A Chat with BookTube Prize Judges

[@seriela]

I agree that the best part of judging for the Booktube Prize is reading a gem of a book I would not have dreamed of picking up. That happened most recently with Little Devil in America which I borrowed from the library and ended up buying the physical copy. I LOVE that book! Thanks for this look at some of the judges.

[@AliceandtheGiantBookshelf]

I have judged the prize for the past two years, in the first year I did just one round and last year I did the final round as well. The best thing has been encountering books that became favourites that I would not otherwise have read. My favourite of last year was discovered in the first round of the BTP! Both years I was able to entirely read the books from the library. Sadly I don’t think I can fit in the judging this year but I would highly recommend the experience to anyone considering it and I hope to judge again one day. 😊

[@PageTurnersWithKatja]

I'm all signed up. I'm like Freddie (bits he said first third of the video) for translated fiction, which, of course, I understand the reasons not having as a category in 2024. I'm all signed up for non-fic and fiction and love that the prize gets me to read more non-fiction than I usually would. And the community voted sentiment from Gemma and global vibe from Jennie.

[@Mex.Libris]

Agree that I also love the research involved in the long long list. 😆 This was a great chat, thank you to the 3.

[@BookTubePrize]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ameliareads589]

The booktube prize brought a lot of books to me that I would have never picked up otherwise. Some were great surprises, some the stinkers I thought they would be. I think I was a judge for three years and might be again in the future. It's a wonderful prize, although for me as a European a bit to US focused and I am sad that the translated fiction category couldn't be continued. But that's even more of a reason to extend the pool of judges, because that's the only way to bring translated fiction back. Thanks for all the work you put into the prize!

[@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711]

This was a great explanation of the joys of being a judge. I have judged for three years: fiction, translated fiction, then fiction again. I think it is fair to say it is a big commitment but a fascinating experience.

[@JyotsnaS]

So good to see you here Freddie 😁😁😁

[@Secret413]

I love this. I hope you include more of these videos in the future.

[@GemofBooks]

Thanks so much for including me Jennie. It’s such a great prize and a fabulous opportunity for readers 🧡

[@sandrahollins3520]

I enjoyed your video today, sharing your views on the booktube prize. I was a judge for the last 2 years and can thoroughly recommend the experience. I judged translated fiction in 2022, and read some really good and some very odd books that wouldn't otherwise have come my way. This year I read fiction. One of my favourite parts of the booktube prize is picking the titles (I think 20) from a long list of over 100, and the anticipation of the announcement video of which books were the most popular picks and made it into the prize. It takes me a few days to make my choices. The first round judged is the most intense because all 6 books need to be read within the 2 month period, regardless of size, but my experience in judging rounds 2 and 4 thereafter I had read books from the previous rounds so it wasn't so intense. The final round is such a fun round to judge, because it is full of favourites (well, for me I hate-read one in round 1, and I was so surprised it made it to the final, but reading other peoples' comments, it was clearly loved by many, but I still can't see why!). I enjoyed being a judge, it was a great experience.

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

It’s great to hear the experiences of other judges. 2024 will be my third year as a judge. I have done translated fiction, fiction, and nonfiction.

[@MsReadsAlot]

Love this discussion! I have really enjoyed being part of the prize. So fun 😊

[@mireillelambre2006]

I have already signed up this year for both fiction and non fiction. It will be my fourth year as a judge but my first for non fiction. I am looking for the first of January to see the long lists.

[@BookTubePrize]

I always enjoy hearing from judges who return year after year. We start again tomorrow! Happy New Year! 🎆

[@alanscheer2137]

Very interesting and informative video. I hope to be a first-time judge. This video provides a lot of very helpful information.

[@BeyondBooks-wt5il]

I agree! It's definitely worth watching this video, if you've never judged before.

[@BookTubePrize]

Glad it was helpful!

[@RachelB.BookReferences]

I always try to participate in the nonfiction "long long" list, and judged for nonfiction for the furst two years. The last couple of years, I haven't been able to. While I like this prize better than some others, I do still feel like there is a certain bias toward big-publisher works or just ones that have already had a lot of marketing/exposure, and that that has the possibility of skewing the list. 🤷‍♀️

[@judybrown1624]

Question for all of you on that initial list, if you've read 4* books are you more or less likely to include them on your list of 20? On the one hand, I expect the winner to be 5*, on the other, they are probably better than some books I'm interested in reading.

[@JennieJohnston]

This has never come up for me Judy, but if it did I would most likely include it on my list because I was familiar with it. And 4 stars is a high rating for me. 😊

[@judybrown1624]

@@JennieJohnston I think I'll use this strategy this year. My 4* are often 5* for others anyway.

[@hopep1334]

2023 was my first year with the Booktube Prize Nonfiction. I think I skipped the first round, and did the next 3. I tried to do the long long list selection, but the researching proved to be too daunting, so I didn't submit, and felt bad about that. Glad to know that I'm not the only one who found that task challenging and skipped it! I can't help to think that the first round is the most important, in the sense that if all 6 of the 2023 final round books were assigned to one group in the first round, that 3 titles would have been eliminated in the first round. Am I right assuming this is how it works?

[@judybrown1624]

Freddie, does Blackwell's in UK ship to Malaysia?

[@SluggishReader]

Hi Judy! Sorry this is a suuuper delayed reply. I just saw your comment 😅 But yes, Blackwell's does ship to Malaysia!