A Chat with BookTube Prize Judges

Here's the video with sign-up information:
• 2024 Call for Judges
After you watch the video for details about what is involved in becoming a BookTube Prize judge, here is the link to the sign-up form:
forms.gle/1bXF...
Judge sign ups for 2024 are open until December 31st, 2023.
www.booktubepr...
Featured judges:
On KZbin:
Freddie @sluggishreader
Gemma @GemofBooks
Jennie @JennieJohnston
On Instagram:
Freddie @freddie.reads.slowly
Gemma @GemofBooks
Jennie @JennieJohnstonArtist
Books mentioned:
Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Dinners With Ruth by Nina Totenberg
Magma by Thora Hjörleifsdóttir translated by Meg Matich
An Immense World by Ed Yong
Parakeet by Marie-Helene Bertino
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christi Lefteri

[@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!

[@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. 😊

[@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!

[@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!

[@Secret413]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@GemofBooks]

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

[@JyotsnaS]

So good to see you here Freddie 😁😁😁

[@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. 🤷‍♀️

[@MsReadsAlot]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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! 🎆

[@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.

[@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!

[@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?