Who should decide literary awards: ‘Experts’ or the reading public?
I never really know what to think of most literary awards. Usually, the prestigious awards are voted on by a small committee of experts. And most of the time, they tend to pick obscure works with little mass market appeal. But at the other end of the spectrum, we have the science fiction Hugo award, where the finalists were decided by letting sci-fi fans vote for their favorite novels. The results were a little more mainstream, maybe too mainstream, according to one author.
Adam Roberts, a science fiction author himself, is not happy with finalists for this year’s Hugo award. And he let his voice be heard in this article from the Guardian:
“What do these lists say about SF to the multitude in the world – to the people who don’t know any better? It says that SF is old-fashioned, an aesthetically, stylistically and formally small-c conservative thing. It says that SF fans do not like works that are too challenging, or unnerving; that they prefer to stay inside their comfort zone,” Roberts writes, before going on to criticise the five-strong shortlist for this year’s best novel award.
Ouch! Talk about biting the hands that feed you. However, I generally agree with the premise that science fiction (especially science fiction) needs to be challenging and push the boundaries of literature and creativity. This is why I love sci-fi so much.
Whether or not Adam should have been so vocal with his criticism is a whole different question. Since the finalists were picked by science fiction fans themselves, he risks (and probably has to some extent) insulting their intelligence and making them mad at him. At least one fan shot back:
One fan takes offence: “Having been insulted by you, since I voted for the Hugos this year, I don’t think I’ll be picking up anything with your name on it in the bookstore in the future,” he tells Roberts. “I have friends, we all like SF books of various stripes and genres, and we can put our combined money behind authors who don’t engage in petty flailing on the internet.” Take that, Roberts!
Maybe Adam should have stayed a little more quiet about this issue, especially since he was directing his criticism at the very people who buy his books. Certainly he has the right to say what he wants, but at what cost? And when someone criticizes award results like this, I can’t help but wonder if they are doing so, in part, because their own work didn’t make the cut.
The larger question still remains: Who should decide what books receive these literary awards? When you let a large fan base decide, you are going to get more mainstream results. If a small body of experts decide, the results will be a little more obscure. I don’t know if one is better than the other.
And in the name of full disclosure, I have not read any of the books on the Hugo award shortlist for this year, so I can’t make a judgment about the individual titles. Nor have I read anything by Adam, so I can’t comment about the merits of his work either. That means I come to this argument with no real bias either way.
Who do you think should decide who wins these literary awards: Experts or fans? What’s your reason? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. I’m interested to see what others think about this issue.
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