Publishers determine which of their books are to be entered, but not the category (Book of the Year, Junior Book of the Year, Picture Book of the Year) – that is decided by the judges. Each judge receives a copy of every book entered (approximately 100) and must read it and then write a report. All reports are sent to the Judge’s Secretary who duplicates them and sends them to the other judges. The Judges’ Secretary also checks that the criteria for entry have been met; eligible books are those published in the calendar year preceding the Awards, and written or illustrated by an Australian or by a person resident in Australia.

The criteria for judging are: appeal to children (defined as those fourteen years and under); book design, production and quality of printing, having regard to the price at which it is published; general literary merit; and quality of illustrations. In addition, for the Picture Book Award, the judges must consider that it is the pictures which largely determine the appeal; however, where it is a picture storybook the text, however slight, must be complementary. This Award is intended primarily for younger children. The Junior Book of the Year Award is made to a book aimed primarily at children who have gained independent reading skills, but who have not yet achieved the degree of maturity required for full appreciation of the Book of the Year Award.

From my experience judges apply themselves to their task most conscientiously, and with a proper awareness of their responsibilities. Last year, for the first time, there was a telephone conference for all the judges in early December, and this was a great help and enabled a number of issues to be clarified.

I believe that the Australian Awards are one of the few major children’s book awards where every judge reads all the books. And not merely once; as reports are exchanged one rereads and reassesses, testing the books on children and on interested adults. This process occupies a great deal of the judges’ time from about November through to the end of January.

By February the judges should have read and assessed all the books, and read each other’s reports. Each judge then draws up a personal short list for each category, and these too are duplicated and exchanged, and there is just time for a last rereading before the judges’ meeting in March.

In early March the judges meet for a weekend during which the Short Lists and the winning books are selected. Whilst the judges’ personal short lists are used as a guide, no book is precluded from consideration at this meeting, and I was very impressed by the care taken to ensure that each judge and each book received a fair hearing. Copies of all the books entered were available for judges to refer to.

At the beginning of this meeting one judge is selected to write the Judges’ Report. He or she takes notes during the meeting, and also has available notes taken by a secretary. There is time set aside at the end of the meeting for judges to discuss the Report, and to decide on items to be included.

After the Judges’ meeting the Short Lists are released, and the selected judge writes a draft report. This is circulated to all the other judges for comment, and the final Judges’ Report prepared. This is then held until the announcement of the Awards at the start of Children’s Book Week in July. The full Judges’ Report is printed in the July issue of Reading Time.