(Copy of an email sent to SWW by Paul Rhetts)
The 2024 Book Awards are in the history books. Our mission has been to uncover and honor the best in Arizona and New Mexico books and by all standards we have been successful every year for almost twenty years.
Nearly 1,000 books were received in 47 categories in this year’s program. For the past several years, fiction, history, biography or autobiography, and poetry have been the largest categories for entries. Every entry was judged by at least three judges, made up of booksellers, librarians, teachers, book marketing experts, as well as avid book readers. Our judges are the backbone of our awards program. Since the awards program started back in 2006, we have had approximately 20,000 entries and have selected over 900 winners and almost 4,000 finalists. Our judges have donated over 400,000 hours of volunteer time over the years. The awards program has been entirely run on a volunteer basis.
Over 20 years ago my partner (and wife) Barbe Awalt and I conceived of the book awards while sitting on the porch of the Albuquerque Press Club after a book conference. We began talking about how we could help local books get the attention they deserved. Within weeks we were actively planning everything from judging criteria to entry forms. In past years we have taken the time from when the awards were announced in the late fall until entries began coming in for the next year’s cycle in early February to reflect on how to make the awards even better. This year, I have been using this time period to figure out how we can keep the awards program alive.
So far I have no reasonable options.
And now I have to announce that the 2024 awards was the last. There will not be an awards program in 2025. Also, the New Mexico Book Co-op, which has been the overall sponsor of this effort, will be winding down as well, probably no later than July 2025.
I am very proud of what we have accomplished with the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. It has elevated local books to a higher level of visibility and discoverability. It has been my pleasure to accomplish this. I am proud to have honored the great books from Arizona and New Mexico over the past twenty years. I hope you have enjoyed them too.
Paul Rhetts, director and founder, NM-AZ Book Awards