Recently, I heard that Dragon Con, the super-huge sf/media/everything convention in Atlanta GA, has decided to put forth their own awards, voted by fans around the world. After following the Hugo Awards Kerfluffle of 2015 with much interest, I had to check this out.
According to Dragon Con’s web site, “As a part of our 30th Anniversary as the nation’s largest fan-run convention, we are introducing a new way to recognize excellence in all things Science Fiction and Fantasy. These awards will be by the fans, for the fans, and are your chance to reward those who have made real contributions to SF, books, games, comics, and shows. Not only can you nominate and vote, the Dragon Awards lets you share your support with others!”
This sounds cool, but it’s pretty general. So my first thought is to compare the existing major awards for SF/media/everything with what Dragon Con proposes.
Nebula Awards are voted by active members of SFWA. They are awarded at a Nebula Conference.
Hugo Awards are voted by members of the World Science Fiction Convention, and given at the same. As we all heard, there was a ballot-stuffing scandal in 2015.
Locus Awards are nominated by a jury and voted by subscribers to Locus Magazine. They are given at WesterCons, if I recall.
Update: The Locus Awards are based on that magazine’s recommended reading list, which to me is a jury by another name; however, anyone can write in their own nominations. In addition, non-subscribers can vote for the Locus awards, but votes by magazine subscribers are weighted more heavily. Locus Awards were given at WesterCons at one time, but now have their own awards event.
World Fantasy Awards are voted by members of the World Fantasy Convention and also vetted by a jury. They’re awarded at World Fantasy, where else?
Eisner Awards are for comics only. Nominations are compiled by a jury and voted by comics professionals. They are awarded at San Diego Comic Con.
One of the distinctions I believe Dragon Con is trying to make, is that the existing prestigious awards are decided by a limited number of people — a jury, members of a particular convention or group — while the Dragon Awards will be nominated and voted by all fans. This sounds fair and noble, but I’m remembering that time when DC let fans vote on whether Robin should be killed by the Joker. They were aghast that fans wanted Robin dead. Was the outcome fair? Perhaps. But was it noble?
Already, some in the community responsible for the Hugo Awards Kerfluffle have been heard to gloat that now they will win because no bunch of snobs can vote them down. As you probably can tell, I’m a little tired of hearing privileged majorities play the dismartyrdom card. We’ll all find out in time.
I don’t necessarily agree that SF/media/everything needs another set of awards. However, I do believe Dragon Con is a large enough and inclusive enough organization to credibly present such an award. It will be interesting to see the outcome, and where it aligns or doesn’t align with the other awards.
To find out more about the Dragon Awards, click here.
[…] Fredericks on “The Dragon Awards” at […]
The Locus Awards’ “nominations” (the pull-down choices from their online ballot) are from the Locus recommended reading lists, but you can write in any choices you want. They are open to anyone, but the votes of subscribers to the magazine get double weight. They occasionally were presented at Westercon in the past, but are now presented at a separate ceremony of their own, not at an SF convention.
Thanks for the clarification, Kevin. I knew the Internets would save me.
But since people can vote as many times as they have email addresses, that leads to even easier ballot box stuffing!
I have at least 5 addresses assigned by various places, and the free email places like Yahoo will let you sign up for as many as you want. Hackers could flood them with bogus votes.
One can only hope the award administrators have some way to account for this. Otherwise, instead of the Dragon Awards, they will become the Troll Awards!