I wish to comment on certain unethical methods adopted by the National Book Council during the National Book Awards held on November 3 at Auberge de Castille.

None of the three judges knew Greek- Horatio Vella, Associate Professor in Classics, University of Malta, Msida

This year I presented two books for this event: The Earliest Church Register in Gozo: 1554-1628, and the Tristia ex Melitogaudo(co-authored with J. Busuttil and S. Fiorini).

To stand a better chance, I tried to place the books in two different categories, but the committee later informed me they decided to place the two books in the same category, without giving any reasons.

Regarding the second book, which was launched last year at a local brewery under the chairmanship of President Emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, who said that “this book was the book of the year”, which took 20 years to complete. The council committed the serious mistake of choosing as judges two of three people who, in the past year-and-a-half, pronounced themselves against the conclusions reached in the book, which, in the words of a serious reviewer, “changed the history of Malta”.

Knowing the position held by these judges, expressed also in your newspaper, the council should not have appointed them as judges of the book, as they wereprejudiced against it months before the presentation of the awards. Also, these people should not have agreed to act as judges since they knew they were against the book. Instead, they accepted and so could prevent the book from getting the award.

What is more serious is that none of the three judges know Greek. It took me, a chief expert in Greek in Malta, several years to understand the text.

This delay was caused both by the difficult reading of the manuscript, as well as by the difficult message the poet was sending, using much philosophical and allegorical material. But how could a person pose as judge of a work being, in great part, a translation from ancient Byzantine Greek without being an expert in Greek? How could the council appoint such people, who were a priori against this publication?

Last year I presented another book for the award, Ġanni Darmanin u l-Istatwa tal-Madonna tal-Ġilju tal-Imqabba wara mitt sena minn mewtu (1908-2008). Believe it or not, I had the same judges in the same category, and, of course, I got no award.

Does the council have a contract with these three people? Does it ever change the panels? They should, in fact, be changed every year to ensure fairness.

The government should give more attention to how public funds are spent. It should insist that the system be revised immediately so that people who write novels and fiction and poetry do not enjoy an advantage over others whose work is more laborious and requires expertise; that judging panelsare changed every year; and that only professionals are asked tobe judges in the subjects they are competent in.