When it comes to the category of BNA we're talking about the *author*, not the story. It's a unique category. All new *authors* for a particular year are entered into the Kerths. Whether their stories are on the Archive or not is irrelevent.
The criteria for eligibility for this award is the posting of the first story or stories by an author anywhere in the fandom. That year, the author is considered a brand new author and is included in the BNA category. They cannot claim to be one two years after posting their first story. It doesn't matter when they consider they first started posting, if they consider that that first story doesn't count because it wasn't their best - what counts is the posting date.
Mercy has been added to the New Authors’ list.
Also Shayne T has requested that
Time and Again be made eligible. It has been added to the list.
Thanks,
Tricia.
