The judging panel for this year's Booker Prize shows the customary balance of literary heavyweights and populist names.

Chair of the judging panel is Lisa Jardine, a well-respected 'media don' who combines her role as professor of renaissance studies at London University with a high-profile career as broadcaster and critic.

She will be joined by the comedian and novelist David Baddiel, who is developing a keen sideline in literary prize appearances. Last year he was a panelist for the 2001 People's Booker, and was a live commentator on the prize night itself. He was a judge for the Guardian First Book Award in 2000 and participated in the live television discussion panel for the three previous Whitbread Book Awards.

Also on the panel are Erica Wagner, literary editor of the Times, novelist and analytical psychologist Salley Vickers, and Russell Celyn Jones, who is the author of five novels, including Soldiers and Innocents, which won the David Higham Prize.

The longlist for the 2002 Booker Prize will be announced in August, and the shortlist in September. The judges will declare the winner at an awards dinner in late October.

Last year's winner was True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey.