Broadcaster and author Clare Balding is joining the judging panel for this year’s Kindle Storyteller Award, which offers the winner a £20,000 cash prize and a marketing promotion for their title on Amazon.co.uk.
The judging panel also includes last year’s Kindle Storyteller winner Anna McNuff; best-selling self-published author Nicola May; author and Alliance of Independent Authors member Sacha Black; and Darren Hardy, Author and Editorial Programmes Manager at Amazon UK.
Clare Balding is best known as a TV sports broadcaster and has also written several non-fiction books, including memoirs, as well as children’s books. It’s an interesting mix on the judging panel this year as Anna McNuff publishes humour-filled accounts of her travel adventures; Nicola May is a romcom author known for her Cockleberry Bay series; and Sacha Black has published YA fantasy novels and several non-fiction guides for writers, including The Anatomy of Prose.
This is the fifth year for the Kindle Storyteller Award and it is open for entries from now until August 31, 2021.
Clare Balding says, ‘It was an easy decision to get involved in an initiative that supports creativity and gives authors the chance to be recognised for their storytelling. I’m really excited to join the judging panel for the Kindle Storyteller Award and looking forward to celebrating the writers who have submitted their work.’
The Kindle Storyteller award is open to authors who publish their story as an ebook and in print through Kindle Direct Publishing and all titles must be enrolled in Kindle Direct Publishing Select while they are in the competition.
Readers play a pivotal role in helping to choose the shortlist of five stories, with a panel of judges, including top figures from the world of publishing and Amazon Books, choosing a winning book based on a number of factors including originality, creativity of content, and the quality and style of writing.
Anna McNuff was last year’s winner of the Storyteller Award and was the first winner with a non-fiction book entry. She says, ‘It was a huge honour to have Llama Drama chosen as the winning book out of thousands of entries in 2020. I still can’t believe it happened. Being part of Kindle Storyteller was such an exciting adventure for me and I’m looking forward to seeing this year’s entries. I believe everyone is a storyteller, and the Kindle Storyteller Award can inspire both new and established authors around the world to take the plunge and publish their book.’
Darren Hardy, Author and Editorial Programmes Manager at Amazon UK, says, ‘Last year saw our highest level of entries so far and we believe entries and the quality of stories will continue to grow again. Being joined by Clare on the judging panel is an honour, she has the expertise of writing and telling her own stories and is a real advocate of storytelling in the literary world.’
The shortlist for the award is usually announced around mid-September and the winner will be announced in autumn this year.
You can find out more details about the Kindle Storyteller Award 2021 through this link on the Amazon website.
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