A consortium of book publishing groups sponsored the first annual National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City back on March 15, 1950. Their goal was to enhance the public's awareness of exceptional books written by fellow Americans, and to increase the popularity of reading in general.

Since then, The National Book Awards have become one of the nation's preeminent literary prizes, and The National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner is the important event on the literary calendar. Today, the Awards are given to recognize achievements in four genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature. The Winners, selected by five-member, independent judging panels for each genre, receive a $10,000 cash award and a crystal sculpture.

For more information, visit The National Book Foundation Web site.

Key Dates:

October is National Book Month
October 11, 2006 - Announcement of the 2006 NBA Finalists
November 15, 2006 -- Book Awards Ceremony

2006 FICTION WINNER:

• The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

2006 FICTION FINALISTS:

• Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewski
• A Disorder Peculiar to the Country by Ken Kalfus
• Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta
• The Zero by Jess Walter

2006 NONFICTION WINNER:

• The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan

2006 NONFICTION FINALISTS:

• At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68 by Taylor Branch
• Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
• Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past and Present by Peter Hessler
• The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright