The winners of the Minnesota Book Awards are announced every May to recognize the best publications from the previous year. But there's more to it than that. Alayne Hopkins is the Senior Director of Programs and Services with the Friends of the St. Paul Library and shared a lot about the history and process of the awards.
"The Friends [of the St. Paul Library] itself actually began the Minnesota Book Awards in 1988," says Hopkins. "They called it the Festival of the Books... it was this really big event, there was a parade in Rice Park, there were a whole bunch of different activities at the library." A few years later the awards were moved to different libraries. In 2006, it came back to the Friends of the St. Paul Library and has remained in their hands since.
The season for the Minnesota Book Awards begins in August with a solicitation for judges and a call for nominations. Major press publications as well as self-publications are eligible for submission. Judges are divided into the nine award categories and by the end of January four finalists within each category are selected.
The call for judges begins next month. Those interested can find more information on the Friends of the St. Paul Library website beginning on August 1st.
Minnesota Reads is produced at The North 103.3 with funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
