Dragon Con Launches Its Own SF Awards

Dragon Con, the pop culture convention held annually over Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, has opened nominations for the newly-created Dragon Awards. The official press release sets the vision for the award:

Dragon Award winners will be selected by all fans – not just Dragon Con members or attendees – in an open nomination and final voting system.  To accommodate as many creative genres as possible, awards will be given in each of 15 categories covering the full range of fiction, comics, television, movies, video gaming and tabletop gaming.  Winners will be announced at the 30th Anniversary Dragon Con convention, which will be held September 2 to September 5, 2016 in Atlanta.

“We wanted to offer fans an opportunity to vote for their favorite book, comic, movie, television show or game, which just about covers all the different ways that we enjoy science fiction and fantasy today,” said Pat Henry, president of Dragon Con, Inc.  “In the last 30 years, the way we enjoy science fiction and fantasy has changed so much, but the demand for quality has never diminished.  These awards are our way of recognizing the best writers, artists, directors and game designers who breathe life into the things we love.”

Because of the unprecedentedly large pool of fans who are expected to participate in the nominating process, the Dragon Awards will be a true reflection of the works that are genuinely most beloved by the core audience.

There are seven novel categories, four game categories, a comic book, a graphic novel, a TV and a movie category.

There are no short fiction, editing, magazine or fan award categories.

Winners will be selected in a two-step process.

  • Nominations: Fans can nominate one (and only one) item in an award category.  Nominations are open until July 25.
  • Finalists: “The best and most popular of the nominated properties in each category will then be offered for a second and final vote beginning August 2. Fans will be allowed to vote just once for each category’s best in this final round of voting.”

The categories are:

  • Best science fiction novel
  • Best fantasy novel (including paranormal)
  • Best young adult/middle grade novel
  • Best military science fiction or fantasy novel
  • Best alternate history novel
  • Best apocalyptic novel
  • Best horror novel
  • Best comic book
  • Best graphic novel
  • Best episode in a continuing science fiction or fantasy series, TV or internet
  • Best science fiction or fantasy movie
  • Best science fiction or fantasy PC / console game
  • Best science fiction or fantasy mobile game
  • Best science fiction or fantasy board game
  • Best science fiction or fantasy miniatures / collectible card / role-playing game

All voting will be done electronically on the Dragon Awards site here.

Voters will be required to register. The FAQ explains:

I’m honest, why do I need to register?

We ask you to register for ballot security and to prevent fraud by others. If there is any concern, we may ask you later for identifying information such as a mailing address. We will NEVER ask for confidential, personal information such as your SSN. Once you register, you can access the Dragon Awards site and vote. Once you complete this, you will receive an email to the registered address. Respond to that email and you can begin to nominate and vote. The Dragon Awards reserves the right to invalidate suspect or questionable ballots without notice.

The FAQ also defines the eligible works:

When does my book, game, comic or show have to have been released to qualify for this year?

To be eligible for the 2016 Dragon Awards the book, comic, game, movie, or, at least, one episode of any series has to have been released Between April 1, 2015, and the close of nominations, July 25, 2016.

Voting on the finalists will begin in early August and end on the Saturday at Noon of Dragoncon weekend, September 3, 2016.

The 15 category definitions will be of interest to conrunners — the full text follows the jump.

[Thanks to Steven H Silver for the story.]

Best Science Fiction Novel

What is the best and most outstanding science fiction novel you have read in the last year, one that you would tell your friends to read?

Qualifying is any book that is at least 70,000 words long, containing a single story (no anthologies), and has been first released in print or ebook format between 1/1/2015 and 3/1/2016 containing and based upon scientific or science and engineering premises or technology. The release date is shown on the verso, legal information page, at the front of the book. A book may have more than one release date if it comes out in different formats.

Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)

What is the best and most outstanding novel featuring magic or mythic creatures that you have read in the last year, one that you would tell your friends to read?

Qualifying is any book that is at least 70,000 words long, containing a single story (no anthologies), and has been first released in print or ebook format between 1/1/2015 and 3/1/2016 containing and based upon scientific or science and engineering premises or technology. Release date is shown on the verso, legal information page, at the front of the book. A book may have more than one release date if it comes out in different formats.

Best Young Adult/Middle Grade Novel

What is the best and most outstanding novel for young adults, ages 12 to 18, that you have read in the last year, one that you would recommend for all teenagers to read?

Qualifying is any book written for readers ages 12 to 18 that is at least 45,000 words long, containing a single story (no anthologies), and has been first released in print or ebook format between 1/1/2015 and 2/1/2016 containing significant science fiction or fantasy elements.

Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel

What is the best and most outstanding novel featuring main characters who are in the military and combat that you have read in the last year, one that you would tell your friends to read?

Qualifying is any book that is at least 70,000 words long, containing a single story (no anthologies), and has been first released in print or ebook format between 1/1/2015 and 2/1/2016 which contains and is based upon some aspect of military combat in any form and in any time period which contains significant science fiction or fantasy elements.

Best Alternate History Novel

What is the best and most outstanding novel whose story takes place in a world that did not happen, but could have been, so is an alternative to the world as we know it that you have read in the last year, one that you would tell your friends to read?

Qualifying is any book that is at least 70,000 words long, containing a single story (no anthologies), and has been first released in print or ebook format between 1/1/2015 and 2/1/2016 whose story is set in a variant future or past universe including those with steam powered technology.

Best Apocalyptic Novel

What is the best and most outstanding novel whose story is based upon a the end of the world, the collapse of civilization, or the destruction of the human race as we know it that you have read in the last year, one that you would tell your friends to read?

Qualifying is any book that is at least 70,000 words long, containing a single story (no anthologies), and has been first released in print or ebook format between 1/1/2015 and 2/1/2016 themed or set after a major and world changing disaster which occurs in the future. This can include ecological, social, zombie, or other world changing events.

Best Horror Novel

What is the best and most outstanding novel whose story is based upon horrific events that you have read in the last year, one that you would tell your friends to read?

Qualifying book featuring and primarily based upon one or more horrific elements that is at least 70,000 words long, containing a single story (no anthologies), and has been first released in print or ebook format between 1/1/2015 and 2/1/2016.

Best Comic Book

What is the best comic or comic book series you have read in the last year, one that you would tell your friends to read?

Qualifying is any publication that contains illustrated story in traditional comic book format (non-animated) that is at least 20 pages long with a consistent set of characters, premises and series title that appears at least four times per year and at least one volume has been first released in print or electronic format between 1/1/2015 and 2/1/2016.

Best Graphic Novel

What is the best single graphic novel that you have read in the last year, one that you would tell your friends to read?

A publication that contains illustrated story in traditional comic book format (non-animated) that is at least 36 pages long and has been first released in print or electronic format between 1/1/2015 and 2/1/2016.

Best Episode in a Continuing Science Fiction or Fantasy Series, TV or Internet

What is the best TV or internet series you have watched and enjoyed over the last year?

Nominate a series as a whole, not a single episode.

Qualifying is any series of media (video and sound) presentations of which no less than four related episodes have appeared between 1/1/2015 and 2/1/2016 which featuring continuing cast or characters, plot elements, and series name presented in any medium.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie

What is the best theatrical, TV, or internet movie you have watched and enjoyed over the last year?

Qualifying is any single presentation of a story featuring fantasy or science fiction elements no shorter than 74 minutes run time that is not part of any continuing series (movie sequels can be included here) which was first was shown in television, in theaters, or over the internet between 1/1/2015 and 2/1/2016.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC / Console Game

What is the best, absolute most fun to play and look at new science fiction or fantasy themed electronic game that you played in the last year? One that you would recommend to your friends.Please put both the name of the game, and game company.

Qualifying is any science fiction or fantasy themed game that is played primarily on a computer or game console which may or may not include an internet connection and which was released between 1/1/2015 and 2/1/2016.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Mobile Game

What is the best, absolute most fun to play and look at new science fiction or fantasy themed electronic game that you played on your phone or tablet in the last year? One that you would recommend to your friends.

Qualifying is any science fiction or fantasy themed game that is played primarily on tablets or phones which may or may not include an internet connection and which was released between 1/1/2015 and 2/1/2016.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game

What is the best science fiction or fantasy themed game that is played using a game board of form, including those which are assembled during play, that you have played with or would recommend to your friends.

Qualifying is any non-electronic game for any number of players in which a central board plays an important role in the game play and which was first released between 1/1/2015 and 2/1/2016.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures / Collectable Card / Role-Playing Game

What is the best science fiction or fantasy themed non-electronic game that is not played using a game board of form that you have played with or would recommend to your friends. This can be any type of game or game rules set.

Qualifying is any non-electronic game for any number of players whose central game play element is not a board.

299 thoughts on “Dragon Con Launches Its Own SF Awards

  1. One of last year’s Best Editor Short Form nominees had edited a volume of military fantasy, which was included in the Hugo packet, and – it was quite like regular epic fantasy, which does after all have battles in it, but did sort of play up the military element. The weapons weren’t as boring as in MilSF, if I remember rightly.

  2. Best MilFant? That’s easy; The March North by Graydon Saunders and Nine Goblins by Ursula Vernon…

  3. Heroes, by Joe Abercrombie.

    A match-up between The March North and Heroes would require multiple forehead cloths.

  4. Kathodus, I don’t know Abercrombie’s Heroes. Tell me more, please. Mentioning it in the same breath as The March North piques my interest…

  5. Best MilFant I’m with @Cassy B Nine Goblins by was it T. Kingfisher or Usula Vernon? Well whichever name if was great fun and military and fantasy and Goblins and magic and armies and go read it right now if your looking for something military but not gun porn.

  6. @Cassy B – I don’t know if you are familiar with Abercrombie’s work. Heroes is set in the same world as his First Law trilogy. It’s been called, both as a negative and positive criticism, grimdark. It is a decidedly cynical take on what makes a war hero. You don’t need to have read the First Law trilogy to appreciate it, though it doesn’t hurt.

    In a way, Abercrombie’s world is the opposite of Saunders’, but I love them both. Their main connection in my head is that I was recommended Abercrombie by a friend who found out I’d just discovered and loved the Black Company books, and thought they shared some similarities, and when I read The Long March North, I was immediately reminded of Cook’s work.

    @Tasha – thanks for the recommendation. Grabbed it.

  7. @Cassy @Kathodus
    The Heroes is my favorite Abercombie. I do like the tight focus on the one battle and I think it can work as a one shot for people not aware of the characters or throughlines of the series.

  8. I have my own domain, if I want to take the time to do so, I suppose I could create enough email addresses with reasonable names, like mary.williams@domain, john.masterson@domain, jose.santiago@doman, etc, that I have many thousand votes. I could nominate a bunch of SJW choices and watch all the puppy heads explode.

  9. I think the prototypical Military Fantasy novels would be Glen Cook’s Black Company novels.

  10. Re: Abercrombie — somehow, I missed this author. I’m not opposed to grimdark (although I dislike horror). Should I start with the First Law trilogy or The Heroes? My library has both…

  11. I loved pretty much all the books set in the First Law world. You don’t need to read the trilogy to appreciate Heroes, but you’ll have a lot better idea going in who the characters are, the states involved, the stakes involved, etc.. I’d recommend reading the trilogy first.

  12. If available I’d hop straight to his latest trilogy starting with Half A King to get a good idea of whether you like his work.

  13. @Cassy B.

    I’ll play contrarian to kathodus: I’d recommend Heroes first. It was my entry point to Abercrombie. The lack of background didn’t hurt. The First Law trilogy had flashes of brilliance but mostly fell flat for me. I had to purge bookshelves awhile back (needed the room). Heroes stayed, the trilogy went to the garage in a box.

  14. Military fantasy, you say? Has everyone forgotten about the Shadow Campaigns series already?

  15. Would the Malazan series count as MiliFant?? I bounced off it once, but have been meaning to re-try after someone here giving an enticing description of the series.

  16. Yes, I’d say the Malazan series definitely counts as Military Fantasy. A good chunk of the characters are in military companies. The entire series deals with the Malazan empire taking control or keeping control or retaking control of various territories….plus magic.

  17. Crown For Cold Silver is military fantasy, I’d say. Also Cold Iron. Liked them both.

  18. And they’re both eligible this year, I think, so I might throw them into my possible ballot. CFCS is chock-full of SJW goodness while still having fight scenes in scale from one-on-one duels to small groups, to a pirate attacking a ship, to full-out war with thousands of people in each army. Spoiler: it’s hell.

  19. separating one’s egg whites and a spring form pan and parchment paper and other tricky bits

    Separating eggs requires some practice, but isn’t actually all that hard – and you can use a slotted spoon to help you; there are even tools made for doing it. The key is not breaking the yolk; the yolk stays in the spoon (or whatever you use) while the whites go through.

    Spring-form pans are used a lot for cheesecakes and other pastries that need support while being baked, but not after.

    Parchment paper makes it easier to get the cake out of the pan, and it isn’t hard to find. (I’ve seen it in supermarkets, in the baking section or near the foil.) Trace the pan on the paper and cut it out. (You might be asked to grease both the pan and the paper.)

  20. Separating eggs made easy:

    Important note, though.
    The whites won’t beat properly if you have even a speck of yolk in them, so it is best to separate the eggs one at a time.

  21. It’s not that hard to separate eggs by pouring from shell to shell. Practice on eggs you’re going to scramble. First, wash your hands. Crack the egg gently over a small bowl, then, holding the egg upright, lift the top half of the shell away retaining the yolk in the lower half and letting the white escape into the bowl. Then gently pour the yolk into the other shell half, letting more white escape. Pour back and forth a couple of times, then decant the yolk into a separate container. Use your fingers to scrape the remaining white out of the shells, then, if you didn’t break the yolk, pour the white into a very clean larger bowl and start on your next egg. If you did break it, then put that one aside for another purpose than your cake and carefully wash the little bowl before starting the next egg.

    If a bit of shell escapes into the whites, you can retrieve it most easily with a larger piece of (non-yolky) shell. If you use your fingers it will just slip away, but for some reason the shell will nab it. Weird.

    Some people pour the egg through their fingers or a slotted spoon, or a similar plastic device, but the shell itself has always worked for me. Whatever works for you. Just know that it’s not so very difficult if you try it first in non-strenuous ccircumstances!

  22. I’m just chiming in to agree with Lenore Jones. I was deathly afraid of separating egg whites until I tried it. My girlfriend is also a pastry chef, and she told me to use the egg shell method, and promised she’d fix any disasters. I was able to do it the first time, and have never had a disaster separating egg whites. It sounds difficult, but it’s actually quite simple and easy.

    ETA: I mostly did this to make pisco sours, when I was really into them. I’m no baker.

  23. I practiced separating eggs when I was doing something that didn’t require separated eggs – that way, disasters didn’t matter.

  24. The thing I find useful when separating egg whites is do the one your working on into its own bowl/glass so if it gets screwed up you don’t have to start all over. I use 4 bowls:
    1. Yolks
    2. Egg whites
    3. The egg white I’m working on
    4. Mistakes

    ETA: added 4 bowl

  25. Good tip Tasha.

    It’s critical if you’re using the egg whites for something like meringue where you have to whip the egg whites into stiff peaks. Any bits of yolk in it will stop the egg whites forming peaks no matter how long you whip it (whip it good). It’s also why it’s important to use a clean mixing bowl too (residual grease/butter is something else that’ll stop stiff peak formation).

  26. Any good books out there with dragon egg recipes? They would round out this discussion. Dragon awards => Handling eggs when cooking => Dragon egg cooking. I like symmetry. 😉

  27. RedWombat: Put me down for that note, a few pages past, for enthusiastic gamer who still doesn’t think Best Video Game is a generally good fit for the Hugos. I’ve hashed it around in my brain for awhile, and I just don’t see it working, more’s the pity.

    Could you say more about why not? (Serious question. I agree, there doesn’t have to be a Hugo for everything, so if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But what problems do you foresee?)

  28. For any given video game nominated, you need to already have the platform it’s played on. We’re not going to get lots of people buying Xboxes and Playstations to be able to judge the nominees fairly–even if they are already gamers and have one platform or the other. A relatively small percentage of regular Hugo voters would be doing any thing other than voting No Award or ignoring it altogether.

    A videogame award is something Dragoncon, with its greater focus on games, ought to be able to do significantly better than Worldcon.

  29. On a video game note…

    @Tasha, not a dragon, but there is the Tasty Deathclaw Omelet from Fallout 4. Remember though, you have to fight off a 9 to 15 foot tall lizard who may or may not have chameleon abilities to get at it….

    @Andrew M – This came up a few time in discussions here – this one, and the one linked at the end of the comments are a couple of threads that I can remember

  30. Andrew M on April 9, 2016 at 12:03 pm said:

    RedWombat:

    Put me down for that note, a few pages past, for enthusiastic gamer who still doesn’t think Best Video Game is a generally good fit for the Hugos. I’ve hashed it around in my brain for awhile, and I just don’t see it working, more’s the pity.

    Could you say more about why not? (Serious question. I agree, there doesn’t have to be a Hugo for everything, so if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But what problems do you foresee?)

    I would expect insufficient interest among the Worldcon membership. That’s what happened the last time it was tried. As I recall, few games got more than a single-digit number of nominations.

  31. Soon Lee: It’s also why it’s important to use a clean mixing bowl too (residual grease/butter is something else that’ll stop stiff peak formation).

    I was told, very young, to always use a glass mixing bowl for stuff requiring egg whites — because it’s really, really hard to get a plastic bowl clean enough to not have contaminants that will kill the froth.

    But that was before dishwashers were cheap and common, and it may be that a plastic bowl fresh out of the dishwasher is fine.

  32. @Snowcrash
    Thanks 🙂

    @JJ
    Metal and corelle work well although clear glass is easier to see if the bowl is truly clean of all debris. When whipping by hand I usually end up cradling the bowl in one arm – I’d crush a plastic/silicone bowl. I don’t have a kosher for Passover KitchenAid(TM) unfortunately. Too expensive and a pain to store just for one week. The KitchenAid(TM) with the whip attachment and metal bowl does a great job if you have 6 or more egg whites.

  33. Could you say more about why not? (Serious question. I agree, there doesn’t have to be a Hugo for everything, so if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But what problems do you foresee?)

    Lack of nomination pool, honestly. Both of people to nominate AND of things to nominate.

    In order to keep up with the last year’s games, you have to be a gamer. You have to have the investment in the hardware and a moderate investment in–oh, if not the culture, exactly, the news cycle enough to know what’s coming out. (And it’s very much an investment of time and energy. I get distracted in writing a book for six months, look up, and there’s five new games going by, even without the various Lego versions of big franchises, and I’m left going “Wait, what? Another goddamn Arkham Asylum game? HOW MUCH DLC did they make for Dragon Age? Christ.”)

    And gaming is really, truly a different world than books, and the Hugos are…mostly about books. (I’ll be honest, I don’t even think the art Hugos are handled all that well, and I say that as an illustrator–I’m not saying that it’s not an honor to get one, but “best artist” is such an immense catch-all.) So the pool of nominators at the current Worldcons are not huge. I’m a gamer, I know a bunch of gamers who are also into Worldcons, but it’s much the same way that I am also into birdwatching–these aren’t natural overlaps.

    And then there’s the problem of what to nominate…and this one I think is bigger.

    What would I nominate from the last year? …uh. Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon and Splatoon? Because…uh…look, I’m still working through various endings of DA: Inquisition, and the husband’s still on Bayonetta 2 and I’ve got Borderlands: Pre-Sequel ready to go after that and…um…that gets me through maybe 2014…because games often take hundreds of hours and it’s hard enough to get stuff for the Hugo Short Story read.

    And even leaving aside that, let’s take 2014, which was a fantastic year for games, I see…DA: I, Bayonetta 2, B:PS, Pokemon Alpha/Omega and…give me a minute…Monument Valley. Okay, those are the ones I was willing to give a shot to. (Beyond Earth just disappointed me way too much to make a slot.) And that’s JUST enough to fill a single ballot. I have to get into interactive fiction games after that–and I like IF games, don’t get me wrong, I think they’re awesome, but they’re another subgenre entirely, and now we’re asking people to learn yet another genre, because the overlap between IF and big studio games is again, not a given.

    So I think we just have a voting pool who don’t have a big enough overlap with gamers, a major investment in time/money to ask of voters compared to the current model, and honestly, not enough games per year compared to the number of books that come out.

    I love games, but I think a Hugo for games would be a fairly crappy version of a dedicated game award. (I’m also frankly skeptical of the Best Dramatic Presentation most years, but nobody asked me. *grin*) Let the people who do it well do it well, rather than trying to be all things to all people.

  34. The aforementioned pastry chef girlfriend says that when she has to separate whites from yolks, she gets the eggs really cold, then breaks them all into a bowl, then pulls the yolks out by hand. This is the most efficient method for, say, 80 eggs. They need to be very cold.

    I’m sure this advice is useless for everyone here, but it’s interesting, I think.

  35. do the one your working on into its own bowl/glass

    Teacups work well for this. Custard cups would do, too (and aren’t very expensive).

    Seconding the recommendation for glass or metal bowl. Melamine would probably work, but not softer plastics. They hold fats and oils too well.

  36. Some of my favorite Geeky cookbooks are written by Chris-Rachael Oseland . I’ve backed a number of her Kickstarters. She is in the process of doing a complete rewrite of Dining with the Doctor which from the glimpses she’s shared is going to be incredible – it was her latest Kickstarter. Not sure when it’s going to be available. It’s going to make fantastic gifts. She usually lists allergy info & sometimes possible substitutes which is very helpful.

    Some of the other SFF cookbooks have too many recipes based around dairy (can’t have) or so many non-kosher ingredients that by the time I’ve changed all the problematic ingredients out the final dish bears little resemblance to the original and a lot of work on cooking times and such. When I was healthier I was much more ambitious and enjoyed the challenge.

  37. I have the cutest little gargoyle face thing for separating eggs. You crack the eggs in through the head, and you pour the white out through the mouth whose lip is cleverly curled to hold back the yolk.

    It is not, sadly, immune to yolk-breakage. If you leave the yolk hung up on the lip against gravity too long, it can happen.

    I am looking forward to trying that soda bottle trick next time egg separation is called for.

  38. I could nominate a bunch of SJW choices and watch all the puppy heads explode.

    Not really it was the other side which had a hissy fit and would rather there be no awards if they didn’t get there way. “We had to destroy the Hugos to save them” I guess. The only slate voting was those who voted in lock step for the single choice of “No Award” in categories. You have multiple suggestions for a single category it is not a slate

  39. Sad Puppies: We’ve got spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, and spam.
    Dread Elk: spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam lovely spam, wonderful spam!
    Sad Puppies: Uh… line!?
    Hugo Voters: But I don’t want any spam.
    Daniel Kauffman: This spam is delicious! Anyone who says otherwise is a liar!

  40. @Daniel Kaufmann

    I think that word does not meant… what you think it means…

  41. @Daniel Kauffman

    Ah yes. The saga of the destroyed Hugos. No doubt you also think that there will be Hugo destroying taking place this year as well.

    Damn those surprisingly resilient Hugos.

  42. I think the main problem the Pups have when talking about the Hugos is that they think everyone else is as stupid as they are.

  43. The Hugos get resurrected every year don’tcha know?

    The Summer Hugo?

  44. Into every year an award is born: one rocket in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the No Award to fight the mediocre, terrible, and the forces of boredom; to stop the spread of their meh and the swell of their number. She is the Hugo.

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