2006 Lulu Blooker Prize Winners: A Literary Prize Devoted to “Blooks”

Lulu, a print-on-demand (POD) company that describes itself as an “independent publishing marketplace for digital do-it-yourselfers,” has announced the winners of the 2006 Lulu Blooker Prize, a literary award for books that are based on blogs or Web sites. The “blook” selected as the overall winner is Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell (nonfiction). She blogs at “What Could Happen?” Other winners are:

• Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest (fiction). She blogs at “Heretic Spire, A Damn Lie.”
• Totally Boned: A Joe and Monkey Collection by Zach Miller (comics). He maintains the Web site “Joe and Monkey.”

By calling the award the “Blooker Prize,” Lulu brings to mind Britain’s prestigious Man Booker Prize, given to the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. The winner this year was John Banville for his novel The Sea. Arts Correspondent Nigel Reynolds offers a thought-provoking comparison of the two prizes.

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