Want to be a Judge for the Golden Leaf Contest?

​The Golden Leaf is awarded annually for excellence in published romantic fiction. 
We need your help to make it a success!
New for 2025!
We will be moving our dates so that we can celebrate our winners at the 
JeRoWriMo/Golden Leaf Celebration in Person
in April, 2026!
Changes are underlined below.
Judges for the Golden Leaf are booksellers, librarians, readers’ groups, and romance readers.​​
If you are one of these and would like to participate, please read the rules below and then fill out the judge signup form here: 
Entries will be sent and must be judged electronically (epub and pdf). No hard copies of books will be mailed.

NJRW Golden Leaf Judges' Rules and Guidelines

To ensure a safe, equitable judging environment for our entrants:
  1. You agree to judge the entries sent to you for the NJ Romance Writers Golden Leaf contest. You will receive 3-6 books. You agree that you will not share these books with anyone else. Please indicate if you are able to take on more. 
  2. You meet the judge qualifications and are one of the following: librarian, book seller, romance book club member, avid reader of romance AND are not an author (published or seeking publication).
  3. You confirm that you will return your completed score sheet by January 15, 2026.
  4. You confirm that you have read the score sheet and understand the non-disqualifying elements, explanation of scores of 4 or below, and PDF/EPUB format requirements.
  5. Please enter your category preferences: your top 3 and bottom 3 choices. While your preferences will be taken into consideration, please understand we cannot guarantee a specific category. We thank you in advance for your flexibility.
    1. Contemporary Romance: Long: Novels that are set from 1970 to the present that focus primarily on the romantic relationship and that are 84,000 or more words.
    2. Contemporary Romance: Mid-Length: Novels that are set from 1970 to the present that focus primarily on the romantic relationship and that are between 56,000 and 84,000 words in length.
    3. ​Contemporary Romance: Short: Novels that are set from 1970 to the present that focus primarily on the romantic relationship and that are between 40,000 and 56,000 words in length.
    4. Erotic Romance: Novels in which strong, often explicit, sexual interaction is an inherent part of the love story, character growth and relationship development and could not be removed without damaging the storyline. These novels may contain elements of other romance subgenres (such as paranormal, historical, etc.).
    5. Historical Romance: Novels set prior to 1970. 40,000 word minimum.
    6. Novella: short pieces of romantic fiction between 20-40,000 words. (Trade magazines do not normally fall under the proper word count; however, if your novella does, the acceptability of such work will be the decision of the contest chairperson.)
    7. Paranormal Romance: Any romance novel in which either time travel, futuristic, fantasy world or paranormal happenings are a major element of the plot. 40,000 word minimum.
    8. ​Romantic Suspense: Any romance novel in which suspense, mystery, or thriller elements constitute a major part of the plot. 40,000 word minimum.
  6. Heat Level
    1. While we make every effort to provide judges with books they are comfortable with, the difficulties of coordinating entries across 8 subgenres and 5 heat levels has meant that we have reduced the options for heat level. The choices will now be (you will be able to select more than one): 
      1. I want to read no sexual action beyond hugs and kisses.
      2. I'm flexible: I'll read anything from closed-door to steamy sex, not including erotic romance.
      3. I am happy to read Erotic Romance. Contains explicit sexual content with graphic language, often with kink.
  7. Judge Oversight Committee
    1. NJRW implements a judge oversight committee to secure the integrity of its contests.
    2. The Judge Oversight Committee will be coordinated by the contest chairs and may include both contest chairs and other volunteers if needed.
    3. The duties of the Judge Oversight Committee include monitoring scores and judges for all entries to ensure fair and objective scoring.
  8. ​OPTIONAL: NJRW strives to be an inclusive community. Please consider letting us know more about yourself on the Judge Registration form. This information will only be used for research purposes and your personal information will not be shared with entrants nor published in any form.
  9. Anti-Discrimination Policy
    1. New Jersey Romance Writers does not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, or religion. We expect the same from our judges and entrants with a zero tolerance policy.
    2. To this end, we request and recommend that you read or watch the following articles/videos.
      1. https://inclusionnation.org/about/   
      2. https://inclusionnation.org/ted-x-talk/ 
      3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-BY9UEewHw )
      4. https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/white-fragility-and-the-rules-of-engagement-twlm/ 
In signing up to judge the Golden Leaf, you confirm that you understand the concept of implicit bias, and that as far as possible, you will not allow implicit bias to affect your judging of the Golden Leaf contest. You understand that if you violate this policy, your scores will be invalidated and you will not be asked to judge future contests with NJRW.
Full rules for entrants can be found here. 
Entries will be in PDF/EPUB format. No hard copies will be mailed.

Key Dates

Registration Opens: 
NJRW Members: August 1 and 2, 2025; other entrants: August 3.
Registration Closes: September 30, 2025, 11:59pm Eastern Time
Book Files Received by Judges Before: October 10, 2025
Completed Score Sheets Returned to Coordinators by: January 15, 2026
Winners will be announced at our In-Person JeRoWriMo and Golden Leaf Celebration in April, 2026 (details TBA). All Golden Leaf Finalists and supporters are invited. Judges are also invited.

Sample Score Sheet

For 2025, judges will be able to fill out a Google form for each scored book. Below is a sample of that form.
2024_sample_scoresheet.pdf
File Size: 201 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Entries will be in EPUB and PDF format. No hard copies will be mailed.
Judging Process
  1. Each entry is judged by three judges.
  2. Judges use the above score sheet. 
  3. Finalists will be announced on January 31, 2026, but scores are not released until winners are announced in April.
  4. The 3 scores for each entry are added together, and the top score is the winner in that category. The next highest two scorers take second and third place. All three places are finalists and receive a 'Golden Leaf Finalist' graphic.
  5. If there are multiple equal top scores, the tie breaker points will be used to see if the tie can be broken. If there is a definite tie for 1st place, even accounting for the tie-breaker question, both books will be sent to separate tie-breaker judges (fourth judges). If there are 2 first place winners after sending to the fourth judge, then both win 1st place, and the next highest score takes 3rd place.
  6. If there is one first place winner but a tie for second, 3rd place is not awarded.
  7. If there is one first place winner, one second place, and a tie for 3rd, then four finalists will be awarded.
For more information, please contact Hannah Rowan, Contest Chair at [email protected].