IndieReader has unveiled a long list of publishing professionals who will judge its first annual Discovery Awards.

This panel includes three literary agents from International Creative Management, executives from three of the big six publishers, publicists, book reviewers, industry journalists and authors. We’ve listed all the judges below–the entry fee is “$150 per title per category.”

Check it out: “With the rush by traditional publishers to sign them and their noteworthy bestselling status, there’s no longer much doubt that indie authors can be both commercially and creatively successful.  All that was left to do was create a credible vehicle by which to find them. What makes the [the awards] so unique is their extraordinary panel of judges … Why have all these important people agreed to read a pile of indie books?  For the simple reason that they’re interested in finding talented writers who might otherwise be overlooked.”

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Barnes & Noble has announced the 2010 Discovery Award winners. First place and $10,000 went to The Disappeared by Kim Echlin (fiction) and The Autobiography of an Execution by David R. Dow (nonfiction). They will also each receive a full year of marketing and merchandising support from Barnes & Noble.

Second place and $5,000 went to Model Home by Eric Puchner (fiction) and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (nonfiction). Third place and $2,500 went to Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto (fiction) and The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee (nonfiction).

Here’s more from the press release: “Writers on the nonfiction jury panel included Eric Blehm, whose book, The Last Season, won the Discover Award in 2006; British journalist Christina Lamb, whose book, The Sewing Circles of Herat: A Personal Voyage Through Afghanistan, was a finalist for the Discover Award in 2002; and critic Terry Teachout, whose biographies include The Skeptic: A Life of H. L. Mencken, and Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong.”