2007 Original Voices Awards

Borders recently announced the winners of the 2007 Original Voices Awards. The awards are designed to recognize “fresh, compelling and ambitious works from new and emerging talents in fiction, non-fiction, young adult/independent reader and children’s picture books.”

Fiction
Steven Hall, The Raw Shark Texts: A Novel, Canongate

Nonfiction
Peter Godwin, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa, Little Brown & Co

YA/Independent reader
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A Novel in Cartoons, Abrams Books for Young Readers

Picture Book
John Rocco (author and illustrator), Wolf! Wolf!, Hyperion Books for Children

According to the announcement in The Hollywood Reporter,

Throughout the year, more than 200 contemporary authors and illustrators from around the world are highlighted to customers through in-store features that rotate on a monthly basis. In November 2007, finalists for the Awards were chosen by both corporate and store employees via an online voting process. A committee of corporate staff members representing each of the four categories read each finalist and selected the winners.

In March, at the awards ceremony, each winner will receive $5,000. Congratulations!