Judging the Inaugural Hodler Prize (001)
In two weeks, I will be joining a very distinguished cast of writers—fellow members of the Jury for the 2024 Hodler Prize—in Paris, France, for our grand-finale judging session at which the Inaugural Winner of the Prize will be announced.
It is a pleasure and privilege for me to be on this first-edition Jury of a Prize that has tried very seriously to be revolutionary in its approach to assessing literary merit and excellence.
First, the Hodler Prize does not discriminate against form, format, or genre. It is “a single prize, a single award, a single winner for all disciplines of the written word.” Be it fiction, poetry, opinion, song, podcast, screenplay, court judgement, social media post — as long as there is text in it, as long as it is based on text, it is eligible for consideration. The only condition is that it must have been “published, translated, performed or broadcast in English in the current year.”
Secondly, the prize is awarded in bitcoin: 1.1 bitcoin, to be shared equally in 11 places, one to the winner of the prize, nine to the nine members of the Jury, and one to the general public.
This is how Anthony Van Den Bossche, journalist, novelist, design curator, and creator of the Hodler Prize, explains the bitcoin decision:
“It’s a speculative gamble, and one that the Hodler Prize is absolutely committed to: a literary prize is always a speculation on the future. It rewards the quality of a text and bets on its ability to travel through time […] This endowment, backed by sponsorship, is a bet on the future and on Bitcoin’s intrinsic values: individual sovereignty, inclusivity, neutrality, decentralization and value over time.”
There are 9 members of the Jury (list below), with the public being the 10th member (pieces 19 and 20 on the shortlist below were taken from nominations by members of the public).
Each member of the Jury was asked to nominate 2 ‘pieces’. Mine were a novel by Nigerian writer, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (No 9 below), and a Medium post by former US President, Barack Obama (No 17 below).
Two weeks from today, we will assemble in Paris, to pick the winner of the 2024 Hodler Prize, the Inaugural Edition. Until then, there’s plenty to be read—and watched/listened to—as we work towards selecting and announcing a winner. I look forward to Paris, to meeting the other members of the Jury, and to the announcement of the winner, on April 24, 2024, at Hôtel Grand Amour, Paris, France.
2024 Hodler Prize Longlist:
1. “I’m not a monster” by Josh Baker and Joe Kent (podcast) (link)
2. “Pacifiction” by Albert Serra (film) (link)
3. “Doppelganger” by Naomi Klein (memoir/reportage) (link)
4. SEC versus Grayscale by Judge Neomi Rao (Decision — US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit) (link)
5. “The ongoing blog” by Dennis Cooper (blog) (link)
6. Fassbinder, Thousands of Mirrors by Ian Penman (Biography) (link)
7. And then he sang a lullaby by Ani Kayode (Novel) (link)
8. Succession, Episode 9, Season 4, “Church and State” by Jesse Armstrong (HBO Series) (link)
9. When We Were Fireflies by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (novel) (link)
10. “Shadow on the Sun” by Sam Kriss (Magazine Feature) (link)
11. Monica, by Daniel Clowes (Graphic Novel) (link)
12. Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe (Non-fiction) (link)
13. The Alluvials by Alice Bucknell (Screenplay) (link)
14. Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State by Kerry Howley (Novel) (link)
15. DAVE — Season 3, Episode 5 — by Dave Burd (Screenplay) (link)
16. Blog of Arthur Hayes (Blog) (link
17. Thoughts on Israel and Gaza by Barak Obama (Statement) (link)
18.
a. “The View From My Window in Gaza”, by Mosab Abu Toha (link)
b. “The Agony of Waiting for a Ceasefire that Never Comes”, by Mosab Abu Toha (link)
19. ‘The sermon I didn’t want to write,’ by Delphine Horvilleur (link)
20. Haaland v Brakeen — Supreme Court of the USA Decision (link)
2024 Hodler Prize Jury:
Martin Bethenod, Emanuele Coccia, Chelsea E. Manning, Alex Marzano Lesnevich, Rachel Monroe, Tolu Ogunlesi, Diego Ongaro, Adli Takkal Bataille, Vanessa Walters.
