All book awards, from the renowned literary Booker Award short list to the lesser and bizarre, to the realm of on-line book awards, always, always, standard of narrative, dialogue, characterisation, grammar, presentation, and formatting with ebooks, all these things are the essentials for award status, or should be. A Book Award is the key symbol of those main pointers, and while you may draw a sharp intake of breath and think, *oh heck, is my work good enough, or is my story exciting enough* when the chips are on the table the plot is still the core of the book.
Jane Austen novels are classics, and while the Jane Austen Award and the Georgian & Regency can be less rigid in terms of literary levels, each JA award is the hallmark of a quality read. There can be no runners-up when there is no competition of votes cast and final elimination of semi-finalists. Therefore I asked my designer to create a Jane Austen Complimentary badge. Again authors are at liberty to accept and promote the symbol, or not. Either way it replaces the semi-finalist moniker as a credit to novels which reach many but not all of the listed points above. Surely recognition is better than nothing as a mark of a good Jane Austen prequel, variation, or sequel? T
Suzy - founder/reader:
I am a Journalist, editor, with no aspirations to become a novelist. Jane Austen has been my passion since that of a young girl. My first read was Persuasion. From then I was totally hooked. All Miss Austen's books were desired from that breathtaking moment the end was reached where Captain Wentworth finally won his lady. I am also a fan of Georgette Heyer works and works by modern day authors. I do prefer adventure in keeping with Heyeresque rather than the more sickly sweet demure plots. After all, Jane Austen highlighted bitchiness, arrogance, and tiresome gossips.
Charlotte - admin/reader:
I'm a journalist with no aspirations to become a novelist either. I wouldn't know where to start writing a novel, one that would be worth reading. I spend my days sitting in front of keyboards and monitors. Give me a book for any spare moments and I am in clover. I love the Georgian period and the Regency era. I do get mad over stupid scenarios in books. By that I mean the unbelievable instances when manners were uppermost in society and a silly chit sounds off much like a servant out of earshot of their master or mistress. Where is there bad language from the mouths of society chits in a Jane Austen, Heyer, or within the best of historical novels by modern-day authors?
Jan Brook-Clark - Actor and theatrical drama tutor.
I love period drama novels and am so proud to have been invited to be a judge for the Jane Austen Awards. In like to Suzy and Charlotte there is no author in me at all and no aspiration to become one. I love reading. It's as simple as that. And Jane Austen novels for me represent her lifetime from the viewpoint of the novelist she became. It would be silly to think Miss Austen was writing true life in her time. History tells a different story and if truth be told her novels are as fictitious as contemporary romance novels written today. True she was writing in her time and little domestic items and formal dialogue remind us that is so, and readers do think how sweet and romantic some of her characters are, and not so of others. Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice comes to mind and is still a conundrum for me. He is a classic example of lesser hero than romancers would expect and does he really endear himself to the reader? Certainly not at the beginning, and mid-way he's still treading on Elizabeth's sensibilities, and by the end he has met his match. Though I cannot say I liked Elizabeth all that much. It occurred to me Mr Darcy and Elizabeth are really two of a kind in the realistic way she too treads on his sensibilities as he struggles with the social stigma of her lowly position in comparison to his. They are both forthright in their attitudes to others and see no fault in what is said and neither are willing to apologise at any point or to others of whom they dislike. Did I like Darcy at the end of the book. Let me say I warmed to him and decided rigid upbringing probably attributed to his ineptitude in social graces. Did I like Elizabeth at the end. Not altogether. She too lacked social grace and was rather an obnoxious young lady. No more to be said. P&P is far from my favourite Austen novel. Now Emma is a different matter. What fun she is in all her blundering idiocy and Mr Knightley there in the wings the patient suitor.
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