Book Award

I’m curious to know what exactly a “Book Award” is…under so many kids’ honors section, they write things like “Harvard Book Award” or “Brown Book Award” but I have no idea what that is!

<p>This is what the "book awards" are for my school:</p>

<p>The Harvard Prize Book Award - Given to an outstanding junior who combines excellence in scholarship with achievement in another field.</p>

<p>Yale Book Award - Presented by the Yale Alumni Association of the Northwest to a junior boy or girl on the basis of outstanding personal character and intellectual promise. This award is determined by vote of the faculty.</p>

<p>They're the same for my school - I think that alumni committees choose some schools to give out these awards to a student every year. We also have a Princeton Book Award.</p>

<p>does anyone know waht the vanderbilt book award means?</p>

<p>Oh, so it's high schools that offer them, not the universities?</p>

<p>hmm...how much would colleges value the Harvard Book award, do you think?</p>

<p>When it comes to Harvard, the book awards probably have very little to do with whether a student is admitted. The awards are a nice way to publicize Harvard's name and to encourage promising students to consider applying to Harvard. The awards do not guarantee admission. Not getting award would not cause a student to get a rejection. If all of the students who got book awards were accepted, there'd probably be few spaces left to fill in the freshman class.</p>

<p>yes, but would other schools value them at all? like, would it look impressive to receive the harvard book award if you applied to a school other than harvard?</p>

<p>Only in the sense that it indicates that you are considered one of the top students in your class; some high schools have more than half a dozen book awards--it depends on what collegs have active alumni associations in your area. So your class might have Dartmouth, Harvard, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Wellesley, Williams, and Yale Book Award winners, just for starters. Specific criteria vary, and if you visit the alumni association Web sites of various colleges you can often find the exact description of what the award signifies for a given college.</p>

<p>Northstar and mattmom have it right. It's usually a local alumni association which sponsors a book award. They give a small award at local high schools as a nice way to recognize achievement at the secondary level. And, of course, it's a way for the local alumni to get their alma mater's name out there every year, because that award will be announced at a ceremony and/or listed in the newpaper. As a bonus, it might get the student to consider that college in the future. So it's an award, a PR and recruitment tool, and a way for local alumni to be involved.</p>

<p>My son was awarded the Univ. of Rochester Bausch & Lomb medal for achievement in science as a junior (this was given with the rest of the "book awards" at our school). In addition to the recognition, he received offers over the summer from Rochester waiving his application fee if he should choose to apply, and offering him a very nice four-year scholarship if he were to be accepted. So for some of these "book awards", there is a real benefit associated with them. He did choose to list the medal among his honoraria on his applications.</p>