
ultimately still need to be something I was interested in due to the topic, or writer, or genre.
Do you think that prizes are important and provide a reflection of the "best"
that the literary world has to offer?
I
think that they are important for the reasons described above, and they do attempt
to elevate the "best" writing for wider public consumption.
Unfortunately, they often they result in high-profile authors being rewarded because their works are familiar to judges and award voters; meanwhile,
more worthy but obscure works languish.
Richard Greener once said "Writing
is not a competitive or comparative endeavour". Please respond.
The writing process is not a competitive or comparative endeavour. Once a piece of
writing is sent out into the world for public consumption, though, it must
compete for limited space within the pages of anthologies, in the schedules of
publishers, and on the shelves of bookstores. And once the writing is published, it will inevitably be compared to other works by professional critics and
readers.
Do you think a judge's anxieties about their own reputation and professional
identity can affect the choice of a winner?
Absolutely.
Often, a
judge will be reluctant to offer an award to a writer with a
reputation for writing work that is
substandard or
unserious, even if the
present work under consideration is excellent. Regrettably, many
female and
minority authors carry around the reputation for writing unexceptional,
non-serious work simply by virtue of their ovaries and the colour of their
skins.