diff --git a/src/components/CategoryNav.tsx b/src/components/CategoryNav.tsx
index f994ba9..fddccbd 100644
--- a/src/components/CategoryNav.tsx
+++ b/src/components/CategoryNav.tsx
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 'use client';
 
 import { useRouter } from 'next/navigation';
-import { allThemes } from '@/lib/filters';
+import { facetOptions } from '@/lib/filters';
 
-const CATEGORIES = allThemes();
+const CATEGORIES = facetOptions('theme');
 
 /** Event other components can listen for to apply a theme filter. */
 export const FILTER_THEME_EVENT = 'sparky:filter-theme';
@@ -42,14 +42,18 @@ export default function CategoryNav() {
         <span className="shrink-0 font-semibold uppercase tracking-wide text-ink/40">
           Categories
         </span>
-        {CATEGORIES.map((category) => (
+        {CATEGORIES.map((cat) => (
           <button
-            key={category}
+            key={cat.value}
             type="button"
-            onClick={() => handleClick(category)}
-            className="shrink-0 cursor-pointer whitespace-nowrap rounded-full px-2.5 py-1 font-medium text-ink/70 transition-colors hover:bg-spark/15 hover:text-spark-deep"
+            title={cat.value}
+            onClick={() => handleClick(cat.value)}
+            className="flex shrink-0 cursor-pointer items-center gap-1 whitespace-nowrap rounded-full px-2.5 py-1 font-medium text-ink/70 transition-colors hover:bg-spark/15 hover:text-spark-deep"
           >
-            {category}
+            {cat.short}
+            <span className="rounded-full bg-ink/5 px-1.5 text-[10px] font-bold tabular-nums text-ink/40">
+              {cat.count}
+            </span>
           </button>
         ))}
       </nav>
diff --git a/src/components/FilterPills.tsx b/src/components/FilterPills.tsx
index 5f7582c..48bcaef 100644
--- a/src/components/FilterPills.tsx
+++ b/src/components/FilterPills.tsx
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 
 import Pill from './Pill';
 import {
-  allThemes,
   countActive,
+  facetOptions,
   type ActiveFilters,
   type FilterGroup,
 } from '@/lib/filters';
@@ -14,32 +14,46 @@ interface FilterPillsProps {
   onClear: () => void;
 }
 
-// Browsing is filtered by theme only — genre and era pills were removed to
-// keep the bar focused and uncluttered.
-const THEMES = allThemes();
+// Three facet groups, each precomputed with one-word labels + book counts.
+const GROUPS: { key: 'theme' | 'genre' | 'award'; label: string }[] = [
+  { key: 'theme', label: 'Theme' },
+  { key: 'genre', label: 'Genre' },
+  { key: 'award', label: 'Awards' },
+];
 
-/** The theme pill-box filter bar. Multi-select. */
+const OPTIONS = {
+  theme: facetOptions('theme'),
+  genre: facetOptions('genre'),
+  award: facetOptions('award'),
+};
+
+/** The filter bar: grouped, space-filling grids of one-word pills with counts. */
 export default function FilterPills({ active, onToggle, onClear }: FilterPillsProps) {
   const activeCount = countActive(active);
 
   return (
-    <div className="space-y-4">
-      <div className="flex flex-col gap-2 sm:flex-row sm:items-start">
-        <span className="w-16 shrink-0 pt-1.5 text-xs font-semibold uppercase tracking-wide text-ink/50">
-          Theme
-        </span>
-        <div className="flex flex-wrap gap-2">
-          {THEMES.map((value) => (
-            <Pill
-              key={value}
-              active={active.theme.includes(value)}
-              onClick={() => onToggle('theme', value)}
-            >
-              {value}
-            </Pill>
-          ))}
+    <div className="space-y-5">
+      {GROUPS.map((group) => (
+        <div key={group.key}>
+          <p className="mb-2 text-xs font-semibold uppercase tracking-wide text-ink/50">
+            {group.label}
+          </p>
+          <div className="grid grid-cols-2 gap-2 sm:grid-cols-3 lg:grid-cols-4">
+            {OPTIONS[group.key].map((opt) => (
+              <Pill
+                key={opt.value}
+                block
+                count={opt.count}
+                title={opt.value}
+                active={active[group.key].includes(opt.value)}
+                onClick={() => onToggle(group.key, opt.value)}
+              >
+                {opt.short}
+              </Pill>
+            ))}
+          </div>
         </div>
-      </div>
+      ))}
 
       {activeCount > 0 && (
         <button
diff --git a/src/components/Pill.tsx b/src/components/Pill.tsx
index f46e67d..fc22f1d 100644
--- a/src/components/Pill.tsx
+++ b/src/components/Pill.tsx
@@ -7,20 +7,44 @@ interface PillProps {
   /** Small, muted variant for inline tags on cards / guides. */
   size?: 'sm' | 'md';
   title?: string;
+  /** Optional count badge shown on the right (used by the filter bar). */
+  count?: number;
+  /** Stretch to fill the grid cell and push the count to the right edge. */
+  block?: boolean;
 }
 
 /**
  * A pill box. Renders as a toggle button when `onClick` is provided (used by
  * the filter bar), otherwise as a static tag.
  */
-export default function Pill({ children, active, onClick, size = 'md', title }: PillProps) {
-  const base =
-    'inline-flex items-center gap-1 rounded-full border font-medium transition-colors whitespace-nowrap';
+export default function Pill({
+  children,
+  active,
+  onClick,
+  size = 'md',
+  title,
+  count,
+  block,
+}: PillProps) {
+  const base = `inline-flex items-center gap-1.5 rounded-full border font-medium transition-colors ${
+    block ? 'w-full justify-between' : 'whitespace-nowrap'
+  }`;
   const sizing = size === 'sm' ? 'px-2.5 py-0.5 text-xs' : 'px-3.5 py-1.5 text-sm';
   const state = active
     ? 'border-spark-deep bg-spark text-ink shadow-sm'
     : 'border-ink/15 bg-white/70 text-ink/70 hover:border-spark hover:text-ink';
 
+  const badge =
+    count !== undefined ? (
+      <span
+        className={`ml-1 rounded-full px-1.5 text-[11px] font-bold tabular-nums ${
+          active ? 'bg-ink/15 text-ink' : 'bg-ink/5 text-ink/50'
+        }`}
+      >
+        {count}
+      </span>
+    ) : null;
+
   if (onClick) {
     return (
       <button
@@ -30,7 +54,8 @@ export default function Pill({ children, active, onClick, size = 'md', title }:
         title={title}
         className={`${base} ${sizing} ${state} cursor-pointer`}
       >
-        {children}
+        <span className="truncate">{children}</span>
+        {badge}
       </button>
     );
   }
@@ -40,7 +65,8 @@ export default function Pill({ children, active, onClick, size = 'md', title }:
       title={title}
       className={`${base} ${sizing} border-ink/10 bg-ink/5 text-ink/70`}
     >
-      {children}
+      <span className="truncate">{children}</span>
+      {badge}
     </span>
   );
 }
diff --git a/src/lib/filters.ts b/src/lib/filters.ts
index 5284005..98cfe66 100644
--- a/src/lib/filters.ts
+++ b/src/lib/filters.ts
@@ -1,37 +1,51 @@
 import { books, type Book } from '@/data/books';
 
-export type FilterGroup = 'genre' | 'theme' | 'era';
+export type FilterGroup = 'genre' | 'theme' | 'era' | 'award';
 
 export interface ActiveFilters {
   genre: string[];
   theme: string[];
   era: string[];
+  award: string[];
 }
 
-export const emptyFilters = (): ActiveFilters => ({ genre: [], theme: [], era: [] });
+export const emptyFilters = (): ActiveFilters => ({
+  genre: [],
+  theme: [],
+  era: [],
+  award: [],
+});
 
 /**
  * Books carry granular genre/theme tags (great for the cards & guides), but that
  * produced ~20+ filter pills. For browsing we collapse those into a small set of
  * canonical buckets — a book belongs to a bucket if it has any member tag.
+ * `label` is the canonical filter value; `short` is the one-word display label.
  */
 interface Bucket {
   label: string;
+  short: string;
   members: string[];
 }
 
 const GENRE_BUCKETS: Bucket[] = [
-  { label: 'Tragedy', members: ['Tragedy'] },
-  { label: 'Dystopian & Sci-Fi', members: ['Dystopian', 'Science Fiction', 'Speculative'] },
-  { label: 'Coming-of-Age', members: ['Coming-of-Age', 'Vignettes'] },
-  { label: 'Gothic & Romance', members: ['Gothic', 'Romance'] },
-  { label: 'Drama', members: ['Drama'] },
+  { label: 'Tragedy', short: 'Tragedy', members: ['Tragedy'] },
+  {
+    label: 'Dystopian & Sci-Fi',
+    short: 'Dystopian',
+    members: ['Dystopian', 'Science Fiction', 'Speculative'],
+  },
+  { label: 'Coming-of-Age', short: 'Coming-of-Age', members: ['Coming-of-Age', 'Vignettes'] },
+  { label: 'Gothic & Romance', short: 'Gothic', members: ['Gothic', 'Romance'] },
+  { label: 'Drama', short: 'Drama', members: ['Drama'] },
   {
     label: 'Satire & Political',
+    short: 'Satire',
     members: ['Satire', 'Social Satire', 'Allegory', 'Fable', 'Political'],
   },
   {
     label: 'Historical & Realism',
+    short: 'Historical',
     members: [
       'Historical',
       'Social Realism',
@@ -43,12 +57,17 @@ const GENRE_BUCKETS: Bucket[] = [
       'Philosophical',
     ],
   },
-  { label: 'Epic & Adventure', members: ['Epic', 'Adventure', 'Survival', 'Graphic Novel'] },
+  {
+    label: 'Epic & Adventure',
+    short: 'Epic',
+    members: ['Epic', 'Adventure', 'Survival', 'Graphic Novel'],
+  },
 ];
 
 const THEME_BUCKETS: Bucket[] = [
   {
     label: 'Power & Politics',
+    short: 'Power',
     members: [
       'Power',
       'Surveillance',
@@ -62,6 +81,7 @@ const THEME_BUCKETS: Bucket[] = [
   },
   {
     label: 'Identity & Belonging',
+    short: 'Identity',
     members: [
       'Identity',
       'Belonging',
@@ -76,6 +96,7 @@ const THEME_BUCKETS: Bucket[] = [
   },
   {
     label: 'Morality & Justice',
+    short: 'Justice',
     members: [
       'Morality',
       'Justice',
@@ -91,6 +112,7 @@ const THEME_BUCKETS: Bucket[] = [
   },
   {
     label: 'Love & Family',
+    short: 'Love',
     members: [
       'Love',
       'Family',
@@ -102,17 +124,20 @@ const THEME_BUCKETS: Bucket[] = [
       'Obsession',
     ],
   },
-  { label: 'Race & Class', members: ['Race', 'Class', 'Slavery', 'Dignity'] },
+  { label: 'Race & Class', short: 'Race', members: ['Race', 'Class', 'Slavery', 'Dignity'] },
   {
     label: 'Dreams & Ambition',
+    short: 'Dreams',
     members: ['Dreams', 'The American Dream', 'Ambition', 'Destiny', 'Journey'],
   },
   {
     label: 'Freedom & Society',
+    short: 'Freedom',
     members: ['Freedom', 'Religion', 'Tradition', 'Civilization', 'Consumerism', 'Violence'],
   },
   {
     label: 'Science & Mortality',
+    short: 'Science',
     members: [
       'Science',
       'Technology',
@@ -131,6 +156,22 @@ const THEME_BUCKETS: Bucket[] = [
   },
 ];
 
+// Award buckets map a one-word label to substrings matched against a book's
+// `awards` strings (e.g. "Pulitzer Prize", "#1 NYT Bestseller", "Newbery Medal").
+interface AwardBucket {
+  label: string;
+  short: string;
+  match: string[];
+}
+
+const AWARD_BUCKETS: AwardBucket[] = [
+  { label: 'Pulitzer Prize', short: 'Pulitzer', match: ['Pulitzer'] },
+  { label: 'Booker Prize', short: 'Booker', match: ['Booker'] },
+  { label: 'National Book Award', short: 'National', match: ['National Book Award'] },
+  { label: 'Newbery Medal', short: 'Newbery', match: ['Newbery'] },
+  { label: 'NYT Bestseller', short: 'Bestseller', match: ['NYT', 'Bestseller', 'Bestselling'] },
+];
+
 function bucketsFor(values: string[], buckets: Bucket[]): string[] {
   return buckets
     .filter((bucket) => bucket.members.some((m) => values.includes(m)))
@@ -143,6 +184,14 @@ export const canonicalGenres = (book: Book): string[] => bucketsFor(book.genres,
 /** Canonical theme buckets a book belongs to (used by the filter bar). */
 export const canonicalThemes = (book: Book): string[] => bucketsFor(book.themes, THEME_BUCKETS);
 
+/** Canonical award buckets a book belongs to, derived from its `awards` strings. */
+export const canonicalAwards = (book: Book): string[] => {
+  const awards = book.awards ?? [];
+  return AWARD_BUCKETS.filter((bucket) =>
+    awards.some((a) => bucket.match.some((m) => a.toLowerCase().includes(m.toLowerCase()))),
+  ).map((bucket) => bucket.label);
+};
+
 /** Canonical genre pills, in display order, limited to those with matching books. */
 export function allGenres(): string[] {
   const present = new Set(books.flatMap(canonicalGenres));
@@ -155,6 +204,12 @@ export function allThemes(): string[] {
   return THEME_BUCKETS.map((b) => b.label).filter((label) => present.has(label));
 }
 
+/** Canonical award pills, in display order, limited to those with matching books. */
+export function allAwards(): string[] {
+  const present = new Set(books.flatMap(canonicalAwards));
+  return AWARD_BUCKETS.map((b) => b.label).filter((label) => present.has(label));
+}
+
 /** Eras in chronological (not alphabetical) order. */
 export function allEras(): string[] {
   const order = [
@@ -170,21 +225,53 @@ export function allEras(): string[] {
   return order.filter((e) => present.has(e));
 }
 
+/** A filter option: canonical value, one-word display label, and book count. */
+export interface FacetOption {
+  value: string;
+  short: string;
+  count: number;
+}
+
+const SHORT_BY_VALUE = new Map<string, string>([
+  ...GENRE_BUCKETS.map((b) => [b.label, b.short] as const),
+  ...THEME_BUCKETS.map((b) => [b.label, b.short] as const),
+  ...AWARD_BUCKETS.map((b) => [b.label, b.short] as const),
+]);
+
+function countFor(group: Exclude<FilterGroup, 'era'>, value: string): number {
+  const fn =
+    group === 'genre' ? canonicalGenres : group === 'theme' ? canonicalThemes : canonicalAwards;
+  return books.filter((b) => fn(b).includes(value)).length;
+}
+
+/** Options (value + one-word label + count) for a facet group, present-only. */
+export function facetOptions(group: 'genre' | 'theme' | 'award'): FacetOption[] {
+  const values =
+    group === 'genre' ? allGenres() : group === 'theme' ? allThemes() : allAwards();
+  return values.map((value) => ({
+    value,
+    short: SHORT_BY_VALUE.get(value) ?? value,
+    count: countFor(group, value),
+  }));
+}
+
 /**
  * Filter by the active pills. Within a group the match is OR; across groups it is
- * AND. Genre/theme are matched against the book's canonical buckets.
+ * AND. Genre/theme/award are matched against the book's canonical buckets.
  */
 export function filterBooks(active: ActiveFilters, source: Book[] = books): Book[] {
   return source.filter((book) => {
     const genres = canonicalGenres(book);
     const themes = canonicalThemes(book);
+    const awards = canonicalAwards(book);
     const genreOk = active.genre.length === 0 || active.genre.some((g) => genres.includes(g));
     const themeOk = active.theme.length === 0 || active.theme.some((t) => themes.includes(t));
     const eraOk = active.era.length === 0 || active.era.includes(book.era);
-    return genreOk && themeOk && eraOk;
+    const awardOk = active.award.length === 0 || active.award.some((a) => awards.includes(a));
+    return genreOk && themeOk && eraOk && awardOk;
   });
 }
 
 export function countActive(active: ActiveFilters): number {
-  return active.genre.length + active.theme.length + active.era.length;
+  return active.genre.length + active.theme.length + active.era.length + active.award.length;
 }