The Firecracker Awards are a set of annual U.S.

literary awards A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded Literature, literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award c ...

focusing on small-press publishing. Previously known as the Firecracker Alternative Book Awards (FABs), in the current form they are known as the CLMP Firecracker Awards for Independently Published Literature, and are administered by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP). The Firecracker Alternative Book Awards were established in 1996 and were presented through 2002. The Firecracker Awards returned in 2015, "to celebrate books and magazines that make a significant contribution to our literary culture and the publishers that strive to introduce important voices to readers far and wide." Neither version of the Firecracker books awards are related to an identically named award given to "women photographers born or working in Europe."

Process

CLMP Firecracker Awards are given to one winner annually in each of five categories:

Fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

Creative Nonfiction Creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction, narrative nonfiction, literary journalism or verfabula) is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contrasts ...

Poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

, Best Debut in

Magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

, and General Excellence in Magazine. A shortlist of nominees in each category is announced beforehand. (There have previously been other categories but they have been retired or subsumed in the existing five.) According to a 2014 ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' article, the awards are "judged by a panel of writers, editors, booksellers, and agents. Members of the Firecracker Committee include representatives from, in addition to CLMP and the

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Tin House ''Tin House'' is an American literary magazine and book publisher based in Portland, Oregon, and New York City. History Portland publisher Win McCormack originally conceived the idea for a literary magazine called ''Tin House'' in the summer ...

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Workman Publishing Workman Publishing Company, Inc., is an American Publishing companies, publisher of Tradebook, trade books founded by Peter Workman. The company consists of Imprint (trade name), imprints Workman, Workman Children's, Workman Calendars, Artisan ...

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, Byliner, Greenlight Books, and a host of literary agents...." In the book categories, winning presses receive $1,000-2,000, and authors or translators receive $1,000. Magazine winners receive $1,000 each. The winning titles are also showcased in CLMP's national publicity campaigns. Generally, the Firecrackers are announced each June. Each ceremony includes the naming of that year's recipient of the Lord Nose Award, "given in recognition of a lifetime of superlative work in literary publishing."

History

The Firecracker Alternative Book Awards were established in 1996 by John Davis of Koen Book Distribution, with support from

Publishers Group West Publishers Group West (PGW) is a book distributor founded in 1976 in Berkeley, California that has been owned by Ingram Content Group since 2016. They share their parent company's warehouse in Jackson, Tennessee and sales offices in New York, Toro ...

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'', and Tower Books & Records. The FABs were designed to bring attention to "the best in alternative printing" by honoring books on the "'unmapped edges of contemporary culture' that 'sharpen the cutting edge.'" Categories included Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Politics, Sex, Music,

Graphic Novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

Zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

Kids Kid, Kids, KIDS, and K.I.D.S. may refer to: Common meanings * Colloquial term for a child or other young person ** Also for a parent's offspring regardless of age * Engage in joking * Young goat * The goat meat of young goats * Kidskin, leath ...

, Art/Photo, Drugs, and Special Recognition/Wildcard. Winners "were selected via an online voting system." The FABs were administered by volunteers rather than an official organization, and after 2002 the task became "unsustainable." CLMP was approached at that time about continuing the awards, but the organization passed on the opportunity for a couple of reasons, one being that the voting system "bore a lack of transparency that raised concerns," and the other being that CLMP felt it needed to gain more solid financial footing before it took on administering a set of literary awards. The revitalized CLMP Firecracker Awards returned in 2015, "broadening the focus from strictly unorthodox works."

Winners

FABs (1996–2002)

CLMP Firecrackers Awards (2015–present)

References

Citations

Sources

* * *

External links

* {{Official, https://www.clmp.org/programs-opportunities/firecracker/ Awards established in 1996 1996 establishments in the United States Awards established in 2015 2015 establishments in the United States Awards disestablished in 2002 2022 disestablishments in the United States American literary awards English-language literary awards