From blogs to blooks: Paul Jones to judge world's first Blooker Prize

Paul Jones, a clinical associate professor at the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) and director of the ibiblio online library and archive, will serve as judge for a newly created annual award for bloggers-turned-published authors. Lulu.com has set up the Blooker Prize for authors who began their writing as blogs and have turned them into fiction, non-fiction and comic “blooks” in print form.

Jones will join other prize judges to assess online books based on material first published on blogs and select the best for awards. More than 100 blooks have already been discussed as possible nominees. Winners will be announced on April 3, 2006. Joining Jones on the judging committee will be the chair judge, prominent net activist Cory Doctorow and Robin Miller, editor-in-chief of online technology publisher of the Open Source Technology Group.

Blooks are a new trend in literature and have been discussed as helping readers connect with authors through the use of episodic and short chapters. While some blooks digress from the traditional blog style using the blog only for a starting point, they have also been known to be collaborative efforts that have resulted from the feedback of blog audiences before being published.

The Blooker Prize will be awarded annually with small cash prizes for the winners from Lulu.com, the world's fastest-growing provider of print-on-demand books, including an increasing number of blooks. More information and entry forms can be found at: http://www.lulublookerprize.com/