Judging

The Australian Book Industry Awards are judged by 9 different specialist panels, comprising over 50 judges with expertise across the Australian book industry. This includes a specialist panel for all adult book categories, children’s book categories, retail categories, and individual panels for all other categories including the business awards and audiobook of the year award.

Each panel is made up of a combination of:

Publishing staff
Retailers of varying sizes
A journalist working in books
A literary agent

Any conflicts of interest are identified and those judges are recused from judging those entries.

The Process

Entries in all categories are scored against category criteria on our online judging platform Award Force. Each panel will meet on zoom after they complete their online judging rounds to discuss their scoring and then finalise their votes.

Book Award Categories

There are two stages of judging for all of our book award categories. In the first round, the two panels for Children’s and Adult book categories are provided with each entry, which includes a 50 word statement for why the title should be considered for the shortlist.

Once the first round of voting is complete, entrants eligible for the review stage are sent requests for more information to be used for voting in the second round. The criteria the judges use to score book categories is available here.