Looking to broaden its appeal to the public and increase its impact on sales, The National Book Foundation, which presents The National Book Awards, announced Tuesday that it would increase the number of finalists and diversify the judging pool.

The changes to the prestigious American award were widely anticipated. For years, the foundation has confronted criticism that it was too insular, often skipping bestselling authors in favor of unknowns. Not only did that make the award less relevant to the public, it hampered its ability to lift book sales.

Board members had come to feel that the awards needed a model more like that of the Man Booker Prize, Britain’s top literary honor, which is more integrated into popular literary culture.

“When a book is shortlisted for the Man Booker prize, it sells another 50,000 copies,” Morgan Entrekin, president of Grove/Atlantic Press and vice chairman of the National Book Foundation’s board, told The New York Times last November. “It can transform the fate of a book.”

“The winner of National Book Awards succeeds,” he added. “But I would like to see it have that kind of effect on the shortlist as well.”

For over a year, the Foundation has been soliciting input from consultants and other members of their industry — ranging from agents to booksellers — to see what changes would help increase its profile.

The awards will continue to be given to books by American authors published in each of four genres – Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry and Young People’s Literature. But the foundation will split the finalist process into two parts. Six weeks before the award, the foundation will announce a “long-list” of 40 finalists, 10 for each category. About four weeks later, it will narrow the list in half.

In addition, judging will no longer be limited to writers, but could include other literary professionals such as critics, librarians, and booksellers.

“In the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s,” Harold Augenbraum, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, said in a written statement, “such prominent critics as Malcolm Cowley, Irving Howe, Alfred Kazin, and Helen Vendler served as National Book Award judges, bringing a breadth of knowledge and expertise to the panel discussions. By enlarging the judging pool new and exciting voices will again deepen and enrich the process.”

Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/national-book-awards-to-diversify-judging-pool/?partner=rss&emc=rss