Best in Literature in Social Media - Shorty Awards

11th Annual Shorty Awards Categories

See below for official categories. Entries close and voting ends on February 21st, 2019 at 11:59pm ET.

Influencers

Honoring the most notable and viral Influencers from 2018. See below for official categories.

Brands & Organizations

The Shorty Awards honor the talented agencies, brands, and industry leaders behind the best and most innovative work on social media channels, campaigns, websites and applications.

From the 10th Annual Shorty Awards Best in Literature

Fact: we need literature. Fiction: Literature are a dwindling genre. Whether they are telling their story or someone else’s, seeking to educate or entertain, books can provide some of the most important commentary on society. There literary figures all use social media to expand upon their messages in the book and interact with their readers.

Winner

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been one of the most internationally-acclaimed authors over the past 10 years. In addition to her novels, TED Talks, essays, and a speech sampled in a Beyonce’s “Flawless,” Chimamanda is responsible for drawing a new generation of readers to African literature. She uses her prominence to promote the beauty of her Afr...

Finalists

The New Orleans-born Cleo Wade has accomplished an incredible amount by the young age of 28. The poet and artist has been featured in The New York Times and Vogue, served as a national surrogate for Hillary Clinton, and has her first book, Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life set for release in March of 2018. All this led The Cut to right...

Jon Ronson has been many things over his career: journalist, filmmaker, screenwriter, TV host, and, now, podcaster. The best-selling Welsh author enjoyed a successful 2017, with his podcast The Butterfly Effect with Jon Ronson debuting on Audible, and the Netflix Original movie Okja, which he co-wrote, premiering to critical acclaim. The subject...

It’s impressive that an “aliebn confuesed abot humamn lamgauge” was able to write a graphic novel that became an Amazon #1 Best Seller. The Canadian comedian Jonny Sun’s publishing debut, “Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too,” is based on his hilarious Jomny Sun Twitter feed, telling the story of a lonely alien sent to Earth to observe and ...

Author of the popular Crazy Rich series, Kevin Kwan was back on top in 2017 after publishing the 3rd and final installment of the trilogy, Rich People Problems, about one of Singapore’s wealthiest families fighting over a massive inheritance. It was also announced that the first novel in the series, bestseller Crazy Rich Asians, will hit the big...

Rebecca Traister

Few writers have been as notable as Rebecca Traister over the last 12 months. As a writer-at-large for both New York magazine and its web imprint The Cut, Rebecca lends ink to various hot-button issues, focusing on “women in politics, media, and entertainment with a feminist perspective.” In a year like 2017, she’s had her work cut out for her. ...

Nominees

In addition to serving as staff writer for The New Yorker since 1998, Atul Gawande has written an impressive five books, three of which have been New York Times bestsellers. The Stanford- and Harvard-educated surgeon is also a Rhodes Scholar, a MacArthur Fellow, and can be seen frequently on television doling out health advice to the public. Atul takes to...

Colson Whitehead

According to Twitter, Colson Whitehead could be “just another down on his luck carny with a pocketful of broken dreams.” Or he could be an author who’s won a Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, MacArthur Fellowship, and written a New York Times bestseller, earning him a massive international fanbase, including 200K+ followers on Twitter. In both essays a...

Curtis Sittenfeld

The sensational 2016 novel Eligible—a modern retelling of the classic Jane Austen tale Pride and Prejudice set in Curtis Sittenfeld’s hometown of Cincinnati—received acclaim from critics everywhere. It’s the most recent of the five novels the hard-working author published in just 11 years, and the second to get optioned for a TV pilot, with ABC looking to...

For years, Darcie Wilder has been one of the queens of the internet, with thousands of social followers parsing out her obsessions with her two homes: NYC and the web. Her second book, literally show me a healthy person, flew off the shelves upon its release in September 2017. The novel focuses on a character who struggles with constant urges and pressure...

One of the most respected literary critics in the world, Dwight Garner has reviewed literature for The New York Times for nearly 20 years, writing for other respected outlets like Salon and Esquire during his lauded career, as well. While he’s made a living as a journalist and critic, the West Virginia native also shows a mastery of Twitter, using the pla...

There must be something in the King family DNA. The son of famed authors Stephen and Tabitha, Owen King’s novels and other written works have received much critical acclaim. But instead of fighting to be king of the family’s authors, Owen teamed up with his dad to write Sleeping Beauties in 2017. They even toured the country together to promote the novel,...

About the Shorty Awards

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media.

Millions of people participate in The Shortys to recognize individuals and organizations producing great content on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, TikTok, and the rest of the social web.

The 11th annual shorty awards will be held may 5, 2019 in nyc.