2026 Reading Challenge discussion
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READATHON CENTRAL - Book Awards (Team)
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FAQs1) I'm a Team Leader, what exactly are my responsibilities?
*Double check that the team is updating your team spreadsheet correctly, move books that could fit other prompts if needed, and be the designated question-asker for your team in this thread.
*Message any missing team members who have not shown up to discuss your reading plans prior to the start of the readathon.
*Please create a post for your team in the Team Progress thread to report how your team’s doing.
*Be a cheerleader for your team! Encourage teammates to keep reading and let them know that they’re doing a great job.
2) I’d planned to read a book for a specific prompt, but when I finished the book, that prompt was already filled by a teammate. What should I do?
*Make sure that you’ve checked off all the prompts that your book will fill. As the readathon progresses, your team captain can look at which books can be moved around to optimize prompt coverage.
3) How do we fill in our team’s spreadsheet?
*Instructions are available on the first tab of your team’s spreadsheet. Note: This year we have simplified the spreadsheet and you no longer have to track your daily page/hour counts, only books finished and total pages/hours read.
4) What about audiobooks? Large Print, ARCs, multi-volume editions? Graphic novels/comics, screenplays?
*Audiobook hours can be used for our readathon! See the Point System section above for more info.
*Large print, ARCs, and multi-volume editions are also more than welcome! Please only use the large print page count if the edition you read is large print. Please only count ARCs if they have an accurate listing on Goodreads. And use your best judgment when reading multi-volume books if you should use the page count for that edition or split it up into however many volumes exist.
*Unfortunately, graphic novels/comics and screenplays will not count for this readathon. In an effort to make things fair for everyone, we have decided that graphic novels/comics, screenplays, and books under 100 pages will not count. While we understand that some of these media have just as many words as a typical novel, it would be too difficult for the mod team to monitor which should be allowed and which shouldn’t. We hope you understand.
5) Some of my teammates haven't shown up yet to discuss reading plans. What should I do?
*Let your team leader know and they should attempt to message the missing participants in the days leading up to the readathon. If they are unable to message, message bailey. In the event most of a team’s participants do not show up, you may be reassigned to different teams.
6) How do I find the most popular edition of the audiobook I’m reading?
*First, go to your book’s page and scroll down until you see this button:
*Click on Show all [XX] editions.
Num Ratings as seen here in the red circles:
*The yellow circle shows the number of pages for Goodreads’s most popular hardcover edition of The Hobbit as 277.
7) I have a question that isn’t listed on this FAQ.
Please reach out to your Team Leader and/or Co-Leader in your team’s discussion thread. Your TL/CL can then post your question in this thread for a moderator to answer.
PROMPTSPROMPTS
Singles
An independently published book that has won any award
Warwick Prize for Women in Translation
Rómulo Gallegos Prize
Lambda Literary Award or Gaylactic Spectrum Award
One of our group reads (see polls for past winners)
Goodreads Choice Award Winner
Doubles
Women’s Prize for Fiction, Orange Prize, or WILLA Literary Award
An award for military fiction, history, and/or sports
Any African literary award
Any Asian literary award
Any Australian literary award
Any South American literary award
Any North American literary award besides the U.S.
Any European literary award besides the UK
Triples
A book by an author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature
Hugo Award, Nebula, or Locus Award (sci-fi and fantasy)
Bram Stoker or Shirley Jackson Award (horror)
Coretta Scott King, NAACP Literary Image or Hurston/Wright Award (bipoc)
Dagger, Agatha, Barry, Edgar, or Anthony Award (crime, mystery)
RNA, RITA, or Vivian Award (romance)
International Dublin Literary Award or Any award for literary translation
Booker Prize
Audie (can read any format, not limited to the audiobook)
*NOTE: Some of the awards above have had some controversy. We have chosen to include them to allow participants the choice to read books that have received those awards or not.
If you are having trouble finding a list of award winners online, Goodreads has several that can be found here by using the search bar at the top right of the screen.
Bonus prompt:
Any book or author who has won any type of award!
A whole month of anticipation will be tough! 🎶 I'm so excited.... and I just can't hide it! 💃
I want to sign up! I've never done a readathon with this group before.
Yes, Brianna, you definitely need to join!! Sign ups will be going live in just a couple weeks so keep your eyes peeled 👀😊
Sounds really interesting and fun, I just hope I understand the rules good. 😁 Already marked those days on my calendar, can't wait to sign up!
Woohoo, LinaVer! We’re very excited to have you! The rules get a little easier to understand once you get access to the spreadsheet and a team to bounce ideas off of. It seems intimidating to some at first but we’ve got a whole community on here to help us out if we need it. 😊
Do the prompts refer only to winners or can we use nominees or shortlisted?
Someone on my team asked whether re-reads count, and also wondered if the books have to be first place winners. I think I know the answer to both, bailey, but thought it would be best to let you confirm.
For this challenge we are only going to use books that won the award, rather than winners and nominees/shortlisted books. Re-reads absolutely count towards prompts!
Another question from my team - can you please explain what independent means? Independent of what?
Meg wrote: "Another question from my team - can you please explain what independent means? Independent of what?"Absolutely! Independently published books aka “indies.” Some examples of awards in this category would be the National Indie Excellence Award, Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and the IPPYS. These are just a few examples and your options are certainly not limited to only these awards!
bailey wrote: "Meg wrote: "Another question from my team - can you please explain what independent means? Independent of what?"Absolutely! Independently published books aka “indies.” Some examples of awards in ..."
So it's an award for independent books, not the award itself that is independent?
Meg wrote: "bailey wrote: "Meg wrote: "Another question from my team - can you please explain what independent means? Independent of what?"Absolutely! Independently published books aka “indies.” Some example..."
May I suggest rewording the challenge then because it's stated as an Independent book award from any organization not an independent published book that won an award.
bailey wrote: "Meg wrote: "Another question from my team - can you please explain what independent means? Independent of what?"Absolutely! Independently published books aka “indies.” Some examples of awards in ..."
May I suggest rewording that challenge. It can easily be interpreted as a book that has won more of a local award and not part of a big organization rather than an independently published book.
The prompt has been reworded and is being updated across all threads and spreadsheets now. Please let me know if you have more questions!
Quick question re: award for military fiction, history, or sports. Would an award for historical fiction or sports fiction count, or are we looking for non-fiction awards there?
Ciara wrote: "Quick question re: award for military fiction, history, or sports. Would an award for historical fiction or sports fiction count, or are we looking for non-fiction awards there?"I think fiction or nonfiction would be fine for any of the three. Hopefully that will allow people more wiggle room, too.
Kat wrote: "How do we change our team name?"Just let me know what you want to change it to and I’ll update it!
bailey wrote: "Kat wrote: "How do we change our team name?"Just let me know what you want to change it to and I’ll update it!"
Please can team 2 be The Blue Ribbon Readers
Thanks!
Bailey, I'm sorry to create extra work for you, but Lorraine discovered an error in the spreadsheet formula. Triples are set to 150 for the completed prompt rather than 300. Also, doubles are set for 100 prompt points rather than 150. 🤔
TerryJane wrote: "Bailey, I'm sorry to create extra work for you, but Lorraine discovered an error in the spreadsheet formula. Triples are set to 150 for the completed prompt rather than 300. Also, doubles are set f..."No worries at all! I’ll go through and get those updated. Great catch, Lorraine!
Bonus Prompts question: Since we completed all the prompts and unlocked the bonus prompts, are we allowed to at that point to move over books we completed earlier in the readathon that fit that prompt but previously were in the page points only section?
Betty wrote: "Bonus Prompts question: Since we completed all the prompts and unlocked the bonus prompts, are we allowed to at that point to move over books we completed earlier in the readathon that fit that pr..."
Yes! So long as the book completed fits the other criteria (has won some type of award, is 100 pages or more, isn’t a graphic novel/screenplay/etc.).
2025 Winter Readathon: Book Awards Team Readathon
Duration: Friday February 21- Sunday March 2
Sign-ups: Saturday February 1- Thursday February 13
Team and prompt announcements: Friday February 14
Once our team readathon goes live, here’s the thread where you can find FAQs and where the team leaders/assistants can post questions on behalf of their teams.
Book Awards Readathon
Welcome to the 2025 Reading Challenge Group’s Winter Readathon! We are hosting a 10-day team readathon that we hope you will all enjoy just as much as last time! Didn’t participate in the last readathon? That’s totally cool! We will create teams with an even mix of seasoned and first-time “readathon-ers” as well as folks who read at different paces.
Here’s how it works: Your team will work together to read one, two, or three books that fit the prompts, which will be posted below on Friday February 14.
General Information
🏆Teams and prompts announced: February 14 in the comment below
🏆Check in with your teammates and decide on a team name: February 14 - February 20
🏆Read, Read, Read!: February 21 - March 2
🏆Begin and end at midnight in your timezone
The Prompts
🏆Open to all teams
🏆Three types: Singles, doubles, and triples. Singles require 1 book to receive points, doubles require 2 books to receive points, and triples require 3 books to receive points.
🏆Teammates collaborate on prompts to reach the amount of books required
🏆Bonus prompts available for teams who complete ALL regular prompts (already available in the spreadsheets, but bonus points won’t be counted unless all regular prompts are completed)
🏆Team members may read the same book
🏆Each book read counts for one prompt only
i.e. I read Romeo and Juliet for the Single prompt ‘A romance.’ I cannot also count Romeo and Juliet for the Double prompt ‘Works written by Shakespeare.’
We also encourage you to count books you read for the readathon towards your quarterly, monthly, and yearly challenges!
Point System
Books for double and triple prompts cannot be redeemed for points until all 2 or 3 books have been completed. The point breakdown is as follows: