the silmaril awards return: nominations for most epic hero [CLOSED]

Folksies, it’s that time of year again! Welcome to the 8th annual Silmaril Awards!!

I am so excited and honored to be a host in this fantabulous event for the first time this year. The bookish chaos is coming for us all! But first, let’s recap what the Silmaril Awards are about.

from the official website:

The Silmaril Awards are all about celebrating fantasy fiction. But whereas most awards go to authors or books, these awards go to the characters themselves! Sound like fun? Read on.

Started in 2016, these awards are a four week online celebration of all that’s best in fantasy literature. There are several awards in various categories given every year. The characters who receive them have to be from books generally considered to be in the fantasy genre. And a given character cannot receive an award more than once. These are lifetime awards.

Also, as Tolkien is, for us, the gold standard of fantasy, his characters are not eligible to be nominated. That’s because they’ll be the ones presenting the awards in this cross-dimensional online ceremony. 

Nominations are submitted on the websites of each of the presenters for that year. Anyone can submit a nomination and you can second (and third and fourth, etc.) any number of nominations besides your own.

After the nomination period (lasting one week), the five characters receiving the most nominations will make it onto the ballot and you’ll have one week to vote. After the votes are tallied, the winners will be announced, one per day, over the final two weeks of the awards.

The awards the winners will receive are silmarils, the otherworldly gems featured in Tolkien’s book, The Silmarillion. Though there were a limited number of these gems in his world, in ours we have found a great many more!

how it works

week one: nominations open

From Sept. 4 – 8, you are free to nominate and second your chosen characters into whichever categories you think they best fit. Even if you don’t have a character you want to nominate for each category, do take a look at other readers’ nominations and second them if you think them worthy. You can nominate the same character for as many categories as you think suits them, provided they have not already received the same award in the past. The TOP 5 seconded characters will move on to the next round.

Nominations close at the strike of midnight on Friday the 8th CST.

week two: the voting commences

From Sept. 11 – 15, you have the chance to vote between the top 5 nominees in each category. Which of those 5 do you think is most worthy of that category’s silmaril? Choose wisely; the character who receives the most votes in this round will be taking home their claim to glory!

Voting ends at the strike of midnight on Friday the 15th CST. Or, you know, when the voting form closes.

week three: presenting this year’s winners

Now here’s where the craziness arrives. From Sept. 18-29, each of our 11 esteemed hosts will hold the official award ceremony for their category, right here on the ol’ blogs. There will be one award ceremony per day, and each promises to be as chock-full of character-induced chaos as the one before, so strap in for the full ride! Oh, and of course, the award presenters are none other than the time-honored characters of the Father of Fantasy himself (more on that below).

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now for the rules…

1. Tolkien’s characters are INELIGIBLE for nomination. As Tolkien’s works are considered the “gold standard” for fantasy, we do not accept any Tolkien characters as nominees. Instead, expect to see them in the award ceremonies!
2. As of 2023, characters from the Chronicles of Narnia are INELIGIBILE for nomination! Puddleglum from The Silver Chair has taken home no fewer than three silmarils in the past 7 years, a record for silmaril winners, and though we’re aware he’s probably used up all his possible categories, we think it’s proof enough that the Narnians are in a class of their own. (Which they always were, by the way. #LewisAndTolkien4Ever) And that’s to say nothing of the Pevensie siblings… Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for some cameos during the award ceremonies. Though I make no promises.
3. Please only nominate characters from fantasy books. No sci-fi, film, or other such characters are eligible. However, we understand that the lines surrounding “fantasy” can be blurry, so if you’re not sure about someone, feel free to ask!
4. When nominating characters, please mention their books of origin. Alas, there is such a thing as commonly-found names in modern fantasy, as well as particularly obscure ones… as well as the unfortunate possibility that we’re not familiar with the character you’re naming. For the sake of your hosts’ sanity, tell us what book they’re from.
5. Nominate or second as many characters as you want, in as many categories as you want. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there–ahem, I mean, the more the merrier, right? The more seconds a character receives, the likelier they are to make it to the top 5, folksie. And you know you gotta support all your favorite characters. You never know if this’ll be their year! (Don’t try to second your own nominations, though. That’s… pointless.)
6. Authors out there, we love you, but this event is about supporting other people’s characters. Please don’t nominate your own characters. We may not always be able to check, so this is on your integrity. (You are, of course, more than welcome to share about this event and invite your readers to nominate your characters, though…)
7. Characters that have won silmarils in the past are INELIGIBLE for nomination in the same categories. These are lifetime awards. You don’t need two Nefarious Villain awards, Voldie. (You can, of course, nominate a previous year’s winner for a different category, but only within reason.)
8. Most importantly, have fun! There’s no point if you don’t have fun. As the Silmaril Awards are a source of great joy and bookish delight to the hosts, we hope the same for you!

as for my category…

Yours truly is honored to be hosting this year’s Most Epic Hero award! This category is pretty self-explanatory, no? All your most courageous, kind, strong-souled men of valor are up for nomination! Note that they do not always have to be the main protagonists of their respective stories, as we are judging by their measure of heroism (however you want to measure that). Also, nobody’s perfect, so if they’re a little less cool than the standard that’s perfectly okay. You can’t beat Aragorn anyway. The scarred, flawed, and the regretful are just as welcome here as the bravest, purest paragons of literature. These are the heroes that fight for what’s right, in times of darkness as well as light, even when it seems there’s no hope left. You know the drill. Now it’s your turn to decide what makes the most epic hero!

If you’re wondering what sort have won this award in the past, here’s a list for reference. And I’d better not see any of these names in the nominations this year, yeah?

• 2022 Janner from Wingfeather Saga
• 2021 Zero from The City Between Series
• 2020 Reepicheep from The Chronicles of Narnia
• 2019 Westley from The Princess Bride
• 2018 Edmund Pevensie from The Chronicles of Narnia
• 2017 Peter Pevensie from The Chronicles of Narnia
• 2016 Robin Hood from The Adventures of Robin Hood

the other awards & hosts!

Make sure to drop by the other 10 blogs once you’re finished here! (Psst… we got 2 shiny new categories this year, so you’re gonna want to!)

• MOST MAGNIFICENT DRAGON: Jenelle L. Schmidt
• MOST NEFARIOUS VILLAIN: C. O. Bonham
• MOST DEVOTED COUPLE (new!!): Samantha
• MOST WAYWARD SOUL (new!!): E.E. Rawls
• MOST SILVER TONGUE: The Grim Writer
• MOST EPIC HEROINE: Catherine Hawthorne
• MOST MAJESTIC RULER: D.J. Edwardson
• MOST FAITHFUL FRIEND: J.L. Mbewe
• MOST MISCHIEVOUS IMP: Grace Taber
• MOST EPIC HERO: what are you looking for, traveler? you’re already here.
• WISEST COUNSELOR: Sarah Pennington

And that’s that, folksies! You have until Friday. Go forth now, and fill these lands with all the love and support for our favorite epic heroes!