For the first time, I participated in the National Book Prize with my tome on the Maltese collective memory that was shortlisted in the historiographic research category.

The award ceremony at the Auberge de Castille on December 11 was pleasant; the prizes decent and national recognition of Malta’s literary endeavour came from the highest executive authority of the land.

Any book award competition struggles with objectivity questions that plague authors and the publishing industry, not to mention readers.

While it presents itself as being a competition about literary merit, juries also consider matters like stature, popularity and accessibility on selecting the best book. Any outcome is bound to send messages to the reading public.

Given that the NBP is publicly funded and enjoys the Prime Minister’s patronage, I wonder what kept the organisers from making the judges’ names known, as various foreign book awards do.

The Times of Malta reported comments by one out of nine.

Having had more than 100 authors participating in seven categories it could only have added value to this year’s contest.