<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This article shows that the Booker Prize for fiction, which is neither the oldest nor the richest award given for novels in English, is nevertheless widely conceded to be the pre-eminent recognition. Sometimes it is called the “most significant”; sometimes the “most famous”; ultimately these two qualities are inseparable. I canvass some of the explanations for the Booker’s position as top prize and argue that the most important reasons are Publicity, Flexibility, and Product Placement. The Booker has managed its public image skillfully; among the devices that assure its continued celebrity is the acceptance, almost the courting, of scandal. Flexibility is partly a function of the practice of naming five new judges each year, but the Booker has also been responsive to challenges, including the recognition that it paid too little attention to female authors. The decision to admit American books into the competition was a sign of flexibility, as it was a guarantee of scandal. And the Booker has followed a path of “product placement” that positions it accurately between demands for high art and for “readability,” as examination of several periods in its history demonstrate.</p></abstract>

This article shows that the Booker Prize for fiction, which is neither the oldest nor the richest award given for novels in English, is nevertheless widely conceded to be the pre-eminent recognition. Sometimes it is called the “most significant”; sometimes the “most famous”; ultimately these two qualities are inseparable. I canvass some of the explanations for the Booker’s position as top prize and argue that the most important reasons are Publicity, Flexibility, and Product Placement. The Booker has managed its public image skillfully; among the devices that assure its continued celebrity is the acceptance, almost the courting, of scandal. Flexibility is partly a function of the practice of naming five new judges each year, but the Booker has also been responsive to challenges, including the recognition that it paid too little attention to female authors. The decision to admit American books into the competition was a sign of flexibility, as it was a guarantee of scandal. And the Booker has followed a path of “product placement” that positions it accurately between demands for high art and for “readability,” as examination of several periods in its history demonstrate.

How the Booker Prize Won the Prize

University of North Carolina at Asheville

American, British and Canadian Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"How the Booker Prize Won the Prize"}

This article shows that the Booker Prize for fiction, which is neither the oldest nor the richest award given for novels in English, is nevertheless widely...

How the Booker Prize Won the Prize

Published Online: Dec 21, 2019

Page range: 206 - 221

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/abcsj-2019-0023

Keywords
Booker Prize, scandal, shortlist, popular novel, literary novel, Martyn Goff, American, Orange Prize, publicity, product placement

© 2019 Merritt Moseley, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

How the Booker Prize Won the Prize

Published Online: Dec 21, 2019

Page range: 206 - 221

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/abcsj-2019-0023

KeywordsBooker Prize, scandal, shortlist, popular novel, literary novel, Martyn Goff, American, Orange Prize, publicity, product placement

© 2019 Merritt Moseley, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Booker Prize, scandal, shortlist, popular novel, literary novel, Martyn Goff, American, Orange Prize, publicity, product placement