Michael Morris
First Post
The next ENnies awards will be a milestone - The 5th annual. Below are my wishes and suggestions for the future of the awards. These are not edicts by any means. They are just the changes I want to see for the 5th ENnies. Another disclaimer - these are my thoughts alone, tempered by conversations I had with many of you at Gencon. They should not be construed to be the opinions of the ENnies staff as a whole.
[h1]1. Begin the transition to true year by year accounting.[/h1]
The ENnies season begins in the middle of the year (July 1st). I want to see this changed to a January 1st start of season. There are three ways to do this. One is to have a 6-month season. That, IMO, is way too short. Two, make this season go back to January 1st. The double-eligability that would create for some product is, IMO, unfair. The third way is to shorten two consectutive seasons to 9 months. Hence
ENnies V: July 1st 2004 to March 31st 2005.
ENnies VI: April 1st 2005 to December 31st 2005.
The key reason for this transition is to give judges and voters more time. The only ways to do this is to move back the show (so unless Peter want the awards at GenCon SoCal that ain't happening). or move up the season. I think the 9 month transition approach would probably work best.
[h1]2. Finalize and Make Permanent the Categories[/h1]
Whatever categories are decided upon for ENnies V they should become permanent. The category flux is harmful to the sense of continuity of the ceremony from one year to the next. Here is my list of Categories for next year. Hopefully it can be combined with other's suggestions then pruned to a list of no more than 15 awards and preferably around 12.
In addition to discussing the categories I'm going to define them and set proposed rules for their entry. Feel free to debate the definitions and rules
Entry Fees on some awards are mentioned as well as prize ideas - remember these are things I'd like to see done.
[h2]Artist of the Year[/h2]
Publishers may nominate their staff artists or artists may nominate themselves. They must be able to produce not less than 5 and not more than 15 illustrations that have appeared in products released in the last year. The illustrations will be transmitted to the judges of the category and five nominees will be selected for public vote.
Entry Fee: $25
Entry Materials: None
Prize: Free art booth at one subsequent Gencon within the year.
[h2]Cartographer of the Year[/h2]
Publishers may nominate their staff cartographers or cartographers may nominate themselves. They must be able to produce not less than 5 and not more than 15 maps that have appeared in products released in the last year. The maps will be transmitted to the judges of the category and five nominees will be selected for public vote.
Entry Fee: $25
Entry Materials: None
Prize: Free art booth at one subsequent Gencon within the year.
[h2]Writer of the Year[/h2]
Publishers may nominate their staff writers or writers may nominate themselves. They must be able to produce 50 pages (double spaced, 10-12 point font, 1" margins) from the final writer's draft (The one turned in to the editor/publisher) of any number of products printed from the last year (hence they could turn in 1 item from one book that is 50 pages long or 25 items 2 pages long each).
The reason for the draft requirement is that the judges need to be able to evaluate the ability of the writer and not the editor. Judges will be encouraged to select writers whose work survived to the final copy more or less intact and writers should be aware of this. Five nominees will be selected for public vote.
Entry Fee: $25
Entry Materials: None
Prize: Free exhibitor booth (standard size) at one subsequent Gencon within the year, or a discount in the price of a larger booth if one is desired.
These three collectively are the "individual merit awards."
[h2]Best New Roleplaying Game[/h2]
Definition: "A game in which the players create imaginary characters and play as those characters in a scenario."
Eligability: The entry must be self-contained. (Yes, this means no d20 product can compete for this award no matter how radically divorced from D&D/d20 modern/d20 future/ etc. unless WotC publishes it since other publishers can't make a fully self-contained d20 product without violating the d20 license).
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: 6 copies of the entry.
[h2]Best New Setting[/h2]
Definition: "A fictional world (or fictionalized version of the real world) within which the characters and scenarios of a roleplaying game can occur."
Eligability: Any game meeting the above criteria. The entry can refer to other books for a core rules engine such as d20, d6, Storyteller 2 or GURPS 4e, or can contain that core rules engine themselves (i.e. Vampire: The Requiem).
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: 6 copies of the entry.
[h2]Best New Adventure[/h2]
Definition: "A linked series of scenarios presented to the players of a roleplaying game by their games master."
Eligability: To be considered for this award the presentation of an adventure must be the majority or sole puprose of the product - i.e. 80% of its content must be the presented scenario at a minimum.
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: 6 copies of the entry.
[h2]Best New Supplement[/h2]
Definition: "A product containing additional rules or other details for a roleplaying game or setting."
Eligability: To be considered for this award the product must have at least one parent product that it refers to.
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: 6 copies of the entry.
[h2]Best Product Line[/h2]
Definition: "A series of products connected by setting or rules published by one company or a group of companies in license excluding open licenses."
Eligability: There must be 4 products in the series within the last eligability period.
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: 6 copies of the each product (these may be entered in other categories as well).
[h2]Best Small Publisher[/h2]
Definition: "A publisher who produces not more than 4 printed products within the eligability period."
Eligability: Entry in any other category.
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: None.
[h2]Best Large Publisher[/h2]
Definition: "A publisher who produces more than 4 printed products within the eligability period."
Eligability: Entry in any other category.
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: None.
[h1]Spread Out the Judges[/h1]
To date the judges have been drawn from the ENWorld site. The membership is principly d20 so some may argue that the awards will be slanted to d20. To deflect this, I propose allowing other sites to nominate some of the judges. In each case ENWorld would nominate 2 of the 5 judges.
Art & Cartography Categories: These two categories should have their own judges seperate from the other 8 proposed above. It would be appropriate for the other three sites that pick judges to be art related sites. Elfwood immediately springs to mind along with Deviant Art.
The other eight should have three judges from boards of the same size as ENWorld. RPG.net is a possibility I know of - but I don't know of too many boards to be sure.
Well, there are my notes for now. Ready, set, debate!
[h1]1. Begin the transition to true year by year accounting.[/h1]
The ENnies season begins in the middle of the year (July 1st). I want to see this changed to a January 1st start of season. There are three ways to do this. One is to have a 6-month season. That, IMO, is way too short. Two, make this season go back to January 1st. The double-eligability that would create for some product is, IMO, unfair. The third way is to shorten two consectutive seasons to 9 months. Hence
ENnies V: July 1st 2004 to March 31st 2005.
ENnies VI: April 1st 2005 to December 31st 2005.
The key reason for this transition is to give judges and voters more time. The only ways to do this is to move back the show (so unless Peter want the awards at GenCon SoCal that ain't happening). or move up the season. I think the 9 month transition approach would probably work best.
[h1]2. Finalize and Make Permanent the Categories[/h1]
Whatever categories are decided upon for ENnies V they should become permanent. The category flux is harmful to the sense of continuity of the ceremony from one year to the next. Here is my list of Categories for next year. Hopefully it can be combined with other's suggestions then pruned to a list of no more than 15 awards and preferably around 12.
In addition to discussing the categories I'm going to define them and set proposed rules for their entry. Feel free to debate the definitions and rules
Entry Fees on some awards are mentioned as well as prize ideas - remember these are things I'd like to see done.
[h2]Artist of the Year[/h2]
Publishers may nominate their staff artists or artists may nominate themselves. They must be able to produce not less than 5 and not more than 15 illustrations that have appeared in products released in the last year. The illustrations will be transmitted to the judges of the category and five nominees will be selected for public vote.
Entry Fee: $25
Entry Materials: None
Prize: Free art booth at one subsequent Gencon within the year.
[h2]Cartographer of the Year[/h2]
Publishers may nominate their staff cartographers or cartographers may nominate themselves. They must be able to produce not less than 5 and not more than 15 maps that have appeared in products released in the last year. The maps will be transmitted to the judges of the category and five nominees will be selected for public vote.
Entry Fee: $25
Entry Materials: None
Prize: Free art booth at one subsequent Gencon within the year.
[h2]Writer of the Year[/h2]
Publishers may nominate their staff writers or writers may nominate themselves. They must be able to produce 50 pages (double spaced, 10-12 point font, 1" margins) from the final writer's draft (The one turned in to the editor/publisher) of any number of products printed from the last year (hence they could turn in 1 item from one book that is 50 pages long or 25 items 2 pages long each).
The reason for the draft requirement is that the judges need to be able to evaluate the ability of the writer and not the editor. Judges will be encouraged to select writers whose work survived to the final copy more or less intact and writers should be aware of this. Five nominees will be selected for public vote.
Entry Fee: $25
Entry Materials: None
Prize: Free exhibitor booth (standard size) at one subsequent Gencon within the year, or a discount in the price of a larger booth if one is desired.
These three collectively are the "individual merit awards."
[h2]Best New Roleplaying Game[/h2]
Definition: "A game in which the players create imaginary characters and play as those characters in a scenario."
Eligability: The entry must be self-contained. (Yes, this means no d20 product can compete for this award no matter how radically divorced from D&D/d20 modern/d20 future/ etc. unless WotC publishes it since other publishers can't make a fully self-contained d20 product without violating the d20 license).
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: 6 copies of the entry.
[h2]Best New Setting[/h2]
Definition: "A fictional world (or fictionalized version of the real world) within which the characters and scenarios of a roleplaying game can occur."
Eligability: Any game meeting the above criteria. The entry can refer to other books for a core rules engine such as d20, d6, Storyteller 2 or GURPS 4e, or can contain that core rules engine themselves (i.e. Vampire: The Requiem).
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: 6 copies of the entry.
[h2]Best New Adventure[/h2]
Definition: "A linked series of scenarios presented to the players of a roleplaying game by their games master."
Eligability: To be considered for this award the presentation of an adventure must be the majority or sole puprose of the product - i.e. 80% of its content must be the presented scenario at a minimum.
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: 6 copies of the entry.
[h2]Best New Supplement[/h2]
Definition: "A product containing additional rules or other details for a roleplaying game or setting."
Eligability: To be considered for this award the product must have at least one parent product that it refers to.
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: 6 copies of the entry.
[h2]Best Product Line[/h2]
Definition: "A series of products connected by setting or rules published by one company or a group of companies in license excluding open licenses."
Eligability: There must be 4 products in the series within the last eligability period.
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: 6 copies of the each product (these may be entered in other categories as well).
[h2]Best Small Publisher[/h2]
Definition: "A publisher who produces not more than 4 printed products within the eligability period."
Eligability: Entry in any other category.
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: None.
[h2]Best Large Publisher[/h2]
Definition: "A publisher who produces more than 4 printed products within the eligability period."
Eligability: Entry in any other category.
Entry Fee: None.
Entry Materials: None.
[h1]Spread Out the Judges[/h1]
To date the judges have been drawn from the ENWorld site. The membership is principly d20 so some may argue that the awards will be slanted to d20. To deflect this, I propose allowing other sites to nominate some of the judges. In each case ENWorld would nominate 2 of the 5 judges.
Art & Cartography Categories: These two categories should have their own judges seperate from the other 8 proposed above. It would be appropriate for the other three sites that pick judges to be art related sites. Elfwood immediately springs to mind along with Deviant Art.
The other eight should have three judges from boards of the same size as ENWorld. RPG.net is a possibility I know of - but I don't know of too many boards to be sure.
Well, there are my notes for now. Ready, set, debate!
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