The country's mania for prizes is not shared by this column which has, in curmudgeonly fashion, long ridiculed them as irrelevant, silly, unfair and often, the end product of politicking.

Thus far, I've not been proven wrong, yet I continue to write about literary awards, from Drue Heinz Literary Prize to last week's announcement of the National Book Award finalists.

I'm also plowing (or should it be ploughing?) along through "Wolf Hall" by Hillary Mantel, winner of the Man Booker Prize this year. It's the fictional biography of Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII's henchman in taking over Roman Catholic church properties, and more than a few Roman Catholics along the way, after Henry broke with the Pope.

Competition for the Booker is a cultural event in Britain even bigger than the pancake race on Shrove Tuesday, capturing the attention of London bookies who daily post the odds. Mantel was the clear favorite in the betting, so her ascension to the pantheon was not a shocker worthy of big tabloid headlines. Nor did she appear topless on Page 3 of those worthy dailies.

Remember that the Man Booker is restricted to books from the current or former Commonwealth nations, leaving the former colony of America to come up with its own competition, now called the National Book Awards.

The history of this contest is somewhat tortured, involving charges of meddling by the publishing industry at the start, then after reform, complaints by the publishing industry that the winners weren't mainstream enough.

The National Book Foundation, set up as an independent body to quell charges of manipulation, has reacted to the elitism charges by selecting a comedian as master of ceremonies. This year's MC is Andy Borowitz; his predecessors included Steve Martin and Garrison Keillor.

However, the publishing industry should be smarting again this year with the nominees in the NBA's categories of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young people's literature. Many are unknowns published by small or academic presses.

Omitted were more prominent writers such as E.L. Doctorow, Richard Powers, Denis Johnson, T.C. Boyle, and, yes, even the late John Updike.

Major works, including NBA winner William Vollman's massive history of migrant farming, "Imperial," and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's well-received memoir, "True Compass," failed to make the cut along with polished biographies of writers John Cheever and Flannery O'Connor.

Instead, jurors selected an original paperback from Wayne State University Press, Bonnie Jo Campbell's "American Salvage."

Editors at the University of Pittsburgh Press were beaming, though. Their title, "Open Interval," a poetry collection by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, was nominated in poetry. (For my account of her reading at the August Wilson Center Wednesday, see the book page at www.post-gazette.com).

Here are those mostly unknown finalists:

Fiction -- "American Salvage"; Marcel Theroux, "Far North"; Colum McCann, "Let the Great World Spin"; Daniyal Mueenuddin, "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders"; and Jayne Anne Phillips, "Lark & Termite."

Nonfiction -- T.J. Stiles, "The First Tycoon"; Greg Grandin, "Fordlandia"; Sean B. Carroll, "Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species"; David M. Carroll, "Following the Water"; and Adrienne Mayor, "The Poison King."

Young people's literature --Deborah Seligman, "Charles and Emma"; Phillip Hoose, "Claudette Colvin"; David Small, "Stitches"; Laini Taylor, "Lips Touch"; and Rita Williams-Garcia's "Jumped."

Poetry -- Rae Armantrout, "Versed"; Ann Lauterbach, "Or to Begin Again"; Carl Phillips, "Speak Low"; Van Clief-Stefanon, "Open Interval"; and Keith Waldrop, "Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy."

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