Stephen King, Al Gore among nominees for annual Quills Awards

NEW YORK -- Stephen King, Doris Kearns Goodwin and former Vice President Al Gore were among the nominees announced Tuesday for the second annual Quills Awards.\nCaroline Kennedy will receive a Platinum Quill Award honoring her "commitment to providing support for education and literacy in New York." The Quills will also acknowledge the 50th anniversary of "Profiles in Courage," for which her father, then Sen. John F. Kennedy, received the Pulitzer Prize.\nA Corporate Literacy Award will be presented to Target for its "numerous and pro-active literacy and book programs." The awards will be handed out at an Oct. 10 ceremony, hosted by NBC anchor Lester Holt, at the American Museum of Natural History. Admission will range from $1,000 for a single ticket to $75,000 for a "Platinum Sponsorship."\nStarting Tuesday and through Sept. 30, voters can make their picks online at www.quillsvote.com and at www.quills.msnbc.com.\nKing was nominated in the science fiction/fantasy/horror category for his novel, "Cell." Goodwin's "Team of Rivals," her biography of Abraham Lincoln, was cited in history/current events/politics, as was Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," the companion to the documentary of the same name about global warming.\nThe Quills, billed as a combination of "populist sensibility" and "Hollywood-style glitz," were started last year by NBC Universal Television Stations and Reed Business Information, which issues Variety and Publishers Weekly. Ninety-five nominees in 19 categories, from general fiction to cooking, were chosen by thousands of booksellers and librarians and were required to meet one of several possible criteria, such as an appearance on the best seller list of Borders Group, Inc. or a starred review in Publishers Weekly.\nThere are no cash prizes.\nSo far the Quills have inspired more discussion within the industry than among the public.