National Book Award and Pynchon

[D.]

With the recent announcement of this year's finalists
and Wiggins' comments, the NBA's website has a few
curious conditions to entries that might preclude
Pynchon as a possible candidate even before the book
hits the hands of the judges.  From
http://nationalbook.org/nbaentry.html is this:

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS OF THE AWARDS 

An eligible book that is entered shall not qualify for
the National Book Award unless its publisher agrees: 

A. To contribute $1,000 toward a promotion campaign if
the book becomes a shortlisted Finalist. 

B. To inform authors of entered books that, if
nominated, they must be present at the National Book
Awards Ceremony and at related events in New York City
prior to the ceremony. 

The traditional Finalists' Reading will be held at The
New School on Tuesday evening, November 14, 2006. 

The 57th National Book Awards Ceremony will be held on
Wednesday, November 15, 2006, at the Marriott Marquis
Hotel in New York City. 

C. To cover all travel and accommodation costs for
nominated authors, and to provide them with seats at
the Awards Ceremony. 

D. To purchase from the National Book Foundation, when
appropriate, medallions to be affixed to the covers of
Finalist and Winning books. The Foundation will also
license the medallion image artwork for reproduction
on the covers of Finalist and Winning books. Please
contact the Foundation offices for details about
pricing and licensing.

E. To inform authors that, if nominated, they must
agree to participate in the Foundation's
Website-related publicity, including on-line "chats"
with readers across the country. 

Somehow B,D and E seem unlikely to encourage Pynchon's
willing participation unless he gets permission or has
a change of career strategies after 40+ years....


D.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com