BSV Forum - Awards - Questions

Observations regarding awards sites!

Nov 16 2006 05:06 pm   #1Athenewolfe

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 )