2008 Judges & Evaluation Process

We are proud to continue a multi-stage judging process, which includes three phases of review. After meeting a specified set of criteria in Round 1, the top 20 percent of entries are moved on to Round 2. Round 2 of the process narrows the entrants down to 40-60 finalists in each subcategory by combining the scores from Round 1 and Round 2. Round 3, the final step in the process, determines the winners in each of the three categories by combining the scores of all three judging phases. These finalists are then reviewed and discussed by our judging panel and our final winners are determined.

Bonnie Ammer - Executive Vice President and Publisher at Large, Random House Worldwide
Harold Augenbraum - Executive Director, National Book Foundation
Claudia Brandt Arioli - Writer, Editor, Journalist
Jill Bialosky - Poet, Alfred A. Knopf Publishing
Elise Buchman - City College Poetry Program
Lee Child, Author - Dell Publishing Group
Janice Erlbaum - Villard Books Author & Gotham Writers' Workshop Faculty Member
Elliot Figman - Publisher - Poets & Writers Magazine
Sarah F. Gold - Senior Reviews Editor, PW
Phyllis Grann - Senior Editor, Doubleday Broadway
Caprice Gray - Yale Graduate & 2004 Winner
Richard Hoehler - Actor, Writer and Teaching Artist
Brandon Jacob-Jenkins - Associate, The New Yorker
Ali Kokmen, Manager - Del Rey Manga
Betsy Mitchell - VP, Editor in Chief of Del Rey, Mass Market & Licensing
Christopher Momenee - Editor, Writer's Lifeline, Inc.
Tricia Narwani - Editor, Del Rey Manga
Maura Naughton - Book Project
Parker Pracjek - Director, Urban Word
Calvin Reid - Co-Editor, PW Comics Week
Mike Romanos - Showcase and Children's Room Coordinator, Poet's House
Barbara Rothenberg - President, NYC Association of Principals Supervising English
Alex Simmons - Educational Outreach Director, New York Museum for Comic and Cartoon Art
Betty Sussler - Editor in Chief, Bomb Magazine