It has been said many times that awards are meaningless — unless you happen to win one. I guess that’s true. When we heard not long ago that the Webby Award for Best Copy/Writing on a website was not awarded to Freakonomics.com (yeah yeah yeah, we were happy just to be nominated) but to some hack outfit called TheNewYorker.com, I thought, Well, that would have just been another wasted evening in black tie.
But then we heard that BookSense, the national coalition of independent bookstores, had chosen Freakonomics as its nonfiction Book of the Year. Today, Levitt and I are going to Washington, D.C. for the annual Book Expo America to accept the BookSense award.
We also recently received news that Freakonomics has been named a finalist in the 2006 Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, administered by the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.
And maybe someday we’ll even get our hands on an Oscar. Freakonomics has just been optioned by a Hollywood producer for a feature-length documentary. More details when we’re able to say …
8 Comments
First of all, congratulations for the nomination as well as the award! I just went through the nomination list, and you are pitched against Friedman! Yuck.
I respect the fellow, but his previous book was so wrought with repeats that I simply left it half way through. That book was none other than The Lexus and the Olive tree. God what a bore. I do hope the current nomination is better than that.
I find it interesting that the book may be turned into a documentary. I wonder how that would work, what with there being no unifying theme :P. I think it would make for some really good viewing, but I also imagine that it would take a really good, strike that, creative documentor for it to happen. Best of luck on that one.
— hnarsanaCongrats!
— leliathomasWow… something tells me you gentlemen will find material for several more books if you spend some time in La-la land.
— tim in tampaPerhaps Britney Spears can play herself in the section about car seats.
— StCherylI think a feature length documentary doesn’t do it justice. They should turn it into a full fledged reality TV show along the lines of “Mythbusters”. Each show will deal with topics large and small and either debunk, affirm, or noncommit them.
To have your own reality TV show is better than any award one could offer.
— kkwanIt sounds like there are a lot of great people gathering in DC this weekend. Have an excellent time!
— Princess LeiaWhat about a piece on the economics of the Eurovision song contest? Or maybe the dynamics of the voting strategy?
— DonSee, you should have hired me. Then you wouldn’t have had that typo in the last paragraph. Tsch, tsch!
— Eileen Kelly