************ Nominations are now closed!*************
Thank you all for participating!
***
Welcome to the first ever Silmarillion Awards!
The Silmarillion Awards have been created by DJ Edwardson and Jenelle Schmidt as a way to honor J.R.R. Tolkien as the Father of Modern Fantasy, open up a discussion about some of our other favorite fantasy works, and to have a ton of fun this summer.
When we started thinking about creating a sort of “Fantasy Oscars,” we found it difficult to fathom any award that wouldn’t be won by a character or item from The Lord of the Rings… so, to make things a bit more interesting, we decided to call them “The Silmarillion Awards” and have characters from LOTR and The Hobbit present the awards as examples of the ultimate standard for each award. Hopefully that will even the playing field a bit.
Joining our team are eight other bloggers and authors who will each be hosting one of these awards, called Silmarils, on their blogs towards the end of July.
But before we get there, we need YOUR help! Starting today, June 20th and proceeding through July 1st, the nomination period for each award will be open. Please visit the participating bloggers (found in the list below), read the descriptions of the awards and make your nominations!
Nominate characters in the comments of each blog post. If someone has already nominated the character you would have nominated, you may either second that nomination, open a new nomination, or do both. We will be picking the 5 characters with the most “seconds” for the final voting period that will take place between July 4th – 13th, so you may also “third,” “fourth,” “fifth,” etc any nominations you particularly like.
Fine print:
- Please do not nominate anything from one of your OWN books!
- You may nominate a character AND second, third, fourth a character… but please only vote once. (i.e. You cannot nominate a character and then also second that same character)
- Please share about the Silmarillion Awards on social media to spread the excitement far and wide across Middle Earth. Use the hashtag: #silmawards2016 wherever possible!
- Don’t nominate a Tolkien character for the awards, as the characters presenting the awards are already the standard for each award
- Don’t stress if a character you nominate doesn’t win this year. We are hoping to make this an annual tradition, and these awards are LIFETIME AWARDS, meaning that they cannot be won by the same character more than once!
Official Schedule:
Phase 1 – June 20-July 1: Award nominations open
Phase 2 – July 4: the final nominees will be announced and voting will open and last through July 14th
Phase 3 – July 16-28: Presentation of the awards, 1 per day, each award will be hosted on a different blog each day
Phase 4 – Celebration! July 29th was the official publication date of the Lord of the Rings back in 1954. We invite you all to celebrate with us the 62nd birthday of this masterpiece of Fantasy Fiction. Congratulate the winners, take and post a photo of yourselves with LOTR paraphernalia, write a blog post about your favorite LOTR moment, scene, character, quote, or memory… get creative and have fun!
Participating Bloggers & the Awards they will be presenting!
- 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
- Abbey Hosting the Most Nefarious Villain 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
And for the reward that will be presented on my blog: Best Redemption Story.
The Best Redemption Story Award should go to the story that demonstrates the most heart-touching redemption story within the realm of fantasy, whether this story is a golden thread woven into the tapestry of a larger story or the entire story itself. A story which features a character who has fallen to disgrace, committed dreadful deeds, or has simply lost his or her way. Misguided. Dejected. Alone. Embittered. Yet he or she rises from the depths of darkness to a glorious renewing of his or her soul, leaving us with the warm glow of hope for a better tomorrow, a deeper understanding and appreciation of the struggle to overcome, and just maybe rekindle the belief that there is still some good in this world worth fighting for.
This award will be presented by one who has tasted the bitter depths of darkness and wept. But he did not remain in such disgrace. Far be it! He rose to fight that others might live and he paid the ultimate price to do so.
Fair thee well, fellow adventurers! Until our next meeting, nominate away!
**************************************** UPDATE************************************
I apologize! My blog hasn’t let anyone comment, not even me! BUT I think we have it fixed now. If for some reason it decides to not let you comment again, you can comment on my Facebook blog post regarding the nominations. I am so sorry! I don’t want to miss any of your nominations at all!
Hmm, are comments finally working now? If so I nominate Edmund from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe because, well, his story so clearly parallels the greatest redemption story of all time!
We are still working on it, but it appears to be so! So so sorry! Crazy website. :-/
Seconded!
Thirded! (So not a word…)
Fourthed! 😀
Fifthed!
Fifthed! 😀 (Totally a word. *cough*)
Seventhed! (Since technically Deborah sixthed it.)
(That’s fair. XD …The fifthed comment wasn’t up when I posted. :P)
Indeed. Step away to eat dinner and BAM a slew of awesome nominations. We’ll get it sorted out and make sure everyone’s nominations are accounted for! 😀
Eighthed! 😀
I eight (ninth?) Edmund!
I eighthed it! I think I clicked the wrong reply button…XD
Sixth! 🙂
I second (or whatever number we are at) Edmund!
I second Edmund! (I have no clue what number we’re on at this point. XD)
I second Edmund once again! 🙂
Totally seconded.
I second Edmund.
Sixteenth vote for Edmund’so story! When I saw this category, he instantly came to mind
Since I have no idea what number we’re on, I’m just going to say I vote for Edmund too!
I second Edmund (yup, taking the easy road…I feel bad for whoever has to count the votes)
Haha! That would be me! 🙂
I second Edmund as well!
I pity you lol
Bwahaha! Thanks!
Love Edmund too!
I second Edmund! (Hehe, no clue which number of nominations we’re actually at. :P)
Add my vote for Edmund!
Seconding Edmund!
I haven’t thought of my nominee yet — working on it! — just checking the comments. 🙂
Thank you! So sorry about that!
This contest is going to be mega awesome! And I’m pretty sure i know who is going to present this award! (sniffle)
And I nominate Prince Lionheart from Anne Elisabeth Stengl’s Tales of Goldstone Wood Series for this award!
Yes!!!!!!! I totally agree. And I was actually thinking about Prince Lionheart as well! I shall second that nomination!! 😀
Yay! Always glad to meet a fellow Goldstone Imp! Huzzah for Lionheart! I hated him for the first three books, but now he’s my second favorite in the entire series.
I totally agree! I had to make a public apology to Lionheart for my disdain for him: http://www.jlmbewe.com/index.php/my-apologies-prince-lionheart/
Who is your first favorite?
And likewise! Always awesome to find other Goldstone imps. 😀
Eanrin. Always and forever. Love him so much!
Haha! He is a character! 😀
I’m going to second that! Lionheart is one of my most favorite characters in Tales of Goldstone Wood! I love how he had a massive change of heart in Moonblood. 🙂
I second Eanrin!
Ooh, i third Lionheart!
I second Prince Lionheart! It’s awesome to see that other fans love him like I do!
Yep. Though I bet most of us loathed him at first… he certainly is one who is subject to dramatic swings of his reader’s emotional pendulums (cause that is totally a thing)
I fourth Prince Lionheart! Or whatever number we’re on by now. XD Dear Leo has an AWESOME character arc.
Second! Lionheart was one of the first to come to mind!
I second Lionheart! His books are some of my favorites in the Goldstone series.
Yay, the comments are working!!! 😀 I’m so excited for this one. I think I know who’s presenting it, but we’ll see. 😉
I nominate Jace from The Ilyon Chronicles by Jaye L. Knight. Poor, poor Jace… <3
Yea! Yes, I think it would be easy to guess who. 🙂 Thanks for coming back!
You’re welcome! I had to come back, because there’s no way I couldn’t nominate Jace. 😀
Yay! I tried to nominate him three times this morning…
Seconding Jace!
Oh yesss! 😀
I second Jace!
Yeaaaaah! 😀
I second Jace!
I whatever-number-it-is Jace. ALL. THE. WAY.
Ellidyr, The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander
Second that!
I second Ellidyr!
I nominate Skaric from Trinity by Clare Davidson 🙂
I’m also nominating Murtagh from the Inheritance Cycle. I think he’s my overall favorite from that series and his story chokes me up every time!!!
Oh, this gives me so much hope!!!! I knew it about Murtagh…haven’t read the final book in the Inheritance Cycle. But this…this might just change my mind. 😀
Yes! Murtagh alone is enough reason to read Inheritance.
OH I so second Murtagh!
Second Murtagh.
I nominate Leith from The Blade of Acktar
I second both Leith and Jace! they are two of my favorites!
I also nominate Caleb Tala from Follower of the Word by Morgan Busse
and Gem from Spindrift by Jill Penrod.
I second Leith!
I also nominate Jace from The Ilyon Chronicles
I nominate Lady Daylily from the Tales of Goldstone Wood. Her redemption story in Shadow Hand=amazing!
Oh!! I second that!
I second Daylily!
I definitely second Daylily.
I nominate Princess Una from Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl
I second Princess Una. She’s one of my favorite heroines ever!
I nominate Tumnus because…well Tumnus 🙂
I second Tumnus!
I third Lady Daylily and second Princess Una
Eustace Clarence Scrubb from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
I second Eustace!! His redemption story is one of my favorites. 🙂
Oh, I third Eustace too! His was one of my favorites stories; he changed so much as a person. 🙂
I third!
I second Eustace! I loved how he turned out.
I second Eustace as well – he was the first one I thought of, actually… 😉
Totally and enthusiastically vote for Eustace!
YES! I wholeheartedly second Eustace.
I second Eustace.
Oh yes Eustace! I second (or whatever) that!
I second Eustace! I love his transformation of character.
I second Eustace!
YES, EUSTACE! I second him. Love his character arc. ^_^
I second Eustace!
Second Eustace!! His is my favorite next to Edmund’s.
Kalmar and Artham Wingfeather from the Wingfeather Saga. (Two separate nominations.)
There were several I was thinking from Wingfeather, and I “third” both of these! (I just love that the whole series is full of redemption stories; I’m thinking also of Podo, Esben, and even Gnag to some degree!) So hard to choose!
Oh, second. To both of them.
I fifth (I think that’s what it’s up to) both Kalmar and Artham from the Wingfeather Saga.
I love the redemption story of many characters in the Wingfeather saga. I love that the Maker does more than just make everything the way that it was before the brokenness, but by redeeming what was broken, he makes something new. “Gnag bends things for breaking, and the Maker makes a flourish! Evil digs a pit, and the Maker makes a well” (Book 3 p58) That makes me cry and gives me hope.
I totally vote for both of them. Second.
Seconding Kalmar for my daughter who just finished reading this series.
And I second both! I love those two!
I nominate Naamah from the Dragons in Our Midst/Oracles of Fire series by Bryan Davis. Her story was powerful. Like gut-punching powerful!
OH! How could I forget Naamah? Totally seconding. I think that scene with her and Elam almost made me cry…
OH! Yes, I totally third her! Such a moving redemption story.
I nominate Marcus, the neighborhood bully from Doug TenNapel’s graphic novel, “Cardboard.”
Despite his earlier actions being utterly disgusting, his redemption not only hits all the right emotional chords but feels completely believable, and it has the added bonus of resulting from a cool battle where otherworldly manifestations of his inner psyche attack him and the rest of his town.
Here’s another nomination from the Wingfeather Saga: Janner.
I nominate Regulus Black from the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling.
I nominate Horace from The Ranger’s Apprentice series. He may have been a hero throughout most of the series, but never forget he started off as a self-centered bully. I loved how he and Will went from enemies to best friends.
That’s right, I forget sometimes that’s how Horace started. I second him!
I nominate Podo Helmer from the Wingfeather Saga
I second Edmund! What a classic!
I nominate Redcrosse from THE FAERIE QUEENE. His tale of fall and redemption is one of the most heart-breaking things… I love it!
I second the Redcrosse Knight.
I’ll second the Redcrosse Knight, too!
I nominate Constantine from Illusionarium by Heather Dixon.
Second!
Constantine. :’) SECOND.
I nominate Count Rosencross from the Peleg Chronicles!
I’m going to second Una from Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl.
And I’ll nominate Jordam from Cyndere’s Midnight by Jeffrey Overstreet. I’m not sure if he appears any of the following books, but he deserves this award.
I SECOND JORDAM. :’)
SECOND. Jordam was my favorite part of that book.
Is it okay to nominate a character for multiple awards? Because if so, I nominate Alastair Coldhollow from The Dark Sea Annals (by Wayne Thomas Batson). Powerful stuff here, folks.
I think it is. Thanks for stopping by!
Oh, Mary, you’re nominating all kinds of great characters I forgot about. I for sure second Alastair Coldhollow! <3
I also second Alastair Coldhollow! 😀