MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
October 18 – October 25, 2007 Edition
Quill Book Awards
Honor Bourne Film Trilogy,
David Halberstam, Time Warner
NEW YORK, NY/10/15/07Today, Reed Business Information (RBI) and the NBC Universal Television Stations announced the recipients of the Platinum Quill, Corporate Literacy Quill and Variety Blockbuster Book to Film Quill Award. The gala awards ceremony, to be held on October 22nd at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street, in New York City, will be hosted by NBCs Ann Curry and Al Roker, with special guest Stephen Colbert. There will be additional surprise guests. For the first time in its three-year history, The Quills have made a limited number of tickets to the awards ceremony and gala reception available for purchase to the public; tickets may be purchased directly from the Quills at www.thequills.org .
The Jason Bourne film trilogy from Universal Pictures received the 2007 Quill Variety Blockbuster Book to Film Award, selected by a nominating committee comprised of Variety staff members. The three films, based on the bestsellers by Robert Ludlum, include The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum.
Gerry Byrne, Chairman of The Quill Awards, said, Books ignite the imaginations of filmmakers to create living art, and the Variety Blockbuster Book to Film Award honors that craft. We are delighted that the Variety committee has selected The Jason Bourne Trilogy as the best translation of book content to film this year, and that Tony Gilroy, who wrote the screenplays for the three films, will be on hand to accept the Variety Blockbuster Book to Film Award at our awards ceremony.
Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Variety Peter Bart commented, As a publication with a long history of heralding the best in filmed entertainment, were excited to continue our involvement with the Quills. The Jason Bourne Trilogy has kept the country on the edge of its seats, much as did Robert Ludlums books, which are still going strong, with new editions by Eric Van Lustbader continuing the Bourne bestseller tradition. Its a pleasure to celebrate the directors terrific work, based on these blockbuster books.
The Platinum Quill is a Quills executive committee-selected annual award honoring an author whose life and work indelibly mark the times and the body of literature. In recognition of his writing as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, war correspondent, and bestselling author, David Halberstam was named recipient of the 2007 Platinum Quill. The title of Halberstams chronicle of the Vietnam War, The Best and the Brightest, entered the lexicon. He wrote broadly about many aspects of American life and culture, including the civil rights movement in The Children, basketball in The Breaks of the Game, modern media in The Powers that Be, and New York City firefighters on 9/11 in Firehouse. His most recent book, published posthumously, is The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War.
The 2007 Corporate Literacy Quill has been awarded to Time Warner Inc. for its commitment to education, and in particular, to Time Warner Cable in recognition of its more than two decades of work to improve reading and literacy in our country. Time Warner Cables signature literacy program is Time To Read, which mentors children and adults in order to improve their reading competency. Time To Read is the oldest and largest corporate literacy program in America. Over the years, Time to Read has helped more than 300,000 people with their reading skills. Today administered by Time Warner Cable, Time to Read currently has more than 6,000 mentors and learners participating. This philanthropic focus is part of the companys overall commitment to helping strengthen the communities it serves.
Produced by Al Roker Entertainment, Inc., the one-hour Quill Awards television special, hosted by Ann Curry and Al Roker, with SuChin Pak, in the new venue at Jazz at Lincoln Center, will be carried by the NBC Universal Television Stations and syndicated through NBC Universal Television Distribution to local markets nationwide on Saturday, October 27, 2007.
The Quills is the first awards program to honor excellence in publishing and include consumers in the voting process. AARP, Borders, Inc.®, PARADE, and USA Today are participating supporters.
Reed Business Information is North America’s largest business-to-business information provider, covering 23 market sectors with more than 80 market-leading publications and 80 websites, as well as a range of services. It is publisher of Publishers Weekly, Variety, Library Journal, and School Library Journal.
The NBC Universal Television Stations are owned and operated by NBC Universal, one of the worlds leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience.
Al Roker Entertainment, Inc. (ARE) produces top-quality programs for cable and network television. ARE has produced for Lifetime, A&E, PBS, Fine Living, E! Entertainment, and Discovery and is currently working on series and specials for The NBC Station Group, Food Network, In Demand / Mojo, Spike TV, and Court TV.
For further information on The Quill Awards, please visit www.thequills.org . Information on The Quills Literacy Foundation can be found at www.quillsliteracy.org.
