Geoff Shandler has been named vice president and editorial director. Shandler will oversee the expansion in the imprint’s nonfiction program. Some of the authors he has worked with include The Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell, former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

Judy Clain has been named vice president and editor-in-chief. In her new role, Clain will chair the imprint’s editorial board, manage the editorial team, and serve as the lead ambassador to literary agents. Some of the authors she has worked with include Julie & Julia memoir author Julie Powell and Room novelist Emma Donoghue.

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Performer Andrew W.K. (here), Julie Powell (“Julie & Julia“) and David Gutowski (Largehearted Boy) will all judge the annual competition. This year’s round-robin bracket will pit literary titles against each other. The list includes: “The Year of the Flood” by Margaret Atwood; Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel; “Lowboy” by John Wray and NBA winner, “Let the Great World Spin” by Colum McCann.

Here’s more from the announcement: “You can follow along as each contender is passed from reader to reader and judgments are handed down, sometimes passionately, sometimes haphazardly (and sometimes, in the case of Dale Peck in 2006, not at all). We have had judges who admitted they didn’t finish their books. We’ve had Rooster winners who came back as judges the next year, on the condition that we commission for them an aggressive T-shirt. And yes, we’ve had judges who flipped coins. So has the National Book Award—but the National Book Award won’t tell you that.”

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The literary winners were: Meryl Streep won best actress for “Julie & Julia” (based on Julie Powell‘s memoir); Mo’Nique won best supporting actress for “Precious” (based on “Push” by Sapphire); George Clooney won best actor for “Up In The Air” (based on Walter Kirn‘s novel) and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (based on the book by Roald Dahl); and finally, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” took the best animated film award.

These wins can be crucial for a film’s award season. In 2007, the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy‘s “No Country for Old Men” scored best picture, director and best supporting actor at the NYFCC awards–winning big at the Academy Awards that same year. eventual Oscar winners all. case you were wondering, the adaptation of Stephenie Meyer‘s Twilight Saga: New Moon did not take a single award.

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The film Julie & Julia follows the adventures Julie Powell, a blogger who eventually wrote a book about her experiences throwing dinner parties with Julia Child recipes. In a new Knopf contest, readers can photograph and blog their own Child-inspired parties. One winner will take home a cooking bounty.

Here’s the long prize list: “One (1) winner will receive one (1) copy each of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, My Life in France, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, The Way to Cook, and Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom, all by Julia Child, as well as a one-year gift subscription to Bon Appetit, the 50th Anniversary Bon Appetit Cookbook, and The Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook. The winner will also receive one (1) Le Creuset 8-quart French oven in flame from Williams-Sonoma.”

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