All of the judges entered that process in good faith, and we were all a little chastened by the difficulty of it. So it did serve a purpose. I wish we could all be prize-free and trust our own judgment. Take reviewers, for example. The process is horrible but I can't imagine how anything would work without it.
Judgment is part of our nature.
It's simply a callow pretense to declare yourself too high-minded ever to judge or make comparisons. I see what Atwood is getting at, but I disagree with her. I don't assume that people are lying their heads off when they write an autobiography. I start each book in good faith. I have, I think, an eye for what is plausibly human and what isn't.