Quick Thoughts - Awards and Eligibility

So I'm under no real illusions that I've done anything that would produce awards buzz this year, so I'm not entirely sure what to do around "awards season." Mope? I think it's a bit weird, as a writer just sort of starting out, or at the very least just starting to get things professionally published, to think about awards other than "I hope [insert story I really liked] wins something." I suppose in some ways because I read as much as I can probably see that there's just so much out there that is so good, and though I want desperately to write as well as the stuff I see out there, I don't think I'm there. Yet. And if I can try to think of it that way, maybe I can write more that's better and not just wallow in my own mediocrity.

So instead of doing an eligibility post for myself, I'm going to announce something tangentially related. Namely, that I'm going to run a little award through this site to highlight the stories I liked the most this year. Which is kind of weird, I admit, because yes, I already have a monthly review/recommendation column that I run at Nerds of a Feather. But this would be for the year. For. The. Whole. Year! I've been planning on this for a while now, trying to figure out how it will work and how I want to do it. Keep in mind, this site is a product of one person, so the jury on these awards is going to be...me. That said, if people had a problem with my opinion of things then they probably aren't reading this anyway, so hurrah.

So, The Sippys!

It will work like this. I am looking at anything that I have reviewed for this site that came out in 2015. There will be five awards categories, and for each I will have five total stories, four Sippys and one Big Sippy. The categories will be:

The "I'd Ship That" Sippy for Excellent Relationships in Short SFF

The "I'm Sleeping with the Lights On" Sippy for Excellent Horror in Short SFF

The "There's Something in My Eye" Sippy for Excellent Making Me Ugly-Cry in Short SFF

The "Time to Run Some Red Lights" Sippy for Excellent Action in Short SFF

The "Where We're Going We Won't Need Categories" Sippy for Excellent I'm Not Sure What in Short SFF

So finally, the Awards that no one asked for! The Sippys! I'll be rolling out the awards in January, with each category getting its own Sunday spotlight. Because I need more to do! Anyway, there's something to look forward to, I hope! Thanks for reading!

All the best,

Charles Payseur