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THE SELECTION PROCESS
Each year, The Commonwealth Club receives hundreds of books from California authors for award consideration. Our dedicated jury spends several months assessing each entry, narrowing down the many submitted works to a group of finalists and finally the medalists themselves.
TYPES OF AWARDS
The California Book Awards began in 1931 with two gold medals – one for a work of fiction and one for nonfiction. Through the years several more categories have been added, bringing the total number of awards given each year to eleven.
Gold medals are now awarded the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry. Silver medals are awarded in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, First Work of Fiction, Californiana, Young Adult Literature (up to age 10), Juvenile Literature (age 11-16) and Notable Contribution to Publishing. Thanks to a generous endowment from Dr. Martha Cox and Ambassador L.W. "Bill" Lane, gold medal winners receive $2,000 and silver medal winners receive $300.
HISTORY OF THE BOOKAWARDS
On the evening of June 11, 1931, then Club President James A. Johnston announced the creation of an award whose goal was to foster literature within the Golden State. "It is hoped and expected," he said, "that the recognition afforded by these annual California Commonwealth Club Literature Medals will be a spur and an encouragement to many a California author in this and future years."
The Commonwealth Club’s Annual Book Awards are now among the most prestigious literary awards in the state of California. To date, the Club has recognized more than 450 California authors for outstanding contributions to the art of the written word in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Juvenile Literature, Young Adult Literature, First Work of Fiction, Californiana, and Notable Contribution to Publishing.
The continuing goals of the Book Awards Jury are to foster good works written by California authors, recognize the best California writers in a particular year and illuminate the wealth and diversity of California-based literature. Throughout the years, many prominent writers have received a California Book Award, some famous at the time, and others who would receive broader recognition later in their careers. Literary historians generally credit The Commonwealth Club Book Awards as among the first to recognize the young John Steinbeck, who received three Gold Medals between 1935 and 1939. In fact, the Club became embroiled in controversy after awarding Steinbeck his third Gold Medal for The Grapes of Wrath, which triggered a series of protests throughout the state. The Club was criticized for acknowledging a book which portrayed California in such a poor light. It didn't take long, however, for The Grapes of Wrath to silence its critics and become an American classic.
Other widely-known authors who have received Commonwealth Club Gold Medals:
- C.S. Forester for The Good Shepherd (1955)
- Wallace Stegner for All the Little Live Things (1967) and The Spectator Bird (1976)
- Harriet Doerr for Stones for Ibarra (1984)
- T. Coraghessan Boyle for World's End: A Novel (1987) and Talk, Talk (2006)
- Amy Tan for The Joy Luck Club (1989)
- Ethan Canin for The Palace Thief (1994)
- Diane Johnson for Le Divorce (1997)
- Michael Chabon for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2001)
- Richard Rodriguez for Brown: The Last Discovery of America (2002)
- William T. Vollman for Europe Central (2005)
- Kay Ryan for Niagra River (2005)
- Michael Pollan for The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006)
- Ishmael Reed for New and Collected Poems 1964-2006 (2006)
- Jared Diamond for Collapse (2005) and Guns, Germs and Steel (1997)
- Ishmael Reed for New and Collected Poems: 1964-2006 (2006)
Thanks to the generous endowment of Dr. Martha Cox and Ambassador Bill Lane, award winners receive cash prizes to both acknowledge their current literary efforts and support future endeavors.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Submit entries online or download these PDFs and Print
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Each entry must be made on an official form, or facsimile thereof, and must be postmarked no later than midnight December 19, 2008. You may also complete our on-line entry form. Please be sure to press "Submit" and view your on-line receipt. We kindly ask that you print out that on-line receipt page and include it with your submission.
We prefer to receive all materials at once, but if your books are shipped separately from your warehouse or distributor we will accept the materials as they arrive.
Entries are restricted to books bearing a 2008 original publication date.
The author must have been a legal resident of California at the time the manuscript was accepted for publication. To be eligible for an award for Notable Contribution to Publishing, the publisher must be headquartered in California.
Awards will consist of not more than three gold and up to eight silver medals:
- One Gold Medal for Fiction
- One Gold Medal for Nonfiction
- One Gold Medal for Poetry
- Two Silver Medals for outstanding entries, regardless of classification
- One Silver Medal for an author's first published work of Fiction. If none is awarded, this Silver Medal may be added to the unclassified category
- One Silver Medal for Fiction or Nonfiction for children up to age 10
- One Silver Medal for Fiction or Nonfiction for children ages 11-16
- One Silver Medal for Fiction or Nonfiction relating to California
- One Silver Medal for a Notable Contribution to Publishing (outstanding book production). The medal in this category is awarded to the publisher and is restricted to publishers based in California.
The California Book Awards
The Commonwealth Club of California
595 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
(Copies of entries cannot be returned).
Winners of a literary award will also receive a cash prize.
Gold medal winners receive $2,000
Silver medal winners receive $300.
The Commonwealth Club of California
Attn: The California Book Awards
595 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
Return to Book Awards main page
Tom Campbell
Dee Dee Myers