Shocking Withdrawal: Manol Peykov Pulls ‘Janet 45’ from Novel of the Year Competition
Withdrawal from the National Donor Fund’s Competition
The publisher Manol Peykov has announced that his publishing house, “Janet 45”, is withdrawing all its nominations from the competition for the best Bulgarian novel of the year, organized by the National Donor Fund “13 Centuries of Bulgaria”. This decision comes after the publisher disagreed with the method of resolving the scandal that started in May this year.
The scandal began when author Elena Aleksieva refused the prize awarded to her for her novel “Volcano” after discovering that the editor of her book, Professor Boris Minkov, was also a member of the Bulgarian jury. The National Donor Fund decided to cancel this year’s competition and hold it again until the end of the year with the same jury, but without Associate Professor Boris Minkov.
“Janet 45” publishing house finds this method of solving the scandal unacceptable, unprofessional, unethical, and unfair. The publisher believes that the blame for what happened should be shared, rather than placing it solely on Professor Minkov.
The publishing house is also concerned about the lack of a clear and unambiguous definition of “conflict of interest” in the rules of the competition. This lack of clarity puts the participants in the jury in a dangerous situation and threatens to tarnish their name and reputation.
“Janet 45″ has nominated six novels for the national award for the Bulgarian novel of the year, including Elena Alexieva’s novel “Volcano”, ”Home for Beginners” by Emanuil Vidinski, and ”Here Lives Yozhi” by Nadezhda Radulova. The publishing house hopes that the National Donor Fund will carefully consider its concerns and take them into account in future editions of the competition.
Concerns about the Definition of ”Conflict of Interest”
The publishing house is worried that the lack of a clear definition of “conflict of interest” could lead to unfair treatment of participants in the jury. For example, is it a conflict of interest for a member of the jury to have been or is currently being published by one of the publishing companies taking part in the competition? Or be close friends or enemies with one of the nominees?
The publishing house believes that the definition of ”conflict of interest” should be related to the presence of an opportunity for personal gain, rather than just being the editor of someone’s book. Professional editors edit dozens of books a year, which probably disqualifies them from participating in such juries.
A Call for Clarity and Fairness
“Janet 45” hopes that the National Donor Fund will take its concerns seriously and provide a clear and unambiguous definition of “conflict of interest” in the rules of the competition. The publishing house believes that this is essential for ensuring the fairness and integrity of the competition.