I do lots of volunteer projects for my writing groups. I’ve made websites, planned conferences, served as a programs chair. This year it seems my thing has been writing awards.
I mentioned a while back that I’ve been helping my writing group re-vamp our award for published authors. The National Excellence in Romance Awards are coming along nicely. We’ve drawn great reader judges and great entrants for a wide variety of romance sub-genres and all forms of publishing (from books published by big name authors with NY publishing, to digital first presses, to self-published books). The contest will close to entries at the end of the month.
Also for this contest I created the romanceawards.com website. The site will announce the winners, but I wanted to make it a little broader than that, so I created a directory of book awards for the romance genre. WOW! I couldn’t believe there were so many.
Last but not least, the SFR Galaxy Awards will be announced on the 31st. This is a brand new award and is a little different from most awards. The whole concept is explained over at the Galaxy Express today. What I can tell you is, there is no contest or competition. The judges, of which I am one, have been reading Science Fiction Romance all year and we each get to select up to five books to recognize with unique awards. We have everything from Best Worldbuilding in a Novel or Series to Best Alien Fertility Festival in an SFR. It is really going to be fun to watch as the awards roll out through the day!
So, what do you think about book awards? Do you ignore them? Or have strong feelings about how they should be done? I’d love to hear what you think!
Smart Girls love SciFi 
Sounds like great fun. And I love the logo! I have mixed feelings about awards. Some come off as popularity contests, not necessarily a reflection of outstanding work. I’m sure THESE will follow strict judging guidelines ; )
The National Excellence in Romance Fiction Awards do have strict rules.
The SFR Galaxy Awards, not so much. We did prohibit awarding any of the participants work and judges were not allowed to nominate books by authors in their immediate circle, such as critique partners or blog partners. Beyond that it is completely subjective and not intended to recognize the best written book. The awards are supposed to recognize books for what they bring to the SFR genre and I think we managed to come up with a pretty good variety of books.
oh, I’m counting on a more subjective influence. How could it not be? 🙂
I have mixed feelings about awards, but I think for underrepresented genres they can be a good thing because it lets readers know the variety that is out there. I look forward to the SFR Galaxy Awards.
I totally understand the hesitation, but SFR needs all the buzz it can get so I’m hoping people will have fun with it. 😉 The hard part for me was only picking five books! and I know there are great books out there I haven’t read. I feel a little better knowing there are seven other ‘judges’ also nominating books.
I’ve never paid much attention to awards, but I’m enjoying being a volunteer judge for NERA. After this experience, I think I’ll pay a bit more attention to awards in the future, if only as a source for additional titles for my ‘to read’ list.
Glad you’re having fun with it!