ADJUDICATION PROCESS

 

JURY SELECTION

All eligible titles submitted for consideration for the Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction are adjudicated by an independent, three-member jury. The Cabot Trail Writers Festival Society (CTWF) coordinates and recruits the jurors, who are selected for their expertise and knowledge of short fiction. All decisions made by the jury are final.


AWARD PROCESS

  1. Prior to a prize jury meeting, the CTWF organizes and reviews all submissions, sending each member of the award jury a package containing (A) a copy of each title submitted for the prize and deemed eligible, (B) adjudication instructions, and (C) general criteria for assessment.

  2. Jurors complete individual assessment of all submitted titles.

  3. Jurors attend an in-person or virtual meeting facilitated by a CTWF representative, where the jurors discuss each book (drawing on their notes taken during individual assessment) and reach a consensus on a shortlist of three books and a winning book from that shortlist. (Prior to discussing a title, jurors must disclose any conflicts of interest, determined by whether a juror stands to gain any financial benefit through association with a submitted title; stands to gain from any moral or intellectual rights; or has a significant personal relationship with the author of a submitted title. If there is a conflict of interest, the juror claiming the conflict will be absent during discussion of the book in question.)

  4. In partnership with the Atlantic Book Awards, the CTWF announces award shortlists in the spring following the adjudication period. Award winners are subsequently announced at the Atlantic Book Awards Gala.

  5. Publishers of winning titles will be supplied with gold seal stickers to attach to book covers. Digital copies of the seals are be available.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Each eligible submitted title is assessed by the jury according to the following criteria, both on its own terms and in relation to all other titles received:

    1. Merit of the writing (such as creativity and quality)

    2. Social and/or cultural merit of the text

    3. Originality of content, approach and/or technique

During individual assessment, jury members are asked to read all entries thoughtfully and rigorously, assessing (where appropriate) how the entries may be read and appreciated in response to the following specific questions:

Is the work cohesive in story, theme, and content? Does the text make use of interesting or unusual structure and/or language? Is the language evocative? Is the work well-organized? Is the work fresh, not imitative? Has the writer been intentional about the use of style and language? Does the work challenge any assumptions about the genre or form? Are there any social or cultural considerations that apply? Does the work make a contribution to the literary arts?