{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Book Review Contest Rules 2026","description":"It\u2019s that time again. Even numbered years are book reviews, odd-numbered years are non-book reviews, so you\u2019re limited to books for now. Write a review of a book. There\u2019s no official word count requirement, but previous finalists and winners were often between 2,000 and 10,000 words. There\u2019s no official recommended style, but check the style of last time\u2019s finalists and winners or my ACX book reviews (1, 2, 3) if you need inspiration. Please limit yourself to one entry per person or team. Then send me your review through this Google Form. The form will ask for your name, email, the title of the book, and a link to a Google Doc. The Google Doc should have your review exactly as you want me to post it if you\u2019re a finalist. Don\u2019t include your name or any hint about your identity in the Google Doc itself, only in the form. I want to make this contest as blinded as possible, so I\u2019m going to hide that column in the form immediately and try to judge your docs on their merit. (does this mean you can\u2019t say something like \u201cThis book about war reminded me of my own experiences as a soldier\u201d because that gives a hint about your identity? My rule of thumb is that if I don\u2019t know who you are, and the average ACX reader doesn\u2019t know who you are, you\u2019re fine. I just want to prevent my friends or Internet semi-famous people from getting an advantage. If you\u2019re in one of those categories and think your personal experience would give it away, please don\u2019t write about your personal experience.) Please make sure the Google Doc is unlocked and I can read it. By default, nobody can read Google Docs except the original author. You\u2019ll have to go to Share, then on the bottom of the popup click on \u201cRestricted\u201d and change to \u201cAnyone with the link\u201d. If you send me a document I can\u2019t read, I will probably disqualify you, sorry. Readers will vote for the ~10 finalists this spring, I\u2019ll post one finalist per week through the summer, and then readers will vote for winners in late summer\/early fall. First prize will get at least $2,500, second prize at least $1,000, third prize at least $500; I might increase these numbers later on. All winners and finalists will get free publicity (including links to any other works they want me to link to), free ACX subscriptions, and sidebar links to their blog. And all winners will get the right to pitch me new articles if they want (sample posts by Lars, Brandon, Daniel, etc). In past years, most reviews have been nonfiction on technical topics. Depending on whether that\u2019s still true, I might do some mild affirmative action for reviews in nontraditional categories - fiction, poetry, and books from before 1900 are the ones I can think of right now, but feel free to try other nontraditional books. I won\u2019t be redistributing more than 25% of finalist slots this way. Your due date is May 20th. Good luck! If you have any questions, ask them in the comments. And remember, the form for submitting entries is here. https:\/\/www.astralcodexten.com\/p\/book-review-contest-rules-2026 ","author_name":"Astral Codex Ten Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/sscpodcast.libsyn.com\/website","html":"