Omega Awards
| Award | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Omega Awards |
| Date(s): | 2001-2002 |
| Frequency: | annual |
| Format: | |
| Type: | fanfic |
| Associated Community: | |
| Fandom: | Star Wars |
| URL: | The Omega Awards - the final word on Star Wars fan fiction., Archived version (NOTE: you'll have to highlight the screen into another color to read it) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Omega Awards was a Star Wars fanfic award.
It billed itself as "The Internet's first Star Wars Fan Awards Community" and "the final word on Star Wars fan fiction."
Its Demise
In mid-2001, a website went up to collect nominations for a proposed set of "Omega Awards" for SW fanfic. This was somehow connected with Deb (I never did find out who was the other main figure behind the Omegas). "M" threw a snit about slash and stormed off, leaving the regular maintenance to Gator and me. The Omega Awards fizzled away and died by early 2002 with some parting bitterness toward Deb, which would not have helped her morale. In addition, iirc in the interim I heard from Gator that [personal information redacted here] [1]
A sign-off:
The Omega Awards!
Dead Due To Neglect
"The idea of an Internet-based Fan Fiction Awards has been discussed for years. Now, with the arrival of the new movies and a renewed interest in Star Wars, the time has come."
This was the concept behind the Omega awards.
Unfortunately, due to treachery and general neglect on the part of the owner of this site, the Omega Awards never stood a chance. There have been no awards sent, no winners notified.
Rather than let this stand abandoned and ignored, the Omega Awards is being discontinued until further notice. Not because the idea was not good, but because the management was bad. Hopefully, this idea will not die. Hopefully, fans will reclaim their fandom, and webmasters will care again.
This one cares enough to take down a site that was a victim of neglect, hypocracy, and double-speak.
To those who voted, you have the most sincerest of thanks. You cared enough to voice your opinion, and you are the reason why this fandom will never die.
And to the owner of this site: I say thank you. I learned some hard lessons from you; ones I needed to learn. Of those, the most important is that, unlike you, I will never sell out or bow down to "special interests." I will keep to my views, and defend them with everything I have. I will never turn my back on my friends, and I will never go back on my word.
Yes, you have taught me well.
The bright light that could have been Omega is now out. But fear not... the time for a fan awards is here. Just that you were not the one to do it.
Regards,
The cheated and betrayed Omega webmaster. [2]
Rules
How This Process WorksOne of the largest obstacles to creating a web-based voting site has been the concern that the votes will not be accurate. Many say we can not stop people from voting over and over again for their own work. While we know there will be someone who finds a way to vote more than once, we have implemented features that will make this a more daunting task. These are described briefly below: "One (wo)man, One vote"
Our system is designed to allow you to vote only once. This will keep "stuffing the ballot box" to a minimum. Data collection
When you submit your ballot form, a copy of what you entered is sent directly to us in the form of an e-mail, and the data is then written to an external file. Each category (Canon, EU, etc.) has its own separate file. The content of each of these external files is then copied into a master database. These built-in redundancies help ensure that any problems are quickly identified, therefore further ensuring the integrity of the data.
Validation procedures
Once the data is collected, the information will be audited at regular intervals. The database contains several flags such that, even if a voter bypasses the one-vote restriction, we have other means to identify multiple votes by the same person. Rule Violations
Really, there are only three things that we ask you not to do. Please, do not:
Submit a ballot more than once Steal site material and use it as your own Use an Omega logo to falsely identify your work as award-winning when it is not. Any and all multiple votes that look suspicious will be deleted from the database. Anyone caught purposefully trying to circumvent the nomination protocols will be banned from further participation.
Those who post award logos that they did not win, or are otherwise fraudulently representing themselves as Omega winners will be asked to stop lying to the fan public, and their names will be listed on this site. Honestly, people work very hard on their fan projects, and it is most unfair for someone to take the credit that these talented people truly deserve.
Multiple Nominations
Some stories are eligible for more than one award. An example would be a Humorous short story containing Original Characters. It is legal for you to submit one story for more than one award WITHIN a category. That is, within the Canon category, you may nominate a story for, say, both Best Original Character and Best Short Story, for example.
Of course, some things are a matter of some common sense. You CANNOT nominate a story for more than one category. In other words, you cannot have a story that is both Canon and EU. Similarly, one story can't be nominated for both Best Long Story and Best Short Story.
Make sure you understand our categories and their definitions before you vote; links to these selections are provided in the CATEGORIES DEFINED section of the Menu. If you there is anything you can't figure out, contact us and we'll answer your specific questions.
Remember, you get one vote per ballot, and if you vote early and find something you want to vote for later in the year, only your first vote will count, so consider your vote carefully.
Submitting Your Vote
We MUST be able to contact the award winners. This said, we know that many authors do not make their real names or e-mail address available. In order to ensure that the nomination process runs as smoothly as possible, you will need to give the following information regarding your submissions on the voting pages:
Your Email: As described earlier, we require this as a means of authenticating your vote. When you vote, you will receive one (1) confirmation response from the site. We will never use your e-mail address for any other purpose.
Your Name: An optional item. It would be nice to know who you are, but you don't have to tell us in order to vote.
Story Name: The full title of the story, video, art work or graphic.
Story URL: Enter the URL of the story/item (preferred) or the URL of the Site your choice is posted to.
Author Name: Whatever name is credited on the story. If there is more than one author, choose only one (typically, this would be the first name listed).
Author E-mail: While this is an optional field, having it will make it that much easier to contact winning authors.
You are not required to cast a vote for all of the awards. You may leave any award you are not interested in voting for blank.
By placing your vote on the Omega Awards web site, you acknowledge that you have read the instructions, definitions and disclaimer posted to this site, and that you agree to abide by them.
How Do I know My Vote Was Accepted?
When your ballot is successfully submitted, you will see a web page thanking you for your vote. You will also receive a confirmation e-mail from Omega Awards. This is a one-time e-mail generated when you successfully vote. If you submit your ballot and do not see the Thank You page and/or do not receive a confirmation e-mail, click here to contact us as soon as possible.
Remember, by placing your vote on the Omega Awards web site, you acknowledge that you have read the instructions, definitions and disclaimer posted to this site, and that you agree to abide by them.
Okay, enough talk... GO VOTE!!!