More Literary Awards - Movie News

Manuel Ramos

Looking forward to La Bloga's new voice, Gina Ruiz. Meanwhile, here's some bits and pieces.

Southwest Book Awards
The Border Regional Library Association is soliciting nominations for its 35th annual Southwest Book Awards competition.To be eligible for an award, materials submitted must:
Be about the Southwest (West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and northern Mexico).
Appear in book or non-print format for the first time.
Have been published between Aug. 1, 2004, and July 31, 2005.
Be of high quality.

The association considers books, scholarly works, original video and audio materials.The deadline to submit nominations, which must include the official publication date, is Sept. 30.

Mail materials to:BRLA Southwest Book Awards, c/o Lisa Weber, 500 University, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968-0582.

Information: Claudia Rivers, crivers@libr.utep.edu; or Lisa Weber, lisa@libr.utep.edu

Virginia Kirkus Literary Award
The winner of the first Virginia Kirkus Literary Award will be awarded a standard publishing contract with Back Bay, the trade paperback imprint of Time Warner's Little, Brown. The book will be published in the 2006 season.

Unpublished fiction authors may submit their manuscripts of 150 pages or more to:
The Virginia Kirkus Literary Award, 770 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10003.The deadline is Nov. 1. A $150 submission fee and completed registration form are required.

Information: www.kirkusawards.com

Olmos Directs "Walkout"
This is old news in L.A., I'm sure, but for the rest of us it's an exciting story.

On a recent hot Sunday afternoon, a thousand people swarmed the steps of Los Angeles City Hall, chanting "Chicano power!" and carrying hand-lettered signs reading "Viva la raza" and "Viva la causa." Among them were militant Black Panthers and Brown Berets.They were re-enacting a piece of Los Angeles history - one that, at the time, news accounts underreported and now school texts barely acknowledge - for director Edward James Olmos' HBO film Walkout.The film, airing next year, aims to capture the frustration, the anger and, ultimately, the burst of brown power that gave rise to and followed the 1968 Chicano student walkouts. And while it looks at the past, it may draw attention to the present and future regarding the continuing high dropout rate and other problems plaguing Latino students today.

Read the entire article at DailyNews.com.