Why Care About Arts Awards?

“At their best, awards provide recognition to those who are deserving but overlooked. But in most cases, awards go to those candidates with the strongest PR support. At their worst…. Well, consider the National Book Awards. Some 280,000 books are now published in this country every year. A judge would have to read 800 books a day to render a fair decision. How many judges do you suppose have read even a hundred, or even a dozen?”