Hey FoLCs!
Time to get the ball rolling on the 2009 Kerth Awards. As you know, Kaethel and Yvonne Connell “retired” last year after doing a fantastic job for the Kerth Awards. We’re all extremely grateful to all the hard work they put into making this event so much fun, and I think they deserve another round of applause just as we’re getting into the 2009 events.
The new committee will keep things pretty much as they were, so you won’t be confused by drastic changes.
The Kerth committee is composed of five people: Annette Ciotola, Elena, Tricia Walpole, Terry Leatherwood and Karen, but we couldn’t do it without all the FoLCs who dedicate their time and energy to making this ceremony even more fun: the new quiz team composed of Jenn (EditorJax), Lisa (MrsMosley), Lara (Laramoon) and Tricia Walpole. A big thank you to Julie Stars who retired from the quiz team this year! Kathy MacFarlane, our external auditor, continues to help us tally the votes. And most of all, we’ve got all the writers and readers, without whom the awards wouldn’t exist at all!
Here’s some information about the new staff and about the 2009 ceremony. Please take a moment to read this.
Staff organisationTricia is our Kerth Coordinator. Her job is pretty much the same as Kaethel’s in previous years. Decisions are taken collectively after being discussed among all K-Com members, but as coordinator she gets the last word if there's a disagreement. We usually tend to agree, though. *g* Tricia will also handle the PR side of things. She will make the official posts.
Annette and Elena are our techie geniuses. They maintain the website and they’re our official security guards, i.e. they check for fraud in nominations and votes. They know everything there is to know about IP numbers and such.
Terry and Tricia are in charge of the nominations. They receive each nomination form, count all the noms separately, compare the numbers to make sure there’s no error, then they tally them so the official ballot can be released within two weeks at most.
Karen is our official vote-tallier, with Kathy MacFarlane acting as our committee-independent vote-counter. Both Karen and Kathy get your forms and count them. Tricia gets the forms as well to make sure there’s no error.
Karen is also our IRC tech person for the ceremony.
2009 scheduleNominations will run from Saturday, February 14 to Sunday, March 1, midnight EST. The official ballot will be released two weeks at most after all the nominations are in.
Voting will run from Saturday, March 21 to Sunday, March 29, midnight EST. That will give us a week to tally the votes and prepare the list of winners.
The ceremony will take place on IRC on Saturday, April 4, time to be decided.
2009 categoriesBest Super Short (1-10k): Very short stories.
Best Short Story (11-50k): Short stories of any subject or tone.
Best Mid-Length Story (51-200k): Mid-length stories of any subject or tone.
Best Waffy Story (1-50k): Short, mainly light stories intended to give the reader a Warm and Fuzzy Feeling. No A-plots.
Best Comedy: Generally short stories where the main purpose is to amuse.
Best Revelation Story: Stories which contain a revelation about Clark being Superman. The person finding out can be Lois or any other character.
Best Episode Adaptation: Stories which alter the events of, or start from some point in, a particular episode. Includes adaptations, continuations, and rewrites.
Best Drama: (Includes Tearjerker) Stories which focus on a series of exciting or suspenseful events. Stories can be similar in tone and balance to the show's episodes, or tackle a more serious subject matter, and will generally, though not always, contain a significant A-plot. No size restrictions.
Best Relationship Story (over 50k): B-plot driven stories which focus mainly on Lois & Clark's relationship. No tone or timeline restrictions. Might include "getting together" scenarios, or focus on their developing relationship, either before or after marriage.
Best Alternate Universe / Elseworlds Story: Stories which feature parallel universes (including the Alt World that was introduced on the show), or stories in which the author has made major changes (such as time, place and/or nature of the characters) before where the series started in the Pilot. Cross-overs would also fit in this category. No size restrictions.
Best Original / Supporting Character: Rewards a special character from stories which strongly highlight a supporting character from the series or creates a new, interesting character that plays an important role in the story. No size restrictions. (Sorry, but versions - no matter how altered - of Clark or Lois do not qualify as Original or Supporting Characters)
Best New Author: Limited to authors who first published their Lois & Clark stories in the past year.
Best Overall Story: A story of any type that is outstanding overall. No size restrictions.
More information is available at the official
Kerth website which will be updated with all the relevant information in the next few days. There, you will find the FAQ, the list of eligible stories and new authors, the list of categories and so much more.
And if there’s still a question we haven’t answered, feel free to email us at kcom07@kerthawards.com. We’ll be happy to help you!
The Kerth Committee
(Tricia, Elena, Annette, Terry and Karen)
