Minnesota Book Awards Seeks Judges

The Minnesota Book Awards is seeking reader-judges for the program’s 35th year (2022-23). Each year, more than 50 judges are involved in this evaluation process. Panels are comprised of Minnesotans from many walks of life who share a love of literature and aptitude for critical appraisal. Judges commonly include authors, editors, educators – and yes, librarians, library trustees, and Friends of the Library, too!

Evaluation takes place across nine genre categories: Poetry, Memoir & Creative Nonfiction, Genre Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade Literature, Children’s Literature, Novel & Short Story, General Nonfiction, and Minnesota Nonfiction. For each category, adjudication takes place in two rounds: Preliminary and Final. Preliminary Round involves narrowing each category’s submissions to four finalist titles; Final Round judges then select their category’s winner from among those four finalists.

Each judge is assigned to one category matched to their interests and credentials, and to one of the two rounds of judging. Judges in both rounds will convene with their panels on Zoom – on Saturday, January 28 and Saturday, March 11, respectively.

If selected to judge, organizers will mail you books in batches: the perfect wintertime activity! The assignment also comes with a $375 stipend. Click here to learn more, or here to jump straight to the application form. Be sure to throw your hat in the ring by the deadline of Friday, September 9.