The literary website The Complete Review weighs in on the practice of publishers self-selecting the titles that will compete for major awards. Many prizes accept submissions only from publishers, and limit the number of titles that a given house can put forth (the Man Booker is the example cited here, but the same is true of the Giller Prize in Canada). The resulting vicious cycle rewards self-important, award-friendly novels — which are more likely to be submitted, therefore more likely to be selected, therefore more likely to be submitted. Still, a prize simply must have some sort of limit on the number of titles it asks its jurors to read, and this piece doesn’t offer any solutions. Suggestions?

Related links:
Complete Review article