Borders(R) Announces Nominees for 2005 Original Voices Awards; Awards Recognize and Reward New and Emerging Authors and Musicians

Borders Inc. (NYSE:BGP), a leading retailer with morethan 470 Borders Books & Music stores throughout the U.S., todayannounced nominees for its 2005 Original Voices Awards. The annualawards competition honors books in the categories of fiction,nonfiction, independent reader/young adult, and children's. Inaddition, for the first time, Borders will also honor music. From thefield of nominations listed below, one winner in each category willultimately be selected to receive a $5,000 prize from Borders, as wellas wide consumer exposure for their work. Additionally, thewinners--who will be announced Jan. 19, 2006--will be honored at aspecial breakfast reception during the 2006 BookExpo Americaconvention in Washington, D.C. in May.
Nominees for the 2005 Original Voices Awards are:

Fiction:
"The History of Love: A Novel" by Nicole Krauss
"Kung Fu High School" by Ryan Gattis
"The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas: Stories" by Davy Rothbart
"The Memory of Running: A Novel" by Ron McLarty
"The Mercy of Thin Air: A Novel" by Ronlyn Domingue
"A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian: A Novel"
by Marina Lewycka

Nonfiction:
"Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
"Finding George Orwell in Burma" by Emma Larkin
"Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen"
by Julie Powell
"Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and
American in Iran" by Azadeh Moaveni
"Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey--The Sweet Liquid Gold that
Seduced the World" by Holley Bishop
"The Tender Bar: A Memoir" by J.R. Moehringer

Children's Picture Books:
"Flight of the Dodo" by Peter Brown
"The Flower Man" by Mark Ludy
"A Froggy Fable" by John Lechner
"Our Tree Named Steve" by Alan Zweibel, David Catrow (Illustrator)
"Russell the Sheep" by Rob Scotton
"There's a Frog Trapped in the Bathroom" by Susan Snyder,
Susan McCabe (Editor), Anna Johanson (Illustrator)

Intermediate/Young Adult Books:
"Elsewhere" by Gabrielle Zevin
"Funny Little Monkey" by Andrew Auseon
"Looking for Alaska" by John Green
"The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives-Book #1"
by Michael Buckley
"Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
"The Witch's Boy" by Michael Gruber

Music:
"Amos Lee" by Amos Lee
"Careless Love" by Madeleine Peyroux
"Illinois" by Sufjan Stevens
"Martha Wainwright" by Martha Wainwright
"Picaresque" by The Decemberists
"Un Viaje" by Cafe Tacuba

"The Original Voices program gives Borders another opportunity toshare our enthusiasm for books and music with our customers--a passionthat can be seen every day in our stores--by bringing attention tosome of the most exciting and inspiring work released throughout theyear," said Michael Spinozzi, executive vice president and chiefproduct officer for Borders. "Now in its 10th year, the BordersOriginal Voices program continues to put a much deserved spotlight onthe work of new or yet to be discovered talents within our business.We look forward to the process of reviewing these titles in the comingmonths as we select the winners."

Nominees were selected by Borders store employees and employeesfrom the company's headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich., who voted fortheir favorite works in each category. Now, a committee of corporatestaff members representing each of the categories will read, or listento, the nominated works and vote to determine the final winners.

The Original Voices Awards is one component of the BordersOriginal Voices program, which each month highlights the work ofcontemporary authors/illustrators from around the world. Thoseselected receive prominent placement in Borders Books & Music storesnationwide and the titles are featured in Borders This Month(R), thefree monthly in-store shopping guide available in all locations. Inaddition, selected titles are discounted 20 percent during the monththey are featured.

Each year, through this program, Borders features more than 200titles representing innovative and ambitious works from new andemerging talents, as well as titles that represent a new direction forestablished authors and artists. It is from this selection of titlesthat the nominees for the annual Original Voices Awards are chosen.

About Borders Group

Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE:BGP) is a leading global retailer ofbooks, music and movies with 2004 revenues of $3.9 billion.Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., the company employs approximately34,000 people worldwide. Borders Group operates more than 470 Borderssuperstores and approximately 650 Waldenbooks stores throughout theU.S. In addition, the company operates over 50 Borders superstoresoutside the U.S., as well as 33 Books etc. stores located throughoutGreat Britain. Borders Group has also acquired Paperchase ProductsLimited, a leading stationery retailer based in London, England withmore than 70 locations in the U.K. Teamed with Amazon.com, onlineshopping is available through Borders.com (www.borders.com) andWaldenbooks.com (www.waldenbooks.com). More detailed information onthe company is available at www.bordersgroupinc.com. Informationregarding Borders store locations, in-store events and titlereservation is available through www.bordersstores.com.