Written by sockmonkeyhere, permission to use for BTVS Awards
(this information is provided for you, of course, by BTVS Awards)
After
becoming aware a few months ago that such things as fanfic awards
existed, I went exploring to familiarize myself with them. Here's a few
observations:
1. Award sites can be
created by anyone. Some sites are well known and attract many
competitors; others are new, small, and/or have far less people
entering.
2. Some sites use a judge or panel of judges to pick
the winners; others may allow the general public to vote. Some sites
use a combination, such as a judging panel for all the categories plus
a public vote for "Readers' Choice."
3. The judge or panel of
judges is chosen by the site's administrator. Some sites post the names
of the judges; others don't reveal who they are.
4. Some sites
allow you to nominate yourself, some say that another person must
nominate you, and some allow you to nominate both yourself and other
people. The sites don't do the nominating -- it's up to the general
public to nominate the contestants.
5. Awards sites usually
contain a page with a choice of "codes" or "buttons" -- avatars that
say "I'm nominated at so-and-so Awards." They may ask that all nominees
display one of these codes somewhere -- on your website, for example --
as it's an excellent way to advertise the site. If you don't have a
place to display a code, contact the site's administrator and let her
know this, so that she'll understand why and won't think that you're
ignoring her request.
6. In order to make sure that you've read
the contest's rules, a site may require you to type in a secret word
when you're filling out their nomination form. You'll find the secret
word in the rules section. The secret word will be changed with each
contest round.
7. A "round" is the contest itself, including the
nominating period and the judging period. A site usually has several
rounds each year. For instance, Round 1 may have nominating from
January through February and judging from February through March. Then
the winners' names are posted. The site may chose to start the next
round immediately, or it may wait several weeks or months.
8.
Some sites have Runner-Up awards as well as First Places. Winners are
given a banner with their name, fic name, round number, etc. on it, to
display, and the site may create a page with links to the winners'
works.
9. Many sites give awards for art and videos as well as
for fictions. They may also have categories for Best Website, Best
Beta, Best New Author, etc.
10. If someone else nominates you or your work, the site will usually email you to ask if you accept the nomination.
11.
Some sites accept only certain types of stories, such as Spike/Buffy
only. Many sites accept NC-17 and slash, but most will NOT accept
incest fics.
12. Here's some examples of typical categories:
Best Humor, Best Romance, Best Angst, Best Drama, Best Alternate
Universe, Best Original Character, Best Canon Pairing, Best Non-Canon
Pairing, Best Plot, Best Drabble, Best Series, Best Incomplete...and
the list goes on! Some sites accept works in progress (WIPs) in all of
their categories.
13. The site will post the names of the
nominated fics, along with a link to wherever they're archived, so that
everyone can go and read them.
14. The site's rules will tell
you how many times you can enter your work(s). For instance, your story
may qualify as both a romance and an A.U., or you may have two romance
stories and would like to enter them both.
15. On the site page
that lists the nominated works: along with the link, the title, and the
author, you'll usually see the story's rating and its sexual/romantic
pairing, if there is one -- Xander/Anya, for instance, or
Faith/Andrew/Snyder. (Just checking to see if you're still awake. Wink )