to be used holistically or with individual attributes
Many writing contests and book award programs use a 10-point scale, but sometimes without any clarifying labels or description. Nothing, that is, to anchor the qualitative in the quantitative.
When I’m confronted with such a situation, I use the following scale, which can work for the assigning of a single number to a book (typically, early in the process, in an initial read-through) or for evaluating individually various attributes such as cover design, interior layout, and the substance of the writing.
10 / Outstanding
Work that’s individual and unique, with a voice that’s fresh and new. Work that not only perfectly embodies a style or approach, but that may strike out in a new direction or redefine a style or genre. Work that leaves an enduring impression.
9 / Excellent
Beautiful work, perfect craftsmanship, one to share with friends. Not a single misstep.
8 / Very good
Solid work, with no serious missteps, but not astounding. Work that’s quite good, but that hasn’t the vision, the perfection, or the flair of a 9.
7 / Rather good
Reasonably solid work, with some missteps, though nothing of a fundamental nature. Work that likely offers something even more individual and fresh in style, structure, or approach than a 6, but that could yet be improved with good line editing or possibly a bit of light dev editing.
6 / Better than average
Work that reaches beyond the basics of a 5 to offer something individual about style or structure or approach, but which doesn’t achieve what it aims for; work that (if text) would require some rewriting or reconceptualizing to fulfill its promise.
5 / Average
Work that meets the basic requirements of craft — if there are missteps, they’re minor — but without anything distinctive or unique in style, structure, or approach. Unremarkable.
4 / Falls short of average
Work that’s not up to the industry standards of craft. Work with significant issues, needing developmental or line editing, or both. Work that an editor or agent would be unlikely to accept, unless prevailing market conditions indicated the idea itself had worth, in which case, there would be stipulations for rework first. But in today’s environment, more likely work an editor or agent would simply pass on.
3 / Somewhat poor
Work that falls noticeably below industry standards for craft in several significant ways. Work that would need significant rewriting or reconceptualizing to be improved. Work that would not be accepted, even with stipulations for revision.
2 / Poor
Work with serious errors of a fundamental nature throughout. Work that’s likely not to be salvageable even with heavy dev editing.
1 / Unacceptable
Nothing I’d expect to see in submissions for contests or awards, but included for the sake of completeness: the 1 here, in the depth of its badness, mirrors the 10 above, in the heights of its excellence.
Additional considerations
Norming the judges to the scale
Where there will be several judges for a given category, as is typically the case for the larger contests, the judges should first attend a norming session, in which they do test evals of various aspects of several works of manageable length — against all the applicable attributes (cover design, layout, writing style, substance, and so on) — and then come together as a group to discuss and agree upon scores.
The purpose of this exercise is to help bring the judges into alignment. There will always be individual differences, but where the number of submissions is great enough to require two or more judges per category — and where there is not also duplication of reads, but rather each submission will be read by only one judge — you’ll want the standards that each judge applies and evaluates by to be as similar as possible. Otherwise, it really will be mixing apples and oranges within any given category.
Alternative approaches to the quality scale
Alternatively, the judges may be given collections of questions that encapsulate the main decision points regarding a well-crafted novel of a particular genre, with a 10-point agree/disagree scale to mark for each question.
These questions will typically be fine-grained and specific, such as:
The goals, motivations, and conflicts of the protagonists are clearly defined.
The goals, motivations, and conflicts of the protagonists drive the plot.
The dialogue is engaging and natural-sounding, bringing the characters to life.
With a collection of 10 to 15 such questions — or even better, 25 to 30 — for each book, that set of ratings can give a highly accurate and finely tuned assessment of each novel. Providing, of course, that the judges are experienced in making such evaluations.
The take-home point for authors
You should know how the contest or awards program you’re entering will be judged — what the standards will be, where the judges are drawn from — most particularly if the contest/award is a big one, with a hefty submission fee associated with it.
If you’re entering a relatively modest contest associated with a writers’ group or conference, typically with a small submission fee or none at all, the effort is likely to be geared to the benefit of the writer. There may be no particular prestige associated with it, other than validation of your work. And feedback, where such is offered.