The dearth of reviewing competitions seems to me an unwarranted imbalance of literary genres and, as foreshadowed in last month’s editorial, ABR has decided to rectify the situation with an annual reviewing competition. Unlike the Pascall Prize, the winners will be chosen on the basis of a single review, instead of on a body of work. Entrants need not have been published before -and one aim is to uncover some new reviewers which will help nurture a new generation of reviewers. Entrants can choose their own books, with the simple proviso that the book must have been published any time between 1998 and 2000.

Also unlike the Pascall Prize, the ABR awards will operate in each of three different categories – fiction, non-fiction and children’s books. Poetry is somewhat problematic, but I see it as belonging to the fiction category. This is debatable and no doubt many poets will wish to comment on that, but we were unable to set up a fourth category and so poetry must be accommodated within the existing categories.

The entry form for this competition is on page 63 of this issue of the magazine. Full details of the competition guidelines are included on the entry form. Alternatively copies of the entry form may be obtained through the Independent Booksellers of Victoria, a list of whom appears on the outside back cover of the magazine. The simplest way to obtain a copy, apart from cutting up the magazine itself, is to send a SSAE to ABR Reviewing Competition and a copy will be returned swiftly.

The sponsors of the competition are Random House, Opera Australia, Mietta’s Queenscliff Hotel and the Independent Booksellers of Victoria. Judges are Jane Palfreyman (publisher at Random House), Michael Shmith (co-editor of Kobbé), Jason Steger (literary editor of The Age) and I will do the preliminary sorting to establish a short list for the judges close consideration. Closing date is 12 June 2000. The results will be announced at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival in August and the three winning reviews in each category will be published in the September issue of ABR. Details of prizes are on the entry form, a generous array of prizes in my view.

So what constitutes a good review? A review should be a lively piece of writing in itself, since many people read a review as a genre of its own without any necessary intention of reading the book. Quite legitimately, many readers use reviews to keep abreast of new publications and only occasionally buy the book in question. Therefore the review should be interesting in itself. Plot summaries are hopeless and usually very dull. Narrative elements should be woven into the discussion of the book’s merits and demerits. Clearly aspects of the plot must be recounted so the reader can find a bearing with the general discussion but that is very different from a plot summary.

One of the features I look for in first class reviewing is the ability to place the book in question in a context – a context of the writer’s work in general, or a context of other books in a similar area of publishing, for example. An outstanding review should enable the reader to receive the new book into a context of other relevant works. Thus, say, the review of a book on Aboriginal writing would cite other major books in the area, as comparable or contrasting with the new one. Or a new novel would be received into the context of recent Australian fiction, nominating similarities of differences with other novels in its area. Not everyone would agree with me on the importance of context but since I am the one doing the preliminary sorting of the entries I thought it worthwhile making my own views clear. For further insight into my criteria, read many copies of ABR, particularly the regular reviewers.