As the Nautilus Awards moves into its 11th year, it continues to offer hope to authors and publishers and an opportunity for their books to get a second chance, and perhaps a fresh start, as they are reviewed, evaluated and noticed in a different way than when they were newly released into the marketplace. 

The awards has a unique three-tier system of judging books that offers a deliberate course of examination and scrutiny designed to sort and separate books as they are measured against a carefully prepared list of notable characteristics. This process is long and labor-intensive. It is carried out by three teams of highly qualified, experienced reviewers located across the U.S. whose successful careers as editors, writers, librarians, schoolteachers and bookstore owners are matched with a passion for books that offer new ideas and options for a better world for everyone. We honor these special people for their dedication and commitment to the Nautilus Book  & Audio Book Awards program.

Each book is evaluated by at least two judges at each level. Silver winners are selected from each category by the readers in Team #2, and these winning titles are then passed along to the third team where the Gold winners are chosen.  It is for this reason that we ask you to send us four copies of your books. We need one copy to leave in the office - so when you enter the same book in multiple categories, we only need three additional books in each of those categories.

This is a multifaceted process that is carefully monitored. Each judge uses our meticulously prepared Evaluation Form for judging each book, assigning individual scores to a long list of parameters – which will determine the rating for each book. Two judges must agree on each Silver winner – and consensus is required for the Gold Winners.

Our judges are experienced, professional people, who are currently or have formerly been editors, college professors, librarians, schoolteachers, writers, booksellers, and even a few publishers. There are both men and women, and they live in different areas of the United States - from the West Coast to the East Coast and places in between.

We have evolved our judging process over the past 12 years, and continue to expand and improve our parameters and our system of evaluation. It is our purpose and intent to seek, review and acknowledge books we feel best support our goal to promote spiritual growth, conscious living and positive social change – with the hope of changing the world one book at a time.

Gold and Silver awards are given to print and audio books of exceptional merit that make a literary and heartfelt contribution to spiritual growth, conscious living, high-level wellness, green values, responsible leadership and positive social change, as well as to the worlds of art, creativity and inspiration.