Literary award

A literary award is an award that is usually awarded to writers for their outstanding achievements in the field of literature. In general, a literary prize is awarded for a single work or for the life's work of a writer. Literary awards are an important part of the literary establishment.

Literary prizes are awarded at regular intervals of state institutions, associations, academies, foundations, publishers, associations or individuals. Usually the award with a cash prize, a medal or a scholarship is connected.

After the circle of beneficiaries literary prizes distinction is made between international and national (including regional). In German-speaking award of literary prizes has increased greatly since the 1970s. While Angelika Mechtel 1972 emanated from about 200 prices per year, Uwe Wittstock estimated in 2007, the number to more than 700 The Goethe-Institut named for the year 2000 in Germany alone in 1331 individual awards, what a European peak represented.

Some of the major international prices, but also about the German Book Prize, the selection of the winners on the creation of a so-called long-list of candidates to a short list of what ultimately the winner of the prize is determined.

Among the most famous literary prizes include the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Pulitzer Prize, the Booker Prize, the Prix Goncourt, the Cervantespreis and the Georg Büchner Prize.