|
|
 |
|
 Books for a Better Life Inside the Annual Awards Ceremony Fabulous Comments from Incredible People
The categories are: Childcare/Parenting, First Book, Green, Inspirational Memoir, Motivational, Personal Finance,
Psychology, Relationships, Spiritual, and Wellness. Plus awards for "Hall of Fame" and "MS Awareness."
This ceremony and its mission are a powerful mix of intertwining goals. It's a "book club" of very smart and very
compassionate people, which just gets bigger and more
successful each year.
Scott Manning, founder
"...By supporting these awards you not only recognize and pay tribute to the fascinating works of our talented finalists
but also support the tireless efforts of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society..." says Scott.
"...These awards have given us in the publishing industry a unique opportunity to partner with one of the
top healthcare organizations in the world because at the end of the day our missions are the same: creating
better lives for people through self-improvement and care. And I'm glad to report that since the inception of
this event we have raised over $1.6 million dollars.
"...Doris Michaels, one of our great supporters, was telling me about a friend who's been in a wheelchair
with MS for 10 years, I think. Then all of a sudden, we don't know what to attribute it to, but she's walking
again. One of the things seems to be water therapy that's helping her... That's one of the things you're funding
tonight. The MS Society provides programs like that for people with MS, as well as funding much, much-needed research..."
Robin Roberts, host of ceremony and co-anchor of ABC's "Good Morning America."
"...5,000 book submissions come in and are reviewed by magazine and website editors, television producers and
librarians to determine the top 5 books in each of the 10 categories. We then send the judges all around the world
who range from doctors to rabbis, from marriage counselors to writers — many of them former Books for a Better
Life finalists themselves.
"They count those, which are tabulated, and then we reveal the to you tonight the results to you tonight...
In addition to
the nominating committee, and our judges, there is also the executive committee comprised of publishing
industry executives who work throughout the year on the logistics and the all important fundraising aspects of
the event, along with all the fabulous people at the MS Society."
Mehmet Oz, presenter, doctor, and television host of "Dr Oz"
He leaps on stage swiftly and with great enthusiasm to introduce Hall of Fame winner Carolyn Reidy,
president and CEO of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
"...She knows all the details but she wants to know the inside scoop, the dirt, as well. She also has an
uncommon grasp of the big picture, and she knows how to take that information and craft wonderful
books, but also run a large business...She cares. She gives a darn. She has a whole-hearted commitment
to all the people who work in the organization, and she has a remarkable knack for paying attention to detail..."
Carol Reidy, Hall of Fame winner
"...For me, one of the great pleasures of publishing is that we get to take each new book on its own terms and
then we're challenged to figure out how to help that book find its audience. For my money, inspirational
books are some of the most important books we publish because once we help that book find its reader,
the book then helps the reader find what he or she is looking for..."
Childcare/Parenting
Ashley says: "...If we knew that praising kids for how smart they were led to less achievement,
instead of inspiring more, well, I've been tutoring kids for 10 years, I would have done things differently...
what else is there in child development that everyone in the scientific community knows about but that hasn't made it
to the general public? That really became a catalyst for this book...bringing science to peoples real lives."
Green
"...I wanted to make sure I thought about and wrote about sustainable agriculture from a global perspective. It's
very common these days to pursue improvements in agriculture on a local level...there's a global dimension to
this problem that our emphasis on eating local is not effectively addressing...
"...the second thing I wanted to do
with my book is make sure I didn't preach to the choir...I'm temperamentally and also intellectually more
inclined to take some of the perceived wisdom and scrutinize it and ask some tough questions about it..."
Motivational
"...Not long ago I was interviewed by a magazine writer who was 11 years-old — no, they're not 11-years-old,
but I mean they seemed like they were 11 years-old — she asked me, 'What exactly is your coaching methodology?'
I could tell she was thinking of one of those HR instruments, like Myers-Briggs and 360 Feedback and all those things.
I said, 'Oh, well actually I use the Michael Angelo Method'... (Gail explains chiseling away everything that's not you.)...
"...It's not about a well-organized life, but rather for you to be free. For you to step into the clearing and be everything
you're meant to be with all flags flying..."
Inspirational Memoir
"It wasn't that I wanted to tell readers the news that human beings are capable of great resilliance or that charity
happens. I didn't want you just to receive those truisms, but I wanted you to experience them again, the way we
experience those things in our lives — through the story of this guy, Dale. I think this is what all the writers
I admire do. They make the world new, again...if a reader takes away nothing else from my book, I'd like the reader
to go to villagehealthworks.org."
Personal Finance
Shortly after she wrote her first personal finance book, "...I started hearing from people who told me they couldn't do it,
because they couldn't get past step one. It made me wonder, what was that? What was the difference between the
people who could truly succeed and the ones who couldn't? And so I sat down with my wonderful editor — yay for Richard Pine again — and
we sketched out to put The Difference together, and so this book was formed..."
Robin Roberts, host
"...MS Society has 10,000 members in 42 countries...The MS Awareness Award honors an author whose work helps
moves us closer to creating a world free of MS by increasing people's understanding of this disease that affects
400,000 Americans. So ladies and gentlemen, please welcome...
Cami Walker, MS Awareness Award winner and New York Times bestselling author of 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can
Change Your Life.
"...I would not have ever imagined I'd be standing up here because two years ago I couldn't stand up.
I couldn't walk. If it weren't for the MS Society and the help that I've gotten through them, as well as whatever divine
force brought this divine 29 Gifts project...
"When I got this diagnosis, I thought it
was the end of everything but little did I know it was just the beginning of everything that I wanted in my life..."
Relationships
"...My field is Linguistics, which is usually not associated with books that are practical in terms of
people's everyday lives, so I'm especially honored when I realize that books I've written,
although they're about language, are truly about improving relationships..."
Spiritual
"...It's interesting that The Books for a Better Life Awards organization embodies some of the ideas that
I've found in the Gospels and, therefore, my book. One of them, in business or in our daily lives, could and
should be a healing process. Everything we do could heal the world in some way. Heal people. Heal nature.
Heal organizations..."
Wellness
"...As someone who has struggled with weight my entire life, my goal in writing The End of Overeating was
to explain the real reasons why we have such a complicated relationship with food. I'm thrilled that it has received
such a wide audience and that Books for a Better Life has recognized it for having a real impact on people's lives..."
First Book
"...98,000 people die every year from medical errors. It's the 4th leading cause of death in our country.
It's like a jumbo jet crashing every day...Writing has been therapeutic for me. I've always been kind a
journal-y person. I wrote while I was in the hospital with Josie. I wrote when she died...
"The book has
many threads. There's the thread of grief. There's the thread of anger. There's the thread of searching
for religion. There's the thread of finding what it means to forgive.
"The most important thread of
the book, and what I really hope people take away from is that notion of taking loss or disappointment,
which all suffer from at some point in our lives....and somehow working really, really hard to find a
way to make something good come out of it."
Robin Roberts, in closing
After all the awards were given out, the evening turned into a picture-taking gathering in front of the stage, involving lots of smiling and laughing people getting
to know each other better. Next year will arrive before you know it. Enjoy the journey!
For more information about the awards, visit nationalmssociety.org.
About the New York City Southern New York Chapter
About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
About Multiple Sclerosis |
The MS Society and Scott Manning presented the
14th Annual Books for a Better
Life Awards on February 22, 2010 in New York City, hosted by Robin Roberts, co-anchor of ABC News'
"Good Morning America."