They said they'd email people after 5pm today and/or call people but that it might not be 'till tomorrow. They will also post a finalists' list on the Brit Writers website.
Susiex

This newsflash has just gone up:

NEWS FLASH!! Judging for the Brit Writers' Awards Unpublished 2010 is now complete and finalists for each category will be announced here in the following order:

Monday 14 June after 7pm: Novels and Songwriting (Adult)
Tuesday 15 June after 7pm: Non-fiction
Wednesday 16 June after 7pm: Children's Stories
Thursday 17 June after 7pm: Poetry (adult) and Short Stories (adult)
Friday 18 June after 7pm: Under 16's categories - Poetry, Short Stories and Songwriting

The reason for announcing the finalists in this way is to allow time for us to carry out due diligence checks with all potential finalists.

Should we assume if we've not been contacted for the Novel category that we haven't got through? What does 'due diligence' mean, exactly?
Susiex

I should think 'due diligence' is checking that things aren't plagiarised or previously published, and that contestants are who they say they are.

Either that, or their computers have gone down.

Emma

LOL! I'm assuming I'm not through as I'm sure they'd have called by now otherwise.
Susiex

Just had an email:

"News Flash: Judging for the Brit Writers' Awards Unpublished 2010 is now complete and finalists for each category will be announced on the BWA website in the following order:

Monday 14 June after 7pm: Novels and Songwriting (Adult)
Tuesday 15 June after 7pm: Non-fiction
Wednesday 16 June after 7pm: Children's Stories
Thursday 17 June after 7pm: Poetry (adult) and Short Stories (adult)
Friday 18 June after 7pm: Under 16's categories - Poetry, Short Stories and Songwriting

We were hoping to announce all the finalists today but due to the late arrival of final scores, we require a little extra time for us to carry out due diligence checks with all potential finalists.



If you are a potential finalist you will therefore be called and emailed during the next two days"

Argh - another 3 days of agony! I entered poems!

Michelle

oops crossed with SusieAngele!

Novel and songwriting results are in now. Anyone there anyone knows?
There's a woman who managed to get two songs in the final, that's pretty impressive!

Tee hee. There's a newsflash just gone up to say that due to high volumes of short stories and poetry, the finalists in these categories won't be announced (or called) until next Tuesday!
Susiex

Even if they had a vast team of highly trained highly experienced first filter readers, the sheer volume of subs to this award would make it something of a lottery, so I wouldn't hold out much hope.

No hope, Susannah, for sure! But the process has kept me amused.
Susiex

I knew it!
It's kept me on my toes too. Probably just delaying the disappointment though...

But the process has kept me amused.

Yes it's beautifully British isn't it? There's a sort of Count Arthur Strong befuddled amateur enthusiasm about the set up which I think we do every bit as well as stiff upper lip.

people have worked themselves up into a frenzy on facebook. It's kind of heartbreaking to an extent, but refreshing too.

A bit of an update from someone on Litopia:

I've just had a very long, extremely helpful conversation with Zareen (Head of Ops), and thought it important to share with y'all what she told me. Firstly, to those whose categories have yet to be announced, (Poetry, Short Stories, Under-16s); There's an awful lot of misinformation kicking about on the web that those who've made the finals have already been told, and thus, if you haven't heard directly from the BWA people by now, then you should assume you haven't made it. THIS IS NOT TRUE. ONLY THE FINALISTS LISTED ON THE BWA WEBSITE HAVE BEEN INFORMED THUS FAR. Essentially the notification process runs thus... On the day the finalists are published on the website, just before the list goes up, those who've made it are contacted by phone and email, for the purposes of the due diligence checks mentioned on the BWA site, and in the recent news email. There's been some confusion as to the whole 'due diligence' business entails. Basically, the BWA people contact you to check a variety of things - e.g. that you're still eligible for the competition (i.e. that you are still unpublished), and that you're available to come to the awards ceremony. IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU: (1) MAKE SURE YOUR CONTACT DETAILS ARE CORRECT AND UP TO DATE (2) KEEP YOUR PHONE SWITCHED ON, (3) CHECK YOUR EMAILS REGULARLY - artistes tend to be rather superstitious types, and I know that some people would rather not check too often, for fear of jinxing the results. In this case kids, I'm afraid you'll have to get over it - the email sent will include a form which you have to fill out and return IMMEDIATELY. If you don't you can jeapordise your finalist status, and if you've been fortunate enough to make it to the finals, you'd want to stay in, non? In terms of the categories not yet announced, it's important to note that DECISIONS AS TO THE FINALISTS ARE STILL ONGOING: Once the online judging is completed (as it has been), the top 20-50 entries are sent off to certain expert types (publishers/literary bods etc.) for final clarification. It's a filtering system to make sure that everything is as fair as possible. Once that's done the tallied scores are checked and rechecked, and the top SEVEN are notified on the day of the lists being published(the reason there are EIGHT in the Children's Story is that they genuinely couldn't reject any of them). The reason the results have been delayed (and NEWSFLASH Kids - todays categories are being held over until TUESDAY) is purely because of the desire to ensure fairness, and make sure that everything is checked, checked, and checked again. In terms of Copyright, there's been some chatter as to whether this remains with the author or no - whether making the finals or not. Zareen has assured me that the BWA are passionately committed to the rights of the author, and yes, you retain your copyright. Should anyone be lucky enough to get a publishing deal as a result of the BWA, they will do everything in their power to ensure those rights are protected. Finally, to those who haven't made the finals, chin up! Seriously: Out of the 1,500 who got through to the third round, about 500 of these were Poetry entries, which had the highest number of submissions (I feel less special!). Ergo you did really, really, really, REALLY well to get to that stage - even better than you probably think. Zareen reiterated that those who made it through to the third round had done fantastically well.

Susiex

Thanks Susie that was really helpful