Friday, July 11, 2008

All The Awards In the World, Part One

It's summer, which means it's awards season. And what would awards season be without a little controversy?

(And why does all this stuff always happen when I'm busy doing other things -- like packing up a trade show and flying -- and can't blog about it immediately? The world needs to correspond better to my schedule, damnit!)

First, and least, is the odd fact that the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and its brother the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award were leaked a few days ahead of their official announcement, which is to be later today. (Link trail: SF Awards Watch <- Torque Control <- Kansas City InfoZine)

And those winners are:
  • John W Campbell Memorial Award: In War Times by Kathleen Ann Goonan
  • Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award: a tie between “Finistera” by David R. Moles and “Tidelines” by Elizabeth Bear
I haven't read any of those pieces, so I have no official comment.

Speaking of "no official comment," there hasn't been any explanation why this went out to "Kansas City InfoZine" and no one else -- the implied explanation, of course, is the old saw about fandom and amateurism, which gets more tedious and harder to take every year. (Just because you're an amateur doesn't mean you have to do things amateurishly.)

1 comment:

Cheryl said...

Although, as I said on SFAW, it is equally likely that people like Locus saw the embargo date and took note of it, while the "professional" newspaper went ahead and published immediately.

For the record, we didn't get a press release, but that's not unusual.

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