I think that the difference between now and 1999 is the number of stories eligible for the nkerths and the number of people who participate in the ceremony. I don't have the exact numbers but I do know that the participation levels have dropped dramatically.
While I'm sure it made sense four years ago to separate the ceremonies and honor the unique categories, I just don't think that there are enough stories to necessitate this anymore. On the ballot this year, three authors were responsible for 25 of the 54 nominations. I really believe that by adding one or two nfic specific categories to the kerth ballot, we could do justice to the eligible nfic stories.
One or two categories would not make the kerth ballot/ceremony substantially longer than it already is. Readers who don't enjoy or can't for legal reasons read nfic, could easily skip those categories when nominating/voting. They would be in no way compelled to read those stories.
As for stories that have only a nfic version suffering in general, I think that's something writers will just have to deal with. Like any genre, there are readers who do and do not enjoy those types of stories. Writers are aware of that when they write their stories.
Annie
