Awards

The BookFest Awards 

honors authors who create outstanding works of fiction and nonfiction. Books are judged in categories based on genre, theme, and aesthetics.  Entries will be vetted by an initial team, then the final places will be determined by an elite team of experts in the literary and entertainment world.

How The BookFest Awards Are Assigned

Awards are assigned based on first, second, third and honorable mention, according to their score.

This means that sometimes not every category has a first place, second and/or third place winner. If no books in that category rated appropriately, then no award was granted in that place. Likewise, several books sometimes tie for first place, second and third place. Much like getting a letter grade in school, sometimes there are more “A”s in the class because there are outstanding students who warrant that grade. Books are similar. Sometimes there are several outstanding books deserving of their place in The BookFest Awards.

The goal in the judging process is to highlight books in niche or often unrecognized genres as well as books that sometimes can dominate top-level genres. At The BookFest, we feel it is important to give niche or often unrecognized genres a chance to shine, too.

Three Components to Vetting in The BookFest Awards Judging Process

The vetting process has three components. An initial team vets each book submitted to make sure it is eligible and correctly categorized. Then judges with individual expertise further evaluate the submissions using the judging form, rating the books based on several criteria. The ratings are averaged to give the books a score.

The judges are experts in their field. For example, a professional artist evaluates the cover designs, a professional in the literary arts for children evaluates children’s books, etc. The third round of judging is done by the Executive BookFest Awards judging committee.

Awards are given in book genres as well as other categories such as best cover art and best website. There are four levels of awards in each subcategory. 

The executive BookFest Awards judging committee 

The committee includes Elaine Ash, Celeste S. Duckworth, Flo Selfman, and Elliott Wolf. Submissions are also judged by industry experts and BookFest Bellwethers.