One of the things I do to give back to the epublishing community is to judge contests.
I have judged EPIC’s eBook Competition for many years. This prestigious competition has run since 2000 and has grown dramatically over the years. It is sponsored by EPIC, the Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition. EPIC has been educating about and advocating for ebooks since the earliest days of the industry. I’m proud to have been a member since 1999.
This year, I judged the Global Ebook Awards (GeBA) for the first time. This is a privately operated awards program that’s been around for three years.
Contests like this can benefit all ebook authors by making the public more aware of the availability of quality ebooks. Individual authors who final or win the competitions gain recognition for their outstanding work.
But these contests can’t exist without volunteer judges. Right now EPIC is seeking judges for the current competition. To qualify as a judge, you must be an author, editor, or publisher. You can choose the categories you judge and specify your level of comfort with sex and violence, so you get to read free books of the kinds you enjoy.
Judging is confidential. Judges cannot discuss entries with anyone other than competition volunteer staff (not even other judges) and cannot reveal the books or even the categories they judged. I understand and agree with the rules, but I miss posting reviews of the books I read and judge as I like to review (albeit often briefly) every book I read.
I just finished judging GeBA this year, and look forward to judging EPIC’s competition in the coming weeks.