The Silmarillion Awards

*NOMINATIONS NOW CLOSED*

Welcome to the first ever Silmarillion Awards!

DJ Edwardson and Jenelle Schmidt created the Silmarillion Awards as a way to honor J.R.R. Tolkien's influence on modern fantasy and also to honor fantasy as a genre! The Awards are like the Oscars, except that the grand prize (a Silmaril forged with the light from the Two Trees of Valinor!) is to be won by a character from a fantasy story, rather than an actor.

You have a large role in the Silmarillion Awards, for you will be nominating—and voting for—the fantasy characters that you want to win the Silmaril! Ten bloggers are hosting ten different Silmarils on their blogs:

DJ Edwardson Hosting the Best Friend Silmaril

Jenelle Schmidt Hosting the Most Heart Wrenching Death Scene Silmaril

Deborah O’Carroll Hosting the Strangest Character Silmaril

JL Mbewe Hosting the Best Redemption Story Silmaril

Tracey Hosting the Riddling and Poetry Silmaril

Jack Lewis Baillot Hosting the Best Fantasy Mount Silmaril

Madeline J. Rose Hosting the Most Epic Hero Silmaril

Zachary Totah Hosting the Wisest Counsellor Silmaril

Rawls E. Fantasy Hosting the Best Fantasy Weapon Silmaril

Abbey (that's me) Hosting the Most Nefarious Villain Silmaril.

Nominations for these Silmarils start today and are open until July 1. You may either nominate a fantasy character for a specific Silmaril in the comments of the host blog (for example, you would nominate Umbridge from Harry Potter for Most Nefarious Villain in my comment section, not in Madeline's comment section for Most Epic Hero); second, third, fourth, etc, someone else's nomination; or, you may nominate a character AND second someone else's nomination.

On July 4, the top five nominees move onto the next round where YOU get to vote on who you think should win the Silmaril! Voting ends on July 14, and from July 16-28, the Silmarils will be awarded by some of your favorite Tolkien characters. Because J.R.R. Tolkien's characters are the epitome of the awards that they are presenting, you cannot nominate any characters from Middle Earth. Also, since the Silmarils won are lifetime awards, this year's winners cannot be nominated again next year.
If you are an author, please do not nominate characters from your own stories; rather, let your fan base show their love by nominating your characters for you.

"The last hurrah," as my grandmother would say, is on July 29th. Join us on that day in posting Tolkien-specific blog posts to celebrate the 62nd anniversary of The Lord of the Rings' publication.
Until then, spread the word about the Silmarillion Awards on social media by using #SilmAwards2016! Share this blog post, or one of the other posts, with all of your fantasy-loving friends and family!

Here is a poster that Deborah made with all of the dates and other information:

And make sure to come back here on July 19, for three of Middle Earth's most heinous hooligans will come together to present the Silmaril for Most Nefarious Villain to the nastiest naysayer, the corrupt-est culprit, the sneakiest snake, the most malicious monster, the most dastardly and diabolical destroyer of dreams in all of fantasy!
It's not every day that a Silmaril can be won without a perilous journey to Angband and a fight with Morgoth's minions (or even Morgoth himself!), so make sure to nominate your favorite fantasy villain (excepting those from J.R.R. Tolkien's works) in my comment section so that they have a chance to win this most prestigious award!

*NOMINATIONS NOW CLOSED*