The Silmaril Awards 2021: Nominations Open!

September 05, 2022

Alright, y'all GUESS WHAT?

(Okay, maybe I gave it away with the post title. But that's kind of part of the job.)

IT'S TIME FOR THE SILMARIL AWARDS... (seventh annual! yay!)

AND I'M HOSTING ONE.

(It's a huge honor, guys. I still have a little bit of imposter syndrome over it, to be honest.)

Of course, you're wondering, I'm sure, what the Silmaril Awards are. (Unless you already know what they are, in which case, please skip my explanation and proceed.)

In a nutshell: The Silmaril awards are like Tonys or Oscars or Golden Globes...but for fantasy characters. Awarded by Tolkien's characters in a fantabulous award ceremony at the end of the month of September, each Silmaril honors a character in one of ten (or sometimes eleven, but this year only ten) categories. The best part? Y'all are the ones who get to nominate and vote on the characters who you think most qualified for each award! (More on that in a moment, too, as the title of this post suggests.)

Also, whichever blogger is hosting each character gets to host the nominated characters in their home for the duration of the awards. Which last for four weeks. This can get very chaotic for such catagories as Most Magnificent Dragon, which, thank goodness, I am not hosting this year. But anyway. Nominate with caution, guys.

(If you still have questions, please visit the official Silmaril Awards website!)

All of this begs the question: which category am I hosting?

Well, I happen to be hosting

Strangest Character!

If nothing else, it should be an interesting four weeks. XD I really don't know what to expect while hosting the strange characters--I'd estimate that there's at least as much potential for chaos when hosting the strange characters as when hosting, say, the villains or the dragons. At least one more or less knows what to expect from a dragon--fire, hoarding, general malice--and from a group of them--preening, competition, fights over food--but I really don't know what to expect from most of the characters who seem likely to be nominated, let alone what will happen when they all get together. In my dorm room. I mean, I'm sure someone's going to nominate Calcifer, who I adore and can't wait to meet, for the record, so someone BETTER nominate him, but where the heck am I supposed to keep a fire demon in my dorm room? Like, even candles are against the rules, so I can't imagine they'll look favorably on a fire demon?? (Also, the fire code inspections are this week...? Heh.) (Luckily, I can probably ~~bribe~~ ~~sweet talk~~ blackmail some of the RAs...) And then if Mad-Eye Moody gets nominated, I can only imagine how paranoid living in a dorm would make him (let alone the fact that the men's bathroom can only be reached with my key card through two locked doors, and not at night). And that's only two potential nominees. Seriously, y'all, the opportunities for chaos are endless. (I also did not ask my roommate's permission for this at all. Whoops.)

(Plus, there's the extra challenge of trying to organize the awards ceremony with Tom Bombadil as the presenter...which should be interesting.)

(But really, I can't wait!)

Okay, time for a couple lists. (Those are my favorite, y'know.)

Rules for nominations:

Characters must be fantasy characters from books. This means no sci-fi, no contemporary, &c, AND no webcomics, graphic novels, movies, and so on. If the story was a book first, but then got its own webcomic, graphic novel, &c, characters from said story are eligible, but otherwise, sadly, they are not permitted. If there's a book which might be seen as sci-fi, contemporary, or something else non-fantasy but you think has enough fantasy elements to count (for instance, The Lunar Chronicles, for the sake of the Silmaril Awards, count as fantasy, though they are sci-fi-y), make your case in the comments, and we will certainly consider it.
Tolkien's characters are not allowed. Given that, in the awards ceremony at the end of the month, one of Tolkien's characters will be presenting this award, you really don't want the conflict of interest that might result from the presenting character being nominated for the award. Especially if they don't win the final vote. It can get ugly, y'all.
An author may not nominate (or second) his or her own characters. It's just undignified and unprofessional, y'all. Don't do it. However, you of course may send your hyped-up readers to nominate and/or second your characters. (Winning a Silmaril would be really good publicity, just saying.)
Silmarils are a one-time thing, so a character may only win a category once. Thus, characters who have already won the Strangest Character Silmaril are not eligible to be nominated. These characters are:
Puddleglum (Chronicles of Narnia)
The Mad Hatter (Alice in Wonderland)
Peet Wingfeather (The Wingfeather Saga)
Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter)
Miracle Max (The Princess Bride)
Old Mad Bloke (The City Between)
Rule-breakers are sent immediately over to E. E. Rawls, who's hosting the dragons this year, to be eaten. Look, I don't make the rules, I just enforce them. If you don't want to follow these rules, prepare to be a dragon's lunch. And vice versa--if you don't want to be a dragon's lunch, prepare to follow the rules.

How to nominate characters:

Go to the comments section!
Do your best to check if the character you're nominating has already been nominated. If so, go second the character (more on that in a mo), instead, please.
Say that you're nominating.
List the characters you'd like to nominate, along with the book they're from. If you don't put which book they're from, you give everyone (*cough* me *cough cough*) a huge headache, and make yourself eligible to be dragon-lunch. No one wants that.
Nominate as many characters as you'd like! The sky's the limit!

How to second characters:

Go to the comments section!
Find the nominations of the characters you love.
Respond to the comment nominating said character and respond "I second [character's name]" or something along those lines.
(You may also write a separate comment listing your seconds, like you would with nominations, if you wish.)
Don't second characters you nominated--like nominating your own characters, it's just rude.
Second as many characters as you want (but please don't second a character twice!)
The five characters with the most seconds go on to the voting round!

Now, before you race down to the comments for nominations and seconds, a few dates to recall:

Nominations are open September 5 to 9.

Voting on the five characters with the most seconds will commence September 12, and close September 16th.

Awards Ceremonies will take place one per weekday September 19 to 30!

And also, if you'd like to nominate characters in other categories, here are the handy-dandy links for you to do so:

Most Faithful Friend - Sarah Pennington
Wisest Counselor -Jem Jones
Most Magnificent Dragon - E. E. Rawls
Most Nefarious Villain - D. J. Edwardson
Silver Tongue - Christine Smith
Most Mischievous Imp - Kenzie Keene
Most Majestic Ruler - Grace Taber
Most Epic Heroine - Jenelle Leanne Schmidt
Most Epic Hero
Strangest Character - Samantha Benedict (you are here!)

Last but not least, the Silmaril Awards have a giveaway this year, arranged by the lovely Jenelle Schmidt! The giveaway includes:

A gently used set of LOTR Extended Edition DVDs
The Hobbit Card Game
A dragon bookmark
Assorted dragon stickers

Go here to find the Rafflecopter and enter! :)

Now, you may rush post-haste to the comments to nominate and second your favorite weird, eccentric, bizarre, or in a word, strange, characters! I can't wait to be introduced to them! (...and see what kind of havoc they cause while I must host them...we'll see what my roommate thinks. XD)