The Storyteller Awards hosted by StorytellerMike has a unique judging process that will be outlined here.   You can find all these details in the main contest book entitled "Storyteller Awards".   This is a supplementary book to the main awards book so results here will only be divulged here after they are presented in the main contest book.   Most of the details presented here are available publicly.   As judges, we have a few secrets that will only be revealed after the results are released.

Moreover, I will also not be revealing the type of judge I am until after the contest ends.   However, it is important to know the type of judges that will be present in every round to understand the process properly.

So let's take a quick tour to find out more about the duties of each type of judge and there are five of them:

Preliminary Judges:   

1.   These judges control the first round of the competition and review the books quickly.

2.   Every story will be analyzed by at least one preliminary judge.

3.   They can vote on a chapter of your book but cannot comment.

4.   Their duties include evaluating if the story can be read and if it is enjoyable.   So they are looking for grammar, spelling and punctuation uses.

5.   Their primary outlook helps push your story forward to the next rounds!

Categorical Judges:

1.   These judges are attached to a particular category or genre.

2.   They will read stories provided from other judges or on their own to compare the stories to other books that were entered in the same genre.

3.   They can vote and comment freely as long as they do not reveal any scores.

4.   They will look for how the theme of the story is presented with proper writing skills as it relates to that particular category.

5.   Their scores will be used to determine an average score for the genre.   Those books that fall beneath a certain level set will be eliminated and the rest will move on to the next rounds.   Thus the average for the genre will keep on changing as the rounds become more competitive.

Primary Judges:

1.   These judges review a wider range of stories from various genres.

2.   The Special Tags you assigned help determine the division of books between these judges since they look at themes regardless of category.  

3.   They can comment on your story but are not required to and do not vote on your stories.  

4.   They assess the overall interest in the story and how well it is told.   They read further chapters in your book if the appeal remains and that means more points for you!

5.   These judges add points to your book to help progress it through the next rounds.

Core Judges or Elimination Judges:

1.   The first round and subsequent round eliminators will be presented to the core judges to ensure that the process was fair as conducted by the three types of judges listed above.

2.   They have the final say before a story falls out of the race.   For these reasons, the identities of these judges remain private.  

Primary Core Judges:

1.   These judges work with the preliminary judges and core judges to ensure that every book receives a fair review.   

2.   You will be able to receive feedback from this judge in regards to your story after the contest ends.

In short, the process can be summarized as follows and maybe refined even further once the other rounds start:

Each story will go through an evaluation of at least two judges in the first round.   Then multiple judges the following rounds.   After the first round ends, your book will try to accumulate points from various types of judges so that your book stays in the mix of competition.   This process will take many weeks and a deadline will be updated after every round has ended.   The first, second and third place winners will have passed through every type of judge and would have collected the most amount of points!   Also, the winners will have more of a chance to be entered into the secret surprise.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me or StorytellerMike .   We will try to answer to our best of abilities!   Good luck to all the participants and the let the games begin!