National Book Awards Design Refresh

NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS

The National Book Awards celebrate the American literary prizes bestowed annually by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aims to connect books with readers of all ages. Previous winners include William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, Flannery O’Connor, Jesmyn Ward, and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

For the 76th National Book Awards, Really Useful Media was once again entrusted with producing the live broadcast, marking our sixth consecutive year of collaboration with the National Book Foundation. For this iteration of the awards cycle, our goal was to achieve a cohesive production approach for three key events, including the Finalist Reading and the Teen Press Conference in addition to the National Book Awards Ceremony itself, which featured host Jeff Hiller and musical guest Corinne Bailey Rae, and to elevate the production values to meet viewership and fundraising goals.

FINDING THE RIGHT MESSAGE

In addition to the live productions, we collaborate closely with the National Book Foundation team to craft program videos for the Awards Ceremony that serve as fundraising calls-to-action in support of the foundation’s year-round programming. As part of this long-term creative partnership, we continue to evolve the storytelling strategy each year.

For the 76th Awards season, we created a high-energy cold open video to kick off the live broadcast, and highlight past Awards footage and B roll of red carpet moments, building excitement and celebrating the Awards' legacy. This strategy created space for the main program video to focus on the Foundation’s mission by grounding the work in impact storytelling. We spotlighted the ripple effect of books within the classroom of a National Book Foundation Teacher Fellow, illustrating the profound connection between authors and the next generation of readers, and placing the Foundation at the center of that work. The result was an emotional appeal that demonstrated exactly why year-round support for the National Book Foundation matters.

ENGAGING AUDIENCES EVERYWHERE

Building on our experience producing in-person, hybrid, and online ceremonies since 2020, each year we develop a cohesive approach to livestreaming across three distinct venues, adapting our technical strategy for the Finalist Reading at NYU Skirball and the Teen Press Conference at Symphony Space, before culminating in the Awards Ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street.

For the ceremony itself, we meticulously refine the event's run of show and visual aesthetic. To increase engagement and elevate production values, we implement creative solutions that integrate audience reactions and dynamic graphics into the program. Our collaboration extends to working closely with Cipriani’s in-house audio and video teams to ensure the flawless execution of technical cues for a seamless experience for at-home viewers.

“We have been tremendously grateful to collaborate with the wonderful team at Really Useful Media to produce the livestreams of both the National Book Awards Ceremony (since 2020) and Finalist Reading (since 2013). Their team is truly exceptional in thinking through every detail or challenge, and in producing an extraordinary event, and I couldn’t recommend them more highly!”

– Ruth Dickey, Executive Director, National Book Foundation