Back Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year Danish Diagram-Preis German Βραβείο Ντάιαγκραμ Greek جایزه دیاگرام Persian Prix Bookseller/Diagram French Bookseller/Diagram մրցանակ տարվա ամենատարօրինակ վերնագրի համար Armenian Diagram Prize Italian Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year Portuguese Премия Diagram за самое необычное название книги Russian Diagram-priset Swedish

Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year

Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year
Awarded forOddest book title
CountryUnited Kingdom
First awarded1978
Currently held byDanger Sound Klaxon! The Horn That Changed History by Matthew F Jordan (2023)
WebsiteThe Diagram Prize

The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, originally known as the Diagram Group Prize for the Oddest Title[1] and commonly known as the Diagram Prize, is a humorous literary award that is given annually to a book with an unusual title. The prize is named after the Diagram Group, an information and graphics company based in London,[2] and The Bookseller, a British trade magazine for the publishing industry.[3][4] Originally organised to provide entertainment during the 1978 Frankfurt Book Fair,[2] the prize has since been awarded every year by The Bookseller and is now organised by the magazine's diarist Horace Bent.[3][4] The winner was initially decided by a panel of judges, but since 2000 the winner has been decided by a public vote on The Bookseller's website.[5]

Controversy has arisen since the creation of the awards: there have been two occasions when no award was given because no titles were judged to be odd enough;[5] Bent has complained about some of the winners chosen by the public;[6][7] and the 2008 winner, The 2009–2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais, proved controversial because rather than being written by its listed author, Philip M. Parker, it was instead written by a machine of Parker's invention.[8] The most recent winner, in December 2023, was Danger Sound Klaxon! The Horn That Changed History by Matthew F Jordan.[9]

  1. ^ Bent, Horace (21 October 2009). "A Bluffer's Guide to the Diagram Prize". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 1 December 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  2. ^ a b Lyall, Sarah (27 March 2009). "Odd Prize: Judging a Book by Its Title". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 April 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
  3. ^ a b Rickett, Joel (2008). How to Avoid Huge Ships and Other Implausibly Titled Books. London: Aurum Press. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-1-84513-321-4.
  4. ^ a b "Diagram book for Xmas". The Bookseller. 28 March 2008. Archived from the original on 1 April 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  5. ^ a b Rickett, p. 9
  6. ^ Ezard, John (21 January 2005). "Bombproof Your Horse wins title fight". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
  7. ^ Bent, Horace (12 January 2009). "An odd question". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 14 April 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
  8. ^ "Fromage Frais wins odd title prize". The Bookseller. 27 March 2009. Archived from the original on 1 May 2009. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
  9. ^ "Danger Sound Klaxon! picks up the Diagram Prize gong". The Bookseller. 8 December 2023. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.

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