Scoring System, Criteria, & Feedback
MWSA Scoring System
Scoring Philosophy
MWSA uses a system in which books receive a medal based on how well they meet industry standards. This means the books do not compete against each other for a single winner of a gold, silver, or bronze medal, but rather are measured against specific standards.
If a book attains the score required for a specific medal, the book receives the medal.
If all books attain a score required for a specific medal, all the books will receive that medal.
Conversely, if no books qualify, no medals will be awarded.
We employ a three-person reviewing/judging panel for each book. They individually score the book based on twenty questions covering four areas of judgment, to calculate a numerical value that represents how well a given book meets the standards. If the scores of the three reviewers diverge, the reviewers hold a conference to iron out any differences.
Scoring Details
The four areas of scoring are content, style, visual appeal, and technical mechanics of writing.
Content questions focus on plot, characters, message or theme, believability, intent of book, storytelling, and in the case of nonfiction, accuracy and impact of information.
Style questions evaluate readability, book structure, language, and percentage of active to passive voice.
Visual questions evaluate cover art, cover design, interior layout, font size and serif, and use of illustration.
Technical questions focus on spelling, grammar, sentence structure, word choice, use of adverbs, verb tense usage, punctuation, and capitalization. If a book doesn’t conform to standards like Chicago Manual of Style or AP—or if the book mixes them inconsistently—it will be marked down. An author is only allowed so many grammatical or spelling mistakes before the score is affected. These are the issues that a professional editor can help you avoid. They make the difference between a well-crafted, impactful book and an amateurish difficult-to-read one.
Our scores are based on a two-fold system of analyzing the book.
First, an overall score is determined by adding the four areas for each reviewer. The total scores are then averaged to determine if the book has earned enough points to win a medal.
Second, a book must attain a certain score in the technical area in order to receive a medal. MWSA feels that the tech score is the most reliable indicator of competence.
For example, the averaged overall score could place a book in the gold medal range, but if the averaged technical score is in the silver medal range, the book will receive a silver medal based on the technical score. We refer to this as the tech torpedo. Again, the best way to avoid this scenario is to hire a competent editor before publishing your book.
MWSA Reviews
After the book is scored, one reviewer writes the official MWSA review.
The review is posted on our website.
The author is notified.
We are happy when our reviews help authors sell their books, and we try to provide as much information and publicity as possible. However, book promotion is NOT our primary mission.
To ensure that MWSA reviews are credible, if a book’s numerical evaluation (the combined average scores of all three reviewers) fails to reach a certain threshold, our MWSA review is required to mention the shortfall(s).
All authors have the option of refusing their MWSA review—for any reason.
Our program focuses on education. We want to help our writers produce better books.
Once our review is posted to the website, authors may use reviews in any way they wish.
Author Feedback
In addition to evaluating your book using our scoring system, reviewers provide comments on each of the four areas of judging.
Reviewer comments (but not scores) will be shared with authors as follows:
If your book does not qualify for an award, you’ll receive your reviewers’ comments shortly after we announce our finalists.
Award-wining authors will receive their reviewers’ comments after the awards banquet. This avoids the possibility a possible sneak preview of your medal before we announce medalists at our awards presentation ceremony.
If you are unclear on what it takes to become an MWSA award-winning author, a good way to get more information is to volunteer as an MWSA reviewer before entering your book in the system. More information on reviewing can be found here: https://www.mwsadispatches.com/mwsa-reviewer-signup