Diagram price
The Bookseller / Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year (also known as the Diagram Prize in German-speaking countries ) is an undoped literary prize that is awarded annually for the most unusual book title of the year. The award was initiated in 1978 and has been donated by the British trade magazine The Bookseller since 1979 .
history
The idea for a literary prize for the most unusual book title was developed out of boredom by Bruce Robertson (1934–2014), a bookseller of the Diagram Group , during the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1978 . The implementation of the idea was taken over by the trade journal The Bookseller , the fictional columnist "Horace Bent" acted as curator . The first recipient in 1979 with retroactive effect for 1978 of Proceedings Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice ( "Reports of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice excellent").
The book titles were initially only suggested by booksellers, publishers and librarians, from 1993 the readers of The Bookseller were also involved in the selection. Deliberately comical titles, for example from humorous books, were excluded from the vote. Until 1999, the winner was determined by a jury behind the name "Horace Bent". Since 2000, the winner has been chosen by voting on the Internet, but Horace Bent is still responsible for selecting the shortlist. Thanks to the quirky theme, the Diagram Prize has an unusually high level of popularity in the UK. For example, the participation on the Internet in the selection of the 2007 award winner was higher than in the selection of the Best of the Booker Prize , a special prize of the most important British literary prize, the Booker Prize .
The Diagram Prize has no endowment; only the person who was the first to suggest the title of the book will be rewarded with a magnum bottle of champagne for their discovery . The only thing the award-winning authors and publishers have left is the prospect of increasing sales thanks to the popularity of the literary prize in English-speaking countries.
List of award winners
| Year (1) | Title (German translation) (2) |
Author / editor |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice (Reports of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice ) |
University of Tokyo Press |
| 1979 | The Madam as Entrepreneur: Career Management in House Prostitution (The Puff Mother as Entrepreneur - Career Management in the Brothel) |
Barbara Sherman Heyl |
| 1980 | The Joy of Chickens (The Joy of Chickens) |
Dennis Nolan |
| 1981 | Last Chance at Love - Terminal Romances ( Last Chance at Love ) |
Pinnacle Press |
| 1982 | Population and Other Problems: Family Planning, Housing 1,000 million, Labor Employment ( Population and Other Problems: Family Planning, Housing for 1,000 million, Employment) |
China National Publications |
| 1983 | The Theory of Rolling lengthwise (The theory of Längswalzens) |
Alexander Ivanovich Zelikow , Georgi Semjonowitsch Nikitin and Sergei Evgenjewitsch Rokotjan |
| 1984 | The Book of Marmalade: Its Antecedents, Its History, and Its Role in the World Today (The Book of Marmalade: Its Prehistory, Development , and Role in the World Today ) |
Anne Wilson |
| 1985 | Natural Bust Enlargement with Total Mind Power: How to Increase the other 90% of Your Mind to Increase the Size of Your Breasts ( Natural Bust Enlargement with Total Mind Power: How to Increase the Other 90% of Your Mind to Increase Your Breast) |
Donald L. Wilson |
| 1986 | Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality (Oral sadism and the vegetarian personality) |
Glenn C. Elbow |
| 1987 | - no prize awarded - | |
| 1988 | Versailles: The View From Sweden (Versailles: The View From Sweden) |
Elaine Dee and Guy Walton |
| 1989 | How to Shit in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art ( How to Shit in the Woods: An Ecologically Sensible Approach to a Forgotten Art) |
Kathleen Meyer |
| 1990 | Lesbian Sadomasochism Safety Manual (Safety Manual of lesbian Sadomasochismus) |
Pat Califia |
| 1991 | - no prize awarded - | |
| 1992 | How to Avoid Huge Ships (How big ships evades) |
John W. Trimmer |
| 1993 | American Bottom Archeology (archeology in the middle reaches of the Mississippi River ; literal translation: American bottom archeology ) |
Charles J. Bareis and James W. Porter |
| 1994 | Highlights in the History of Concrete (Highlights in the history of the concrete) |
Cement and Concrete Association |
| 1995 | Reusing Old Graves: A Report on Popular British Attitudes (From Reusing Old Graves: A Report on Widespread British Attitudes) |
Douglas Davies and Alastair Shaw |
| 1996 | Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers ( Greek rural postmen and the numbers of their cancellation stamps) |
Derek Willan (Ed.) |
| 1997 | The Joy of Sex: Pocket Edition ( The Joy of Sex: Pocket Edition ) |
Mitchell Beazley |
| 1998 | Developments in Dairy Cow Breeding: New Opportunities to Widen the Use of Straw ( Developments in Dairy Cow Breeding: New Opportunities to Expand the Use of Straw ) |
Gareth Williams |
| 1999 | Weeds in a Changing World (weeds in a changing world) |
British Crop Protection Council Symposium |
| 2000 | High Performance Stiffened Structures ( stiffened high-performance structures ) |
Institution of Mechanical Engineers |
| 2001 | Butterworths Corporate Manslaughter Service (Butterworths homicide Corporate Services) |
Gerard Forlin |
| 2002 | Living with Crazy Buttocks (life with crazy buttocks) |
Kaz Cooke |
| 2003 | The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories (The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories) |
Alisa Surkis and Monica Nolan |
| 2004 | Bombproof Your Horse (make your horse bombproof) |
Rick Pelicano and Lauren Tjaden |
| 2005 | People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It ( People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It) ) |
Gary Leon Hill |
| 2006 | The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification ( The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification ) |
Julian Montague |
| 2007 | If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start with Your Legs (if you want to close your relationship, start with your legs) |
Big boom |
| 2008 | The 2009–2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais (The 2009–2014 outlook for the world market for 60-milligram packaging for cream cheese) |
Philip M. Parker |
| 2009 | Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes ( Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes ) |
Daina Taimina |
| 2010 | Managing a Dental Practice the Genghis Khan Way (How to run a Genghis Khan-style dental practice) |
Michael Young |
| 2011 | Cooking with Poo ( literally cooking with poop) |
Saiyuud Diwong, called Poo |
| 2012 | Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop (How to Secure Your Chicken Coop Against Goblins) |
Bakeley Reginal |
| 2013 | How to Poo on a Date (how to poop on a date ) |
Mats & Enzo |
| 2014 | Strangers Have the Best Candy (Strangers have the best candy) |
Margaret Meps Schulte |
| 2015 | Too Naked For the Nazis (to naked for the Nazis) |
Alan Stafford |
| 2016 | The Commuter Pig Keeper: A Comprehensive Guide to Keeping Pigs When Time is your Most Precious Commodity (The pendulum pig farmers: A comprehensive guide to pig farming when time is your most precious asset) |
Michaela Giles |
| 2018 | The Joy of waterboiling (The joy of boiling water) |
Thomas Götz from Aust |
Special prizes Diagram of Diagrams
On the 15th and 30th birthday of the Diagram Prize, the best winners of the past years were awarded the special Diagram of Diagrams prize. In 1993, the special award was given to the first Diagram Prize winner, Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice . To mark the 30th anniversary of the Diagram Prize, the monograph Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers , Prize Winner of 1996, was awarded the Diagram of Diagrams as the best winning title.
German-language prices
Since 2008, a prize based on the Diagram Prize has been awarded for the most curious German-language book title:
Since 2013, a prize has also been awarded for the most unusual German-language book title:
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The Guardian : Greek Postmen win oddest book title prize of September 5, 2008 (accessed January 8, 2009).
- ^ Joel Rickett, How to Avoid Huge Ships and Other Implausibly Titled Books , p. 7.
- ↑ The Guardian : Voting opens in search for oddest book title of August 8, 2008 (accessed January 8, 2009).
- ↑ The Bookseller: Oddest book titles prize shortlist announced ( Memento of the original from November 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated February 22, 2008 (accessed January 8, 2009).
- ↑ Weißenburger Tagblatt: Price for book title: Von Zombies und Postboten ( Memento of the original from January 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of September 10, 2008 (accessed January 8, 2009).
- ^ Börsenblatt : Most curious book title wanted on August 8, 2008 (accessed on January 8, 2009).
literature
- Joel Rickett: How to Avoid Huge Ships and Other Implausibly Titled Books . Aurum Press, London 2008, ISBN 978-1-84513-321-4 .
Web links
- The Bookseller: More odd than odd, August 7, 2008 (accessed January 8, 2009)