Nominees for the 2010 New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism Announced

The New York Public Library has announced the finalists for the 2010 New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. The award will be presented by Library President Paul LeClerc, Selection Committee Chair James F. Hoge and Daily Beast Editor Tina Brown at a reception in the Trustees Room at the Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street on Monday, May 17, 2010. The honor, which includes a $15,000 cash prize, is given annually to a journalist whose book brings clarity and public attention to important issues, events, or policies. This year the finalists examined topics ranging from women’s rights to the indelible impact of oil on the countries that produce it and the people who possess it.

The finalists were chosen by a Librarian Committee from among 104 titles nominated by their publishers for the award, which has been given since 1988. They are:

• Peter Maass, Contributing Writer, The New York Times Magazine
  Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil (Knopf)

• David Finkel, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author and National Enterprise Editor of The Washington Post The Good Soldiers (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
   
• Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman, both writers for The Wall Street Journal.  
  Enough: Why the World’s Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty (PublicAffairs)
  
• John Cassidy, Staff Writer, The New Yorker
  How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities (Sarah Crichton Books/FSG)

• Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Pulitzer Prize winners. Mr. Kristof is a Columnist for The New York Times and Ms. WuDunn is a former Business Editor and Foreign Correspondent for The New York Times. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Knopf)

Past Bernstein Award winners include Lawrence Wright, Thomas Friedman, George Packer, Tina Rosenberg, David Remnick, and Nicholas Lemann. Last year’s winner was Jane Mayer for The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals.

About the Selection Committee
The 2010 Selection Committee, which selects the winner from among the five finalists, is chaired by James F. Hoge, Jr., Editor of Foreign Affairs, and Peter G. Peterson chair of the Council on Foreign Relations. The other 2010 committee members are: Harold McGraw III, Chairman, President and CEO, The McGraw-Hill Companies; Jack Rosenthal, Senior Fellow, The Atlantic Philanthropies; Lynn Povich, an independent media consultant who serves on the boards of the International Women’s Media Foundation and the Advisory Board of the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch; Charlie Savage, Washington Correspondent; The New York Times, and 2007 Bernstein Award recipient for his book Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy; and Elaine Sciolino, Paris Correspondent; The New York Times, and 2001 Bernstein Award recipient for her book Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran.

About The New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award
Established in 1987, The New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism annually honors an outstanding journalist whose book has drawn public attention to important current issues or events. The award was established with a gift from Joseph F. Bernstein in honor of Helen Bernstein, a journalist in Palm Beach, Florida. The gift also included an endowment for the position of the Helen Bernstein Librarian for Periodicals and Journals. The position is currently held by Karen Gisonny, who oversees a collection of over 10,000 periodicals in the DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room.  The collection is used by thousands of researchers annually and is an invaluable resource for writers, artists, journalists, broadcasters, business people, and students.  Ms. Gisonny also coordinates collection development activities for periodicals and small press materials across the Library and hosts the literary reading series Periodically Speaking and the annual Magathon - both held in the Periodicals Room. Information about the award and the nomination process is available online at http://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/awards/book-award-for-journalism.

About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to its services. Its renowned research collections are located in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem; and the Science, Industry and Business Library at 34th Street and Madison Avenue. Eighty-eight branch libraries provide access to circulating collections and a wide range of other services in neighborhoods throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Research and circulating collections combined total more than 50 million items. In addition, each year the Library presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include classes in technology, literacy, and English for speakers of other languages. All in all The New York Public Library serves more than 17 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org.

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 Contact: Nadia Riley     nadia_riley@nypl.org | 212-592-7177