There are many -- very many -- Mark Twain Awards that recognize
different aspects of his career. The Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize
for American Humor just has the best publicity. Here are some that are
easily findable on the web:
Mark Twain Award, Missouri Association of School Librarians
http://www.maslonline.org/awards/books/MarkTwain/
Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award
http://www.msana.com/twainaward/
Mark Twain Award for Travel Journalism (Heidelberg Club International)
http://www.euro-journey.com/modules/eurojourney/item.php?itemid=1
Mark Twain Award for (TV) Station Excellence
http://www.cptv.org/local/special/Programming_Award.asp
Mark Twain Award (Connecticut Journalism)
http://www.positivelyct.com/twainaward.htm
There are similar Mark Twain Awards for print and television journalism
in California.
Mark Twain Award (Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature)
http://www.ssml.org/symposium/awards.html
Here are a couple of related items that don't seem to be on the web but
that I saved news clippings about as they were happening:
On July 4, 1998, the Philippine Star newspaper in Manila ran an editorial
in which it quoted "To the Person Sitting in Darkness" and proposed that
Mark Twain should be honored with "a fitting monument that could serve
as the focal point of every annual Fil-American Friendship Day
commemoration." (July 4 is celebrated as Filipino American Friendship
Day in the Philippines.)
During the April 3, 2000, opening of the Jose Marti Anti-Imperialist
Square in Havana, it was announced that it would include a monument
honoring Mark Twain. (Can anyone confirm that it was actually done?)
There is already a statue of Jose Marti in New York's Central Park.
Maybe we should get that area renamed the Mark Twain Anti-Imperialist
Square. Imagine the outcry that would provoke! :-)
Jim Zwick