Arts unravelled: how are book awards decided?

How do judging panels determine which books, or poems, or essays are more worthy than the others? How do they even decide which works to consider? And how did they end up as judges in the first place?

If you’ve ever pondered any of these questions then the good news is firstly you’re definitely not alone, and secondly, you’re in luck. Because we too have often wondered about this, and the good thing about being the country’s biggest arts centre is that when we do wonder about such a thing, we’re handily placed to find out the answer. 

From the Booker and International Booker Prizes to the TS Eliot Prize, we regularly host literary awards-related events here at the Southbank Centre, from shortlist announcements and readings to the actual prize-givings themselves. And as part of 2025’s London Literature Festival we welcomed three more to our buildings. 

There was the Shortlist Readings for the Goldsmiths Prize, which is awarded to a book deemed genuinely novel, one which embodies the spirit of invention that characterises the genre at its best. And the announcement of the winners of the The Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize for emerging and early career writers, which is open to short works, up to 3,000 words in length, across three categories; Poetry, Fiction and Life Writing. And we hosted The Forward Prizes Ceremony, which rewards new poetry in the UK and Ireland across four categories; Best Collection, Best First Collection, Best Single Poem – Written, and Best Single Poem – Performed.

So why keep wondering? Instead we spoke to representatives from each – the Goldsmiths Prize, the Wasafiri Prize and the Forward Prizes – who gave us a special insight into just how book awards and literary prizes are decided.

How is the judging panel chosen?

If you’re going to give out a prize, then you’re going to need judges; judges who are not only impartial, and carry a weight of expertise, but who also understand what your prize represents and stands for. So, who do you get?

For some awards the make-up of a judging panel – although changing each year – always follows the same pattern. This is certainly true of the panel for the Goldsmiths Prize, for which the chair will always come from Goldsmiths’ Department of English and Creative Writing. A second judge is provided by their media partner The New Statesman, while the other two panel members are, as Literary Director of the Goldsmiths Prize Tim Parnell explains, ‘novelists chosen because their work exemplifies the creative daring the Goldsmiths Prize rewards’.

For the Wasafiri Prize, that idea that the judges should exemplify the ethos of the award, is a real driving factor, as Wasafiri’s Dr. Elizabeth Robertson, Administrations and Programme Manager, and Dr. Sana Goyal, Editor and Publishing Director, confirm. ‘We determine the panel based on writers whose work aligns with Wasafiri magazine’s mission, writers whose work we admire, who we’ve previously published and those we want to, as well as writers Wasafiri has longstanding relationships with’.

For the Forward Prizes, it’s important that the panel not only reflects the spirit of the prize, but also its audience. ‘We think it’s critical to have a non-specialist member of the panel, or at least someone who has a demonstrated love of poetry but doesn’t make their primary living from poetry, explains Mónica Parle, Forward Arts Foundation’s Co-Executive Director. ‘As a charity, Forward wants to speak not just to ‘expert’ or ‘establishment’ audiences, and so it seems critical the panel has experience of working more broadly.

‘We also consider crucial identity characteristics, as well as geography, and that poet judges read, write, and perform in a wide range of ways. We also want to have a mix of established poet judges and more emerging ones to reflect the breadth of work submitted across the categories. It’s a heady task’. So heady that it can often take multiple years, as Parle confirms, ‘I already have one judge pencilled for 2028!’

And if you find your award branching out to encompass submissions from a new field, genre, or area, then it’s important that your judging panel has sufficient expertise. This year the Wasafiri Prize was opened up to work in translation for the first time, and so, as Robertson and Goyal explain, ‘it was important to us to include two judges with experience with translation, and so two of our four judges work as translators as well as writing their own original texts.’ When the Forward Prizes added a performance category in 2023, they went one further, establishing a second panel with particular expertise of performance.

How do writers and poets enter literary awards?

For most literary awards, the entry submissions come directly from publishers, be that book publishers (big or small) in the case of prizes for novels or collections, or magazines and journals in the case of individual poems. For poetry, where, as Parle reiterates, ‘the vitality of the artform comes from the micro enterprises–publishers, magazines and competitions that are a labor of love for one or two people, without whom some work would never be platformed,’ it’s particularly important to ensure that works put out into the world by smaller-scale publishers are acknowledged.

But only taking submissions from publishers, even when limiting the number of entries each publisher can submit, also offers challenges, as Parle reflects. ‘As an organisation that champions broadening out the artform, we have always grappled with the problem of gate keepers. Our permanent staff team is majority diverse, and as such, we recognise the long-standing, institutionalised problem of publishers not reflecting the wider population, and so we struggle with publisher-only submissions’.

This is something the Forward Prizes are addressing with the relatively new category of ‘Best Single poem – Performed’, which has enabled them to trial self-submission. ‘It’s been a wonderful experiment,’ says Parle, ‘but we’re still grappling with a host of challenges around that process and how to ensure parity between submissions that have professional resources behind them and ones that are more self-generated’. 

For the Wasafiri Prize however, self-submission isn’t anything new. Because their prizes are specifically open only to ‘writers who have not published a book length work under contract’, self-submission is the only way that work can be entered for the prize. Other than that it has, as Robertson and Goyal stress, ‘no restrictions, and is open to all writers, of all ages and genders, everywhere,’ and so any entries to the Wasafiri Prize ‘are entered directly by new and emerging writers, and all pieces are unpublished at the time of entry’.

Can the judges suggest submissions of their own?

Yes. Sometimes. ‘I’m so glad you asked this!’ exclaims Parle. ‘We do accept call-ins from Forward Prizes judges. Until we figure out how to broaden our submissions approach, we see this as the most vital enhancement to publisher-led submissions. We place so much effort on ensuring the balance of our judging panel, we hope they can invite work they admire that hasn’t been submitted… We learn so much from each judging panel in terms of what’s happening in poetry in their respective regions and also more broadly across the world’.

Likewise, for the Goldsmiths Prize ‘the judges have the power to call in novels which have not been formally submitted,’ says Parnell. Although he adds that ‘this happens rarely because publishers are good at ensuring their writers are considered, but it’s useful to have this option so that nothing gets missed.’

How many entries do book awards get? And how are those entries trimmed down to a longlist or shortlist?

Literary prizes receive a lot of entrants. This year the Goldsmiths Prize had 125 submissions, the Booker Prize 153; the Forward Prizes receives ‘somewhere around 600 submissions every year across the four categories’, and the Wasafiri Prize usually gets ‘between 800 and 1,000 entries’.

That’s a lot of entrants, but might not involve quite as much reading for each judge as you may think. As Parnell explains, ‘the selection process for the Goldsmiths Price is in some ways easier than for, say the Booker, or any prize that aspires to select the ‘best’ books of the year. Because we’re only looking for novels that eschew conventions and seek new ways of telling, it’s not difficult to identify those submissions that are doing this. A novel that is conventional in terms of voice, character, and its imagined world, however good it might be on its own terms, is ineligible. Thus, we don’t do the selection in stages or split the books between the judges.’

For the prizes with much more substantial submission lists, the initial phase of trimming submissions towards a shortlist is usually spread across the judging panel. In the case of the Wasafiri Prize, each category has its own designated judge and so, as Robertson and Goyal outline, ‘the longlist in each category is read by each category judge to determine a shortlist in each category. Following this, the full panel reconvenes and every member of the judging panel reads the shortlisted entries in all three categories.’

The Forward Prizes panel face a similarly sizable task and though each judge is invited to read or watch all submissions, Parle admits that ‘realistically it’s a challenge to [do so] across the two months designated to that task’. Instead they ‘divvy up entries among individual judges to do an initial sift… this also helps to eliminate any conflicts of interest, and lets us assign judges unfamiliar with the poets to read first’. This ‘sift’ still leaves a sizable number of books or works, and so all judges will read all the submissions to have reached this stage, to help assemble an initial longlist in each category, which in turn is whittled down onto a shortlist ready for the panel to convene and discuss.

How are the books, pieces and poems judged to determine a winner?

What judging panels are looking for from submissions will change from one literary award to the next, but all share the same goal; finding the work that best encapsulates the aim of the prize. ‘We’re a prize celebrating and championing the short form’, explain Robertson and Goyal of the Wasifiri Prize. ‘We’re looking for standalone entries – and for the pieces to not read like extracts from longer works. It’s worth saying that while we’re looking for the very best new writing by emerging writers, we’re not expecting perfection – as these writers are usually at the beginning of their writing journeys – we’re here to prize promise and potential’. 

By comparison the judges of the Goldsmiths Prize are ‘looking for very distinct kinds of fiction’, as Amy Sackville, Chair of the Judges 2025 explains. ‘Unlike other prizes which typically aim to reward the ‘best’ novels, we’re looking for writing that shows ‘creative daring’, that ‘breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form’; the novel being a genre of writing that is always reinventing itself, we are looking for the best examples of that inventive spirit’.

‘In our briefings with the judges we encourage them to think not just about what makes the ‘best’ poetry,’ explains Parle of the Forward Prizes, ‘but rather, as former judge Karen McCarthy Woolf put it, view their selections as an act of curation. We argue that the work they pick should reflect both the times we’re working in, and to think how each poem or collection is in conversation with the others on the list’.

But though the prize itself may have a clear mission, the decision as to who wins will always rest with the judges, as Parle says, ‘we don’t consider ourselves experts on what good poetry is: we very much delegate that to the judges.’ And though, as Wasafiri’s Robertson and Goyal state, ‘each judge may bring different criteria and expectations, it’s safe to assume that all judges are looking for work which is original, work which excites us all, and which takes risk and traverses new territories – both formally and stylistically’.

Do award judges ever take book reviews or sales figures into account?

Not in the case of the Goldsmiths Prize. Mainly because, as Sackville outlines, ‘it’s really important that prizes don’t have hidden criteria! And so I have done my best to avoid other reviews and to approach every novel with an open mind’. Sales figures particularly have no bearing on the Goldsmiths Prize where, as Sackville reiterates, ‘all submissions are judged equally and purely in terms of the Goldsmiths Prize’s mission to reward fiction that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form. That might be a book by an established writer or a debut, from a major publishing house, a tiny indie, or anything in between’.

Sales have no impact on Forward Prizes decisions either. ‘I haven’t yet heard anyone mention sales figures in my five years moderating these meetings [of the judging panel],’ confirms Parle. ‘Some judges may mention reviews to justify their arguments and persuade other judges, but it actually very rarely comes into play and certainly isn’t a criterion for selection.’ In terms of the Forward Prizes in particular, judges tend to look to identify works that have been overlooked, as Parle explains. ‘I think it’s fair to say all at Forward feel uncomfortable with the concept of a prize as representing the ‘best’. For us, it’s about showcasing work that’s in conversation and that through that interaction all the work celebrated collectively captures the lived experience of the UK today.’ 

What’s it like to be one of the judges on a prize panel?

We’ve touched on how the panels are put together and how judges approach choosing a winner, but what’s it like to be on the panel of a literary prize? ‘You feel a certain amount of pressure,’ says Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature & Spoken Word here at the Southbank Centre and a previous International Booker Prize chair, ‘because these decisions have profound ripple effects on the careers of the authors and translators in question, especially in today’s climate. But you’re not making these selections in isolation, you’re doing so in collaboration with fellow judges and readers, and despite the mythology around panels being inherently acrimonious or divisive – I’ve always found that an overwhelmingly positive and collaborative experience. So yes, while there is a pressure involved, the opportunity to interrogate the books rigorously and at length with a panel of exceptional readers was itself a joy. There will always be those who take a different view, but knowing you have debated a book rigorously and arrived at your own conclusions makes a considerable difference’.

Sackville too has felt that weight, but also the relief that comes through the collaboration with the broader judging panel. ‘I really believe in the mission of [the Goldsmiths] prize; it has had a meaningful impact on the literary landscape as a whole, in terms of what gets read and what gets published, as well as on the careers of individual winners. So, there’s quite a lot of pressure! But the collective endeavour of reading everything under consideration with three fellow judges whose own work is so brilliantly committed to the form, offers some reassurance’.

But it’s not just the joy of being part of a team that offsets the burden. As Hodgkinson explains, as a member of a judging panel you also get to enjoy that ‘sense of excitement and exhilaration that comes from discovering a book you feel a desire to champion. When this happens the book itself tends to take over, and it’s less about your role as a judge, and more about communicating your experience as a reader to the wider panel and public as a whole. In a sense you become an advocate for a book, and of course you bring your own subjectivity to that, but the beauty of the process is wanting more people to have access to an analogous experience. It’s similar to the instinct that comes from wanting to recommend a book to a friend, but the mechanism of a prize has a multiplying effect’. 

So whilst there is undoubtedly a sizable pressure to being part of a literary prize panel, there is plenty to offset that. And for reassurance of this we need look no further than Sackville, who sums up her experience as chair of the Goldsmiths Prize as ‘a completely joyful and exhilarating summer of books’.

How easy is it for a book award panel to agree on a winner?

So we know that judging panels are supportive and collaborative, but at the same time they’ll each potentially have, as Hodgkinson put it, ‘a desire to champion’ different books, authors, poems and poets. So how easy, or hard, is it for the panel to agree on a winner?

‘It is exceptionally hard. I can’t underscore that enough,’ says Parle. Which is inevitable when you consider, as Robertson and Goyal reaffirm, ‘prizes are subjective, and each panel is different’. ‘The selection process is full of variables,’ asserts Parnell, ‘and that includes the books submitted in a given year and the composition of the judging panel.’

‘If a decision comes too easily I would argue we haven’t done an appropriate job of constituting a sufficiently diverse panel,’ Parle says. ‘It’s reaffirming each year to see how much care and consideration and time the judges give to this process. They argue so passionately for the work they love, but at the end of the day, art is subjective. We should all respond to and see different things, and these judges do… the difference between making the shortlist and not is hairline.’

With such subjectivity and narrow margins, it’s inevitable that the time it takes to make decisions will vary year-on-year, as Robertson and Goyal affirm; ‘In 2024, the Wasafiri Prize panel was completely unanimous in agreeing winners in all categories. In 2023, we had two further meetings to decide the winners’.

And what happens if the panel can’t agree?

So, given how subjective the criteria and judging for awards such as the Goldsmiths, Wasafiri and Forward Prizes can be, surely there have been instances when panels have struggled to agree. So what happens then? ‘I’ve always been impressed by the willingness of our judges to channel the spirit of the Goldsmiths Prize and collectively arrive at their choices,’ says Parnell. ‘Meetings certainly differ in length, but never in my experience because of intractable disagreement. We’ve only once had a panel who were evenly split when trying to pick the winner and they were able to resolve things through discussion’.

‘We have five judges so that odd number allows for a majority vote,’ explains Parle of the Forward Prizes. ‘It can be painstaking though. Often we whittle down until we have two picks, and then things come down to a simple majority vote. In the event there’s gridlock, the chair of judges would ultimately have the call’. And that’s the same for both the Wasafiri and Goldsmiths Prize, where ultimately there can only be one winner, and so the casting vote would fall on the Chair of the panel, although as Parnell confirms, for the Goldsmiths Prize to date, ‘the power has never been invoked’.