10 Things a Best Reviewer Award Winner Wants to Share About Writing Reviews for the Creative Awards [Creative Awards 2025 Support Project]

Hello, I'm Arlon, the (self-proclaimed) (unofficial) (unauthorized) Creative Awards Ambassador. I'd like to drop those parentheses soon.

Well, today is the final day of the Creative Awards 2025 (reader support period). Since the submission deadline on 7/22, many of you have likely written a lot of reviews.

Of course, I am one of those people who wrote reviews. For over three months since the call for entries began on 4/23, I have been running a note reading project.

↓ Click here for my review articles (since there are over 30 articles, I will introduce them via a magazine).

The number of works I wrote articles for as Creative Awards reviews is

87 works

in total.

By the way, last year it was about 40 works (I read all the novels, etc., for a total of about 400 articles). There are people who wrote even more reviews, but I think 87 is by no means a small number.

I thought about many things while carrying out this project. Since I am reading someone's precious work, I cannot write half-hearted reviews.

Therefore, I have written down how I wrote my reviews, what I noticed, as a memorandum. Since I am a recipient of last year's Best Reviewer Award, I think there is a certain level of credibility to it.

I think there are people who feel, 'I want to write a review, but I don't know how!', so I would be happy if this could be of any help.

Things I put effort into

Effort 1: Never criticize or give advice

This is one of the things I have been conscious of since last year.

I want to deliver positive reviews as much as possible, so I was careful not to write anything negative. No matter how far a work was from my personal taste, I think I was quite thorough about this.

Also, I did not write things like "this would be better if you did this" (even if I thought them). This project is not a consulting service, and I am, after all, an amateur. Writing impressions from an amateur's perspective is the main purpose of this project.

Strategy 2: Keep the character count as uniform as possible

This is also something I've done since last year, but I made an effort to keep the character count of the works I introduce as consistent as possible. It's roughly 120 to 150 characters, I suppose.

If the difference in character count (which is roughly equivalent to enthusiasm) becomes too large, it could indirectly disparage those with less. In other words, it would contradict Strategy 1.

Therefore, I kept the character count of the impressions as similar as possible.

Strategy 3: Use your own words, not someone else's

This is borrowed from Kaho Miyake's book "The Art of Verbalizing 'Likes'," but if you read someone else's impressions first, you will be influenced by them to no small extent.

For that reason, I made sure to write before reading other people's impressions.

Even if the writing is clumsy, I think there is meaning in writing in your own words. So, even if you are not good at writing impressions, I don't think you need to worry about it too much. Enthusiasm is far more important.

Strategy 4: Recruit exclusively on note (use SNS only for promotion)

When looking at X, I see people doing similar note reading projects. In fact, I did it last year too, and if anything, X is the reason I started this project in the first place.

However, if I do that, “people who use note but not X” cannot participate in the project.

Since it is a note reading project, I recruited on note. I kept X strictly for promotion.

Strategy 5: Reviewing the project content

Although I tried various things, there was a time when I was worried because the number of applications was not growing.

As a breakthrough, I once solicited opinions.

It is impossible to incorporate every opinion, but I think just knowing the needs was a sufficient achievement in itself.

After all, no one will apply if the project is self-serving.

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Things I noticed

Insight 1: The quality of a work is not proportional to the number of likes

Seriously, this. "Good work = many likes"is not true!!!!!

If you have many followers, the number of likes on your work will inevitably be high.
But while that may be an indicator of a creator's popularity, it does not directly correlate to the quality of the work.

Of course, the equation above holds true in some cases. However, there are many wonderful works even if they have few likes!

So, please don't think, "My work doesn't have many likes, so it probably won't win the Creative Grand Prize..."!!!!!

Insight 2: There are many mistakes in tagging

Seriously, this (for the second time). There are just so, so many.

Even though I called attention to it over and over again every single time, and even though I ran theTag Error Eradication CampaignwithKosshisan, there were definitely one or two entries with tagging mistakes.

I kept thinking, "Are you sure? Not only will it not be read, but you don't even meet the eligibility requirements, are you really okay with that?"

The application process for this project is:

1. Follow Aruron.

2. Post one link to the work you want read in the comments section of the recruitment article.

3. Aruron checks the comment and clicks 'like' on it as a sign that the application is complete.

That is what it is.
For those I didn't 'like' in point 3, I continued to check them every day until the deadline. Some people made corrections, but there were also many who never made any corrections and ended up being ineligible for entry. Are you sure that's okay?

Being excluded from the entry requirements due to a simple tag error is such a waste. It's just a tag, but it's also more than just a tag. Please make sure to check it next year.

Realization 3: There are people who say 'I want you to read this' but don't enter.

There were even people who would say on X, 'Everyone, please read this!' but never entered even once.

Well, whether or not to enter is a personal choice, so that's fine.
However, I can't help but think, 'I wish they had entered...'

I figured they didn't enter because they were being considerate, thinking it would be a lot of work, or perhaps they didn't want feedback from Arlon. If it's the former, that's unnecessary worry, so please do enter next time! If it's the latter, well, I'm sorry. That's my lack of ability. I will strive to improve.
If it's the former, that's unnecessary worry, so please do enter next time!
If it's the latter, well, I'm sorry. That's my lack of ability. I will strive to improve.

Realization 4: Tales links don't send notifications.

You might think, 'Well, obviously,' but the fact that they don't send notifications means they are hard to notice.

Because of this, I added 'Follow Arlon' to the entry requirements. I thought if there was a new post from Arlon on their timeline, they might think, 'Oh, is this feedback on my work?'

...Well, it doesn't seem to have been very effective. I'm looking for effective methods.

Realization 5: Writing feedback is difficult.

Seriously, this (for the third time).

Even if you just say 'write feedback,' there are many steps involved: reading, thinking, re-reading, thinking, writing, researching, revising... It takes time and is by no means something you can do on the side. Choosing the right words is also truly difficult!

However, as I mentioned in point 3, even if your writing is clumsy, you can make up for it with enthusiasm. Even though I won the Best Reviewer Award last year, I believe that in my case, I was evaluated partly on quantity (passion) rather than quality.

Besides, I've received feedback on my own work, so I know that feedback filled with enthusiasm is incredibly happy to receive. I'm happy just to receive feedback, but when it's filled with genuine feeling, it makes me even happier!

Writing feedback is difficult, and there are many times when it might not be well-received.
But if there is even one person who is happy, I will continue to write feedback.

Because feedback is not something to be taken for granted.

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Personal Favorite Works

Finally, out of all 87 entries received, I would like to introduce the favorite works that personally impressed me.

Picture Book 100 Books Challenge | What I Needed to Write Was 'Reading' /Tsukino Ui (Tsukino Ui)

Tsukino-san, who aims to be a picture book text author. One day, she encountered a notebook and made this resolution.

'I will read and record 100 picture books.'

Before I could even boast, 'I read 87 works for the note reading project!' (with a smug face), she had already read 100 picture books. That is truly amazing.

Moreover, she doesn't just read them aimlessly. She is particular about how she chooses the picture books, and analyzes every element to the fullest: the title, author, opening lines, closing lines, a sentence that left an impression, the publisher, the first edition publication date, and even the correlation between genre and era. And this, too, is easy to read.

Picture books are surely a path everyone has walked.
'I loved that picture book.'
'I didn't know there were picture books like this; maybe I'll let my child read it next time.'
The charm of this work is that you can read it while making it personal.

An insatiable passion for becoming a picture book text author, thorough analysis and consideration, and overflowing love for picture books. These combined make for a 'thesis that is fun to read.'

As it is in the All Categories division, I personally think it is a perfect work.
For those who haven't read it yet, I recommend giving it a read.

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And so, I can finally say this line.

Creative Award 2025, thank you for all your hard work!!!!!

Thank you for reading until the end!

(The End)

#CreativeAwardImpressions