Prize lottery

News that the archivist of the Booker Prize, Peter Straus, has discovered that in 1970 the prize was not awarded for technical reasons set me thinking about annual music prizes. This thinking was in no way discouraged by an aside, made by Matt Damon at the recent Oscar ceremony, to the effect that it would be a good thing if the only films which were in contention for prizes were those that had been made at least ten years ago. He, of course, would still star — and might be less keen if the wait was 40 years — but that was not the point. He thought that, if these prizes were really meant to stand for excellence, then the longer view was likely to be the truer one.

The reason why 1970 was missed out by the Booker Prize was that in 1969, which was its first year, the decision to announce the winner in the spring deprived the event of any suspense.