RE: Awardsmanship

Meta
Title:	RE: Awardsmanship
Creator:	Jamie
Date(s):	September 6, 1999
Medium:	online
Fandom:	Hanson
Topic:	fanfic awards and adult content
External Links:	hansonfiction.com:80/editorial4.html
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RE: Awardsmanship is a 1999 article written by Jamie for the editorials section of HansonFiction.com.

It is in response to Awardsmanship by Jenn, an editorial which took issue with the Really Big Hanson Fanfic Awards. Jamie suggests that Jenn's criticisms are a bit too harsh, but also singles out one particular story she feels was not deserving of any awards. Jamie also discusses the problems with younger fans reading adult content.

This essay was also likely the beginning of the Literary Hanfic Awards.

Excerpts

Yes, there is a lot of crap that made it onto the final slate of nominees. And yes, much of that crap was put there by teenies who acted like the whole awards thing was a middle school student council election. But you have to remember the audience you're dealing with. They are teenagers ... most of my readers are well under 18; I'd say the majority are somewhere between 13 and 16. Which is why we have to encourage them to weed out the good Hanfics and shun the trash. Telling them that they shouldn't read the smut is just going to make them stampede right for it.

You're right when you say that these awards are popularity contests. But when you ask the general Hanfic public for nominees, that's what happens. What I think we need to do, Jenn, is get together and have our own LITERARY HANFIC AWARDS. E-mail me. We can do this. The only way to make sure that garbage like INAP doesn't end up a nominee in practically every category is to give the voters a choice of stories that are well-written, well-developed, and heck, why not ... use "your" and "you're" correctly. I guess what I'm saying is that in any kind of awards that rely on the readers at large to submit their nods, those with the most readers are going to end up as nominees ... whether they deserve to be there or not.

I admit that I'm flattered to have been nominated for these awards. And some may be surprised to know that many of us who were nominated ... myself, Julie, Amanda, Stephanie, April, Pamella and Sharon ... are all adults in our 20s and 30s, some of us even beyond. We are trying to raise the bar, and these awards you call a travesty were really a victory for us.