Ever Read the Award winners?

I guess this goes along with the movies too, but how does knowing a book took a prize affect your consideration of the book?

I just posted the 2005 RWA RITA(tm) winners here and I found that only a few had been entered in the database at all — which means no one else requested them in the past year. Odd, don’t you think? And when I entered them, a good third are no longer in print (the category ones) with no plans to reissue them — even a small print run. So what’s the point? I don’t mean this in a mean way, but is it just a small pat on the head? I’m confused (and have been about this for years).

If a movie is nominated for Golden Globes or Oscars or even Palm de Ore (spelled wrong I’m sure, but too busy to go and look it up at the moment), they release, perhaps in small theaters, but at least they do in the big cities, so viewers have the opportunity to go out and check it out. Sorry, cash in on the award so to speak. But the Ritas don’t make that happen at all. If I’m wrong, please let me know.

Anyway, I only read two books of the winners and never heard of half of them, and you all know how much I read or at least know about books. It’s a mystery, I tell you!