They are throwing a party and we are not invited.
Early in June there was an ad in Publisher Weekly for nominations for the debut author award given at the Quill Awards. My wife passed it on to me to look at and she asked what the Quill Awards were. I had run across them but couldn't remember so I googled them.
The ad gave the basic information needed for nomination which was to be done by email but failed to note a few things which I found on the Quill website.
You only need apply for an award if you have a starred review in Publishers Weekly and are at the top of the bestseller list from PW and national booksellers. The top award went to someone by the name of Rowling. Humm. Let's see. That means you really need not apply unless the debut author is one of those published by the big six. Most of us peons will not get into PW to begin with no matter what we produce.
So, it boils down to the big six and big media throwing themselves a party and we are not invited.
I thought about nominating anyway since the ad in PW did not specify the details I uncovered but gave it a low priority and by the time I got back to it the deadline had passed.
Maybe you are thinking it was just as well that I didn't tug on superman's cape. I don't subscribe to that philosphy. What are they going to do? Ignore us? Reject our nomination? Not give us a review? They already do THAT!