NOMINATIONS CLOSED!

Come back Monday (Sept. 9) to see and vote for the top 5 nominees!

I have some super, ultra, ubertastic, frabjous newssss! I HAVE JOINED THE SILMARIL AWARDS TEAM. Annnnd, as of today, The Silmaril Awards have BEGUN! *cheers and fanfare*

Alrighty, let me back up for just a sec because you may be tilting your head thinking, “What???”

What are The Silmaril Awards?

Back in 2016, Jenelle Schmidt and DJ Edwardson, being the brilliant, magical wizards they are, created a new type of awards ceremony. Not one for the best actors, singers, dancers, sports players, and everything else people tend to be awarded for a thousand times over. No, no. These awards were something different, something special. Something all geeks could come together for and celebrate.

LITERARY FANTASY CHARACTERS AWARDS.

That is correct! The Silmaril Awards, named after the silmarils from the great works of our father of fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien himself of course, are awards presented to the best of the best characters in fantasy literature. Those who have found a way into our hearts and refuse to leave…not that we’d want them to.

Basically? It’s a super fun blogging thing to geek out together about fantasy characters. It’s one of my most FAVORITE things in the blogosphere. And this year I have the honor of being a host! *SQUEALS*

WE’RE GONNA HAVE SO MUCH FUN!

How Does It Work?

There are 10 Silmarils in total, all presented in different categories—Most Epic Hero, Wisest Counselor, Most Nefarious Villain, etc., etc. Each category is hosted by a different blogger. All characters go through a fan-voting system, starting with nominations, then votes, and, finally, us 10 bloggers will present the awards ceremony and announce the winner for our specifically chosen category.

• Week 1: Nominations – Sept. 2 – 6

This week you will be nominating your favorites in the comment sections of the presenters’ blogs. You can also “second” characters others have nominated by replying to their comment and saying you second that character.

You can nominate and second however many characters you want!

• Week 2: Voting – Starting Sept. 9

Once nominations are closed, us presenters will tally up how many “seconds” each nominated character received. The top 5 in each category with the most seconds will move on to the voting round! You will vote for your favorite out of those 5 in each category via a voting form we’ll provide.

• Week 3: Awards Ceremony – Sept. 16 – 27

The exciting part! (Actually, it’s all exciting.) One by one, each blog host will be providing the awards ceremony for their chosen category and share which esteemed character won said category! Annnd the awards may just be presented by certain Tolkien characters. *wriggles eyebrows*

The Rules

1.) Tolkien’s characters are NOT eligible to be nominated. We see them as the ultimate standard in fantasy fiction and thus choose to give them the honor of presenting The Silmarillion Awards. Basically, we already think they won. This will give some other characters a chance to shine. 😉

2.) Characters from LITERARY FANTASY ONLY can be nominated. That means no characters from TV shows, movies, or video games. Books only! As well as no sci-fi, dystopian, etc. (We all know Katniss is great, but, sadly, her story is not fantasy.) With that said, if you can make a strong argument that a certain book IS fantasy, us presenters will consider it. (For ex. The Lunar Chronicles is allowed. Though, yes, it’s sci-fi, it also has fantastical aspects.)

3.) We ask you to MENTION THE BOOK the character you’re nominating is from. As hard as we try to be well-read, we haven’t read everything. (The true tragedy of every bookworm.) We definitely need to know from which story each character hails.

4.) There are NO LIMITS TO NOMINATIONS OR SECONDS. Remember, the TOP 5 characters in each category who get the most seconds moves on to the voting round. So go wild nominating and seconding all your favorites!

5.) With that said, AUTHOR’S CANNOT NOMINATE THEIR OWN CHARACTERS. But definitely encourage your readers to do so for you! *wink, wink*

6.) PREVIOUS WINNERS CANNOT BE NOMINATED AGAIN. The Silmarils are lifetime awards. So characters who have won in the past cannot be nominated again in that category. For a list of previous winners, check out the Hall of Fame.

7.) HAVE FUN! This is nonnegotiable. Those who violate this rule will be sent to the Real World—the terrible place where no eccentric wizards come barging into your house and steal you away on magical adventures. So enjoy yourself in this time of reveling in fantasy characters, sharing with others your favorites, and giving these beloved people some love…or else.

For more information check out the website: SilmarilAwards.com

This year there is also a new Facebook group to keep up with all the news! Do check it out!

Whew! With all that official-ness out of the way, may I present to you…

My Category

For my first year as a SilmAwards Host I shall be hosting the award forrr…

LEAST COMPETENT HENCHMAN

*rubs hands together in glee*

Ooooh boy. You have to love them! Those poor, bumbling souls who try, they really do, but fail. A lot. A lot a lot. Usually the villains’ plans are utterly foiled due to them. They’re the ones who accidentally dropped that Ultimate Powerful Item down the well. Or forgot to hold their tongue and let slip the villain’s Huge Secret to the protagonist. Or who has really bad aim with an arrow or gun or…anything.

Helping taking over the world just isn’t their forte. But you gotta give them points for trying. Which is exactly what we’re gonna do!

Comment below with your nominations for your favorite literary fantasy Least Competent Henchmen!

Previous Winners for this Category:

• 2017 Mr. Smee from Peter Pan
• 2018 Fezzik from The Princess Bride

That means neither Fezzik nor Mr. Smee are eligible to be nominated in this category as they already have this Silmaril.

The Other Categories

Don’t forgot to nominate (and second) in the other categories as well! Be sure to do it in the comments section of those bloggers’ posts, not mine, though. Nominations and seconds for Least Competent Henchmen here only!

• Least Competent Henchman – Christine Smith (You are here!)
• Most Epic Heroine – J.L. Mbewe
• Most Magnificent Dragon – Kyle Robert Shultz
• Most Silver Tongue – Deborah O’Carroll
• Most Faithful Friend – E.E. Rawls
• Most Nefarious Villain – Zachary Totah
• Strangest Character – Tracey Dyck
• Most Epic Hero – DJ Edwardson
• Most Mischievous Imp – Madeline J. Rose
• Wisest Counselor – Jenelle Schmidt

Go forth and share some fantasy character love! And don’t forgot nominations will end Friday evening (Sept. 6), so do be sure to get in your comments before then!

Also, we’d love for you to share the fun. Spread the word and send your fantasy-loving friends to join in. If you want to share on social media (please do!) use the hashtags #SilmAwards2019 or #SilmAwards. The more the merrier! And who knows, you may just find some more fantasy books to add to your TBR. (We can never have enough of those, yes? *blissfully pretends she doesn’t already have some 2982 books on her own TBR*)

LET’S TALK!

Are you excited? I AM SO EXCITED! Nominate for your favorite Least Competent Henchmen below! Let’s give these inept but often endearing underdogs some recognition.