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From blogs to books: Jones
to judge first Blooker Prize

By KELLY MURPHY
UNC School of Information and Library Science

CHAPEL HILL — Paul Jones of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will serve as a judge for a newly created annual award for bloggers-turned-published authors.

Lulu.com, the world's fastest-growing provider of print-on-demand books, 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 judges to assess online books, based on material first published on blogs, and select the best for awards. More than 100 blooks already have been discussed as possible nominees. Winners will be announced on April 3.

Jones is a clinical associate professor in two UNC schools – Information and Library Science and Journalism and Mass Communication. He also directs ibiblio.org, a free public library of digital material on the Internet.

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, a new trend in literature, 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 also have been known to be collaborative efforts that 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, provider of an increasing number of blooks. More information and entry forms can be found at http://www.lulublookerprize.com/.

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School of Information and Library Science contact: Wanda Monroe, (919) 843-8337, or wmonroe@email.unc.edu