Each January, we host an Annual Book Cover Contest. This is a fun (as in, not serious) little contest where we do what we say we never do: We judge books by their covers!
Nominating
- To nominate a book, send an email to ldsbookgeek [at] gmail [dot] com with the words BOOK COVER NOMINATION in the subject line. (If you don’t get the subject line right, it won’t go to the correct mailbox and it won’t be included in the nominations.)
- Anyone except the author, cover designer, or publisher may nominate a book cover for consideration.
- Nominations start in early January and last 1 to 2 weeks. Watch the blog stream for the announcement post. Do not send nominations outside that time frame. They will be deleted.
- All nominations will be given consideration. I get the final say, but if enough of you really like a particular book cover, I’ll put it on the short list (even if I personally hate it) (unless it’s just really, really awful).
- Covers must be for novels by an LDS author published in the preceding year. Re-publications with new covers will be considered.
- Nominate your favorite COVER, not your favorite book or author. This contest has nothing to do with what’s inside those covers.
- You do not need to indicate the genre or category, just the book title. I will assign it a category.
- Yes, you may nominate more than one cover. You can put all you nominees in one email, or split them up however you want.
Selecting Finalists
- I tally up the votes and select five finalists in each category.
- I reserve the right to overrule nominations if the cover is really ugly—even if it gets a bazillion nominations.
- Categories are based on genre/sub-genre. The total number of categories may change from year to year. If a particular category has a huge number of really good covers, I may split it up into sub-genres.
- I will post two genre categories a day for voting. You’ll need to come to the site to cast your vote. (Schedule will be posted in the blog stream.)
Voting Guidelines
- Pick your favorite COVER, not your favorite book or author. (This is completely anonymous. No one, not even me, will know which cover you voted for.)
- Vote using the poll at the bottom of the post. Comments on the post are not counted as votes.
- You may vote twice in each genre category. (This allows authors to vote for their own cover, plus one other.)
- Feel free to leave comments stating why you liked a particular cover, or not. Be subjective—why/how did it grab you? How did it make you feel? (Be honest, but polite. They are not mutually exclusive. If you’re mean, I’ll delete your comment.)
- You may point out that I obviously have no taste because I missed THE best cover in the genre, just don’t call me bad names.
- You may send all your friends over to vote, but please tell them to vote for the most visually appealing cover, according to their personal taste. Don’t tell them to vote for your book just because you are friends.
- Voting deadlines will vary from year to year. Please pay attention to the initial post. (You’ll find a link to it in the sidebar during the span of the contest.)
- After the first round of voting, the genre winners will go head to head in a final vote for Overall Best Cover.
- Authors, Illustrators and Publishers may vote in the contest (they just can’t nominate).
Awards
- There will be two awards in each genre category and in the final overall category: Publisher’s Choice (that would be me; I choose my favorites before the contest starts) and Readers’ Choice (the results of the voting).
- Prizes: A button for your website/blog and a warm fuzzy feeling inside because your book won.
Other Stuff
- Remember, this is a FUN contest. Have fun. Keep it happy. Participate at your own risk.
- Just reiteration ad nauseum: Authors, Illustrators & Publishers, I’d love for you to spread the word about the contest and encourage your family, friends, and readers to come vote. But…
Please, please, please, tell them to vote based on their love of the cover, not their love for you or the story.