Darrell Awards News

The 2020 Darrell Awards Jury met recently via Zoom and reached the following decisions.

First, on the 2020 Darrell Awards: we will announce the Winners, First Runners-Up, and other Finalists here within the next week or so. That announcement will be shared as widely as possible via social media & email.

The Winners will be given a choice of having their plaque shipped to them or waiting to pick it up in person at MidSouthCon in 2021. If we are unable to reach any of the Winners, we will default to holding their plaque to present at the con.

Certificates suitable for framing will be mailed to the First Runners-Up and other Finalists. If we don’t have (and can’t find) a mailing address for these honored authors, we will hold their certificates to present at the con.

Speaking of MidSouthCon, please check their website at http://MidSouthCon.org for the latest news on the status of the con in 2021.

Second, on the 2021 Darrell Awards: As everyone is aware, this year has presented unusual challenges to publishing and to leisure time activities, such as reading. Due to the effects of the pandemic, the members of the Jury have had others things on our minds. We are volunteers, after all. 🤓

We have long had a practice of recognizing Young Adult or Other Media nominees on a 2 year basis. For the next cycle of the Darrell Awards, we are expanding that to include all the other categories.

What does that mean?

The 2022 Darrell Awards will cover works published from November 1, 2019 to October 31, 2021, in all our usual categories — Best Novel, Best Novella, Best Short Story, Best Young Adult Work, and Best Other Media Work.

We have not yet decided whether there will be 1 or 2 inductees into the Coger Memorial Hall of Fame in 2022. We will meet again in January to decide that, as well as set the rules for the 2022 Darrell Awards, and pick the date to open nominations.

Please check back here in February 2021 for the 2022 Darrell Awards Nomination Form.

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So, the news in a nutshell: results of the 2020 Darrell Awards will be posted here within the next week or so and the 2022 nomination form will be posted by Feb 2021.

If you have questions, please feel free to email us at the address in the blue box above.

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2017 Darrell Awards Nominations Are Now Open

The 2017 Darrell Awards Jury met recently and adopted the rules for 2017, so we are pleased to announce that :

NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN for the 2017 Darrell Awards ! Yippee!

There have been 2 minor changes to the rules and one major change (Rule 13 was added). So, please DO review the rules before you nominate.

Please use this LINK to access the 2017 Nomination Form.

(Yes, that is on Dropbox. If you have a problem accessing dropbox, email us at MemphisSF at cs dot com and we will email the form directly to you. The email address is spelled out here to cut down on spambots harvesting it.)

We are also pleased to announce that we have added three new members to the Jury and one new Official Reader.  Our next meeting is later this month (August), so get those Nominations in so the Jury and Readers can be considering your work for the 2017 Darrell Awards.

2015 Darrell Awards Presented at MidSouthCon 33

It gives us great pleasure to announce that the 2015 Darrell Awards were presented at the Banquet at MidSouthCon 33 on Saturday, March 21, 2015, and here are the results!

As previously announced, Jeff Crook is the newest inductee into the Dal Coger Memorial Hall of Fame.

DREAM THIEF # 4 by Jai Nitz is the Winner of the 2015 Darrell Award for Best Midsouth SF/F/H Other Media Work. This is the first time that a comic book has won a Darrell Award (in this or any other category). Previous Other Media winners included films, plays and efiction (before the Jury started considering efiction as just fiction). 

Barry (a short film available on vimeo.com) by Matthew Graves is the First Runner Up for the 2015 Darrell Award for Best Midsouth SF/F/H Other Media Work.

The Five Faces (a Markhat novel) by Frank Tuttle won the 2015 Darrell Award for Best Midsouth SF/F/H Novel, with Valkyrie’s Daughter by John E. Siers as First Runner Up in the novel category.

Eat Your Peas by Robert J. Krog won the 2015 Darrell Award for Best Midsouth SF/F/H Short Story. This story appeared in Luna’s Children: Full Moon Mayhem. 

Stolen Thunder by H. David Blalock (seen in Realms of Imagination) is the 2015 First Runner Up in the short story category.

Additional Finalists in the short story category were

• Hello I, This is H by Bill M. Tracer;
• Thursday Morrow: The Self-Winding Mechanical Man by Robert J. Krog (seen in Capes & Clockwork); and
• The Serpent and the Dagger by Robert J. Krog (seen in A Tall Ship, a Star, and Plunder). 

As we have done in some previous years, the Jury chose not to award in the Novella category this time.

Each of the Finalists were invited to attend MidSouthCon 33 on Saturday, March 21,  to participate in a Meet the Darrell Awards Finalists Panel and offered a free ticket to the Banquet later that same day. Jai Nitz , Robert J. Krog and Jeff Crook were unable to attend; they each sent remarks, which were read at the Banquet. We were unable to contact Matthew Graves. The other Finalists responded and attended the 2015 Darrell Awards presentation.

Photos of the Plaques presented to the Winners will be posted on the Darrell Awards page on Facebook and other social media sites.

The Darrell Awards are given annually to support literacy in the greater Memphis area (the Midsouth) by recognizing the best published Science Fiction, Fantasy and/or Horror fiction. Annual categories include Novel, Novella, and Short Story. Other Media and Young Adult alternate on a 2 year cycle; this year we considered Other Media, which includes plays, audio presentations, podcasts, movies, games, comics, and other non-book and non-ebook forms of SF/F/H. In 2016, we will consider Young Adult SF/F/H. Please check back here for an announcement when the nominations for the 2016 Darrell Awards are opened.

We heartily recommend these Winners and Finalists to all those who enjoy a good story, especially to fans of Science Fiction, Fantasy and/or Horror. Now, GO BUY THEIR BOOKS AND READ THEM !