"Realizing the importance of the subject of literary awards, the interest in short stories, and the value of good anthologies to the small library the writer chose for her study a short story award--The O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories. The first twenty-five years of that anthology paralleled an era in which she was interested. The study has been confined to the first, second and special prize-winning stories of those years (1919-1943). The study has followed these divisions: a history of the award and its purpose; an analysis of the stories as to types; a recording of the inclusion of these stories in lists of stories of note; a noting of their selection for publication in other anthologies; a tabulation of the types of magazine in which the stories first appeared; a consideration of the authors of the stories. The results of the study have been given, wherever possible, in tabular form with a summary for each table"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "January, 1955." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Agnes Gregory, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-91).

A study of the older readers' section of Young Australians Best Book Award (YABBA) from 1986 to 1991, based on analysis of 21,351 voting forms from this period. Through analysis of the data from these voting forms, ranking authors and titles, comparing gender preferences, the source of the book voted for, school type and school location were all compiled into graphs and tables. Appropriate comparisons have been made between variables across the six year period, to give some idea of the voting population involved in the older readers' section of YABBA and their preferences and motivations. A follow up survey of voters and YABBA organisers in 1992 attempted to further enhance this data by collecting information on voter preferences, opinions and possible influences on the voting process. The study attempts to place YABBA in the context of the wider children's literature community and discuss briefly its historical development with reference to other children's choice awards, their strengths and weaknesses. A relevant discussion on popularity versus literary merit is related to the ongoing discussion of YABBA in comparison to the Children's Book Council awards. Later chapters include a discussion of the most popular YABBA titles (seven highest rating titles) with particular emphasis given to YABBA's two most popular authors - Paul Jennings and Robin Klein. Humour is an important factor in the popularity of many YABBA titles and this is discussed as are developments since 1991 and the long-term future of YABBA.

Thesis (M.A.)--Liberty University, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas Woman's University, 1990. / Abstract. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-152).

M.A. (Information Science) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Zugl.: Heidelberg, Univ., Diss., 2006

The increase in the number of literary awards has created a selection problem for the librarian in that she is not always able to accept automatically a work solely on the basis of its recognition as a prize winner. It has become necessary that the librarian familiarize herself with the background and program of the body making the award, the works per se and subsequent criticism in order to judge their worth for the library collection. The writer of this paper, recognizing this problem, was prompted to investigate the worth of literary awards. A preliminary survey of the awards and critics' reaction to them indicated a more detailed study would be justified. A thorough investigation of all the literary awards would be impossible, but a study restricted to one seemed worthwhile as well as practical. This, in turn, would form a basis for the evaluation of comparable awards, for techniques employed here, in all probability, could be used in a study of other recognized literary works. This paper, therefore, encompasses Pulitzer Prize dramas for 1918 to 1950 and evaluates these dramas, in terms of popular and literary merit. / "August, 1953." / At head of title: Florida State University. / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Mary Edna Anders, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-66).

"The award selected for this paper was the Bollingen Prize in Poetry, one of the major literary awards and one of the few to be offered by a university. The purpose of this study is to present a brief history of the award itself and to give a critical evaluation of the works of the recipients"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1958." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Sarah Rebeccca Reed, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-74).

"Since an award is an indication that someone believes a book is superior or significant in some respect, knowledge of literary prizes is of obvious value to a librarian responsible for the selection of suitable books to meet patrons' needs and interests. With this in mind I have undertaken a study of the annual book award of the Friends of American Writers. The purpose of this paper is to describe the prize and the F.A.W. Award books since 1948, when a change in policy raised the annual book award to $1,000, to examine the prize-winning books in relation to the opinion of the critics, to determine the meaning of 'high ideals' as expressed by the group offering the award, and to find how the prize-winning selections are chosen"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "June, 1960." / "Submitted to the Graduate School of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Sarah Rebecca Reed, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 34-40).

The purpose of this paper is to present background information related to the establishment of the American Library Association Liberty and Justice Book Awards program; to give a factual description of the awards program including criteria for selection, specifications, and procedures; to compile critical comments on the awards program as found in professional literature; to describe the award-winning books; to analyze reviewers' criticisms of the award-winning books, as available in the major book-reviewing media; to describe the authors receiving the awards; and to report on comments of the authors receiving the awards, in relation to their opinions concerning the values and results of the awards program"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "January, 1960." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Sara Krentzman Srygley, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-118).