Shadow panels are like buses… none for ages, then two come along at once.
No sooner do I begin winding up my reading for the 2016 Shadow Giller (which has been rather fab this year, I must say) than I get asked to take part in shadowing another prize — this time the rather cumbersomely (is that a word?) named The Sunday Times/Peters Fraser & Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award.
Writers under the age of 35 are eligible (dang, there goes my entry!) for the prize, which is for a full-length work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry that has been published or self-published in book or ebook format. The winner gets £5,000; the three runners-up get £500 each.
There is no longlist as such, but a shortlist of four titles will be announced next Sunday, 6 November.
The shadow panel, which has been officially set up by Peters Fraser & Dunlop, will read all the shortlisted books and name our winner in advance of the real winner being announced on 9 December.
There are four other bloggers on the shadow panel — you’ll probably know most of them — so I’m in very good company. They are:
- Eric Anderson, who blogs at Lonesome Reader
- Naomi Frisby, who blogs at TheWritesofWomen
- Charlie Place, who blogs at The Worm Hole
- Simon Savidge, who blogs at Savidge Reads
To find out more about us, visit the official prize website and keep coming back here for news about the prize and reviews of everything on the shortlist. November’s shaping up to be quite an interesting reading month…
Reading Matters 
Congratulations, Kim!
I’m intrigued to see that Shadow Juries are starting to become part of the ‘marketing’ of prizes in a couple of cases. Part of Kevin’s legacy, yes?
I think it’s a great idea, because it spreads the word about the books, and that’s got to be good for the authors, especially the ones who don’t win.
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Yes, Kevin has left quite a legacy… but it’s taken 20 years for publishers to clock on! I think this is the first shadow panel set up officially, so I wonder if we will see more for other prizes by prize organisers? Personally, I’m just waiting for the day someone asks me to be an official judge for a lit prize — how great would that be?
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It would be an honour but it would be a massive amount of reading!
It’s my recollection that one of our major prizes tried to set up a Shadow Jury but I don’t know if it came off. I don’t think most people have any idea how big a commitment it is, or how stressful it can be if there’s disagreement amongst the jury about the merits of the books.
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Fun! I’ll be following along, as usual! 🙂
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Excellent, Naomi… at least this prize is just 4 books, not 6 as per the Giller, so a little bit more manageable.
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It’s been funny to see all the judges posting their announcements – almost as if you synchronised by your watches. How many titles do you have to review and how do you choose them?
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Haha, well, I published mine about 12 hours after everyone else as I’d forgotten we were allowed to make the announcement yesterday. (I thought it was next weekend.) There are only 4 titles on the shortlist, so we’ll be reading and reviewing them all. The shortlist will be announced next Sunday.
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I do love following along with these shadow panels, hope you enjoy!
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Thanks, Cathy… This will be fourth prize this year in which I read all the books on the shortlist: Stella Prize, Miles Franklin, Giller Prize and now this…
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