Borders Announces 2002 Original Voices Award Winners

Posted on May 2, 2002

Borders Books and Music has announced the winners of its fifth annual Original Voices Awards. The awards were created to highlight innovative and ambitious books from new and emerging talents, as well as outstanding works from established authors. Winners were chosen in the categories of fiction, nonfiction and, for the first time this year, children's and young adult book categories were included in the balloting process.

The winners of the 2001 Original Voices Awards are Mark Dunn in the fiction category for his playful language in Ella Minnow Pea, published by MacAdam/Cage, and Michael Pollan's nonfiction look at the co-evolution of plants and humans in Botany of Desire, published by Random House. Helen Ward was honored for her charming and gentle children's picture book, The Tin Forest, illustrated by Wayne Anderson and published by Dutton Books. In the young adult category, L.M. Elliott won for her book set in the time of the Second World War, Under a War-Torn Sky, published by Hyperion.

"We had an outstanding group of authors to select from and all of them exhibited remarkable talent and a superb knack for storytelling," said Mike Spinozzi, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Borders Group, Inc. "We at Borders are proud to extend our warmest congratulations to this year's winners."

Nominees for the awards are selected by Borders home office employees and booksellers from Borders stores across the country from the more than 200 titles featured in the previous year's Original Voices program. A panel of judges from Borders' home office staff read the nominated books and vote for their pick in each category. The winners receive $5,000 from the company.

Original Voices Award winners

Fiction
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Published by MacAdam/Cage

Nonfiction
Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
Published by Random House

Children's Picture Books
The Tin Forest by Helen Ward, illustrated by Wayne Anderson
Published by Dutton Books

Young Adult Books
Under a War-Torn Sky by L.M. Elliott
Published by Hyperion