The Silmaril Awards 2023: Nominations Open!

Hello, y'all! I am THRILLED to be with you on a Monday in September, because you know what that means?

TIME FOR THE SILMARILS! 

*cue the confetti*

I am so honored to be able to host a Silmaril Award again this year! They are always an absolute blast, and definitely spice up my September! (Or at least, last year's Silmarils did. Hosting the Strangest Characters in my dorm room was a Whole Thing. I'm hoping this year's characters will be sliiiiiiightly better behaved, but I guess we'll find out.)

In case you've never heard of these illustrious awards, and are wondering what the heck Samantha is freaking out about, the Silmaril awards are the equivalent of the Tonys or Oscars or Golden Globes...but for fantasy characters. Awarded by Tolkien's characters in multiple fantabulous awards ceremonies at the end of the month of September, each Silmaril honors a character in one of eleven 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 (or in my case, dorm room) for the duration of the awards. Which last for four weeks, give or take. As I mentioned, last year was a wild time (you try to live with Howl, JinYeong, and Eugenides in the same room, not to mention the other 70ish strange characters), but it's always entertaining. I have a slightly bigger dorm room this year, but my roommate has no idea what's about to happen, so that'll be fun.

So, yeah. I'd appreciate you not nominating anyone who'll cause massive amounts of difficulties. 

Or rather, anyoneS. 

BECAUSE!

Drumroll, please...

This year, I have the extreme honor of hosting an ENTIRELY NEW category of Silmarils, that I think you're going to be VERY excited about! 

And that would be...

Most Devoted Couple! 

Y'all, I am over the MOON about this. I can't WAIT to meet some of my OTPs (y'all better nominate them), and see all of the cuteness, and watch all of the drama that unfolds (as it probably will) and try to fit them in my room and listen to the advice that they try to give to all of the people who are dating at Newman at the moment, and GAH. It's just going to be so fun!! 

(Those of you who know me know that I am not a typically romantic person, BUT I have a soft spot a mile wide when it comes to other peoples' romances, lol. I am very much an Elinor, and also an Emma, and I'm looking forward to living that out to the MAX this month.)

(Also, you guys are going to LOVE the presenters of this award. They're one of my top OTPs, and while I'm not going to give it away, there was a lot of excitement when I figured out that I got to co-host the awards ceremony with them.)

Now that I've gotten the squealing out of the way, time for a few explanations and clarifications. 

First of all, if you're still super duper confused, please visit the official Silmaril Awards Website! They can help you out over there, for sure. 

Second of all, here are the rules. 

But before I get to the quotidian rules, we have a new rule this year: 

Narnian characters are exempt from the Silmaril Awards. They have all officially been recognized by the presenters of each award as eminently deserving the award, and have stepped aside to make room for lesser-known fantasy characters. (Does this mean that there may be some cute Narnian couple cameos at the awards ceremony? Does this mean that I get to host Cor & Aravis and Frank & Helen and Caspian & Ramandu's daughter??? Stay tuned.)

Okay, now the quotidian rules.

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 rather 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, two (squeal!) of Tolkien's characters will be presenting this award, you really don't want the conflict of interest that might result from the presenting characters 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. This isn't a big deal for this award, since no one has ever won it before! But whoever wins it this year will never be eligible for it again. Just fyi. ;)
  
  
• Rule-breakers are sent immediately over to Jenelle Leanne Schmidt, 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. 

And now, just for the sake of clarity, here's what you do next: 

How to nominate characters:

1. Go to the comments section!
   
2. 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.
3. Say that you're nominating.
4. 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.
5. Nominate as many characters as you'd like! The sky's the limit!
   
   

How to second characters:

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

Before you rush off to nominate and second all the adorable couples to your hearts' content, a few dates and links to note...

Nominations are open September 4 to 8.

Voting on the five characters with the most seconds will commence September 11, and close September 15th.

Awards Ceremonies will take place one per weekday September 18 to 29!

And if you'd like to nominate and second characters in other categories, here are those links! 

Most Magnificent Dragon--Jenelle Leanne Schmidt
Most Nefarious Villain--C. O. Bonham
Most Wayward Soul--E. E. Rawls
Most Silver Tongue--The Grim Writer
Most Epic Heroine--Catherine Hawthorn
Most Majestic Ruler--D. J. Edwardson
Most Faithful Friend--J. L. Mbewe
Most Mischievous Imp--Grace Taber
Most Epic Hero--Merie Shen
Wisest Counselor--Sarah Pennington

Most Devoted Couple--Samantha Benedict (you are here!)

Now! Rush off to the comments section, and pour out your whole list of OTPs! Please! Send them all my way, and may the most devoted couple win! :D