Last Drink Bird Head Award Finalists (2009-2010)
We’re pleased to announce the finalists for the second annual Last Drink Bird Head Awards, as chosen by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. The purpose of the awards is to celebrate those in the genre community who enrich us with their time, energy, and words, for causes greater than themselves. Finalists for this year’s award were chosen for efforts in 2009 and/or 2010. Thanks for recommendations from last year’s winners.
The winner of the Neil Clark Special Achievement Award, as announced below, is L. Timmel Duchamp. Please join us in congratulating her for her efforts.
The winners will be announced at Capclave in Washington D.C. on the evening of Saturday, October 23, in conjunction with the WSFA Small Press Award ceremony. Winners will receive a bird head figurine, a certificate, and chocolate.
The awards are named after the anthology Last Drink Bird Head from Ministry of Whimsy Press (an imprint of Wyrm Publishing). The proceeds from the anthology benefit the ProLiteracy charity. Contributors include Peter Straub, Ellen Kushner, Gene Wolfe, Tanith Lee, and over 60 others. To buy the Kindle edition, click here. To buy the limited hardcover and support literacy, visit the order page.
THE FINALISTS
Gentle Advocacy
In recognition of individuals willing to enter into blunt discourse about controversial issues…
- Ay-leen the Peacemaker (for Beyond Victoriana)
- Hal Duncan (for blogging and Notes from New Sodom)
- N.K. Jemisin (for blogging and commentary)
- Jason Sanford (for blogging)
Tireless Energy
In recognition of individuals who selflessly give of themselves for worthy causes, websites, or organizations…
- Rick Kleffel (for The Agony Column)
- Leslie Howle (for Clarion West and Hugo House activities)
- Debbie Notkin (for Tiptree Awards work, Wiscon work, and other activities)
- Victor Raymond (for past Carl Brandon Society and Interstitial Arts Foundation work, as well as other behind-the-scenes activities)
Promotion of Reading
In recognition of individuals whose efforts contribute to the promotion of reading or an increase in reading proficiency…
- Colleen Cahill (for Library of Congress work as a genre fiction advocate and as the library’s representative to the ALA)
- James Gunn (for his work with AboutSF)
- Julia Starkey (for building the Harvard Library’s SF/F section)
- Lynne Marie Thomas (for archiving the works and papers of SF/F authors)
Expanding Our Vocabulary
In recognition of writers whose nonfiction, through reviews, blogging, and/or essays, exposes readers to new words and, often, new ideas…
- Matthew Cheney
- Anil Menon
- Abigail Nussbaum
- Adam Roberts
International Activism
In recognition of those who work to bring writers from other literary traditions and countries to the attention of readers in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia…
- Larry Nolen (for coverage of international fiction, primarily on The Of Blog)
- Charles Tan (for Bibliophile Stalker and The World SF Blog)
- Lavie Tidhar (for The World SF Blog)
- Yan Wu, Guangyi Li, and Nathaniel Isaacson (for Chinese Sci Fi )
The Neil Clarke Special Achievement Award
Winner: L. Timmel Duchamp
The Special Achievement Award is geared toward recognizing individuals who are proactive behind the scenes but whose efforts often don’t receive the measure of public recognition they deserve. The winner will receive an elegant Hieronymous Bosch bird-with-letter figurine, a certificate, and chocolate. The award is named after the first year’s winner, publisher and editor Neil Clarke.
As founder of and editor for Aqueduct Press, L. Timmel Duchamp has demonstrated great creativity, care, and love as the guiding force in creating a strong line of feminist science fiction and fantasy. Although Aqueduct Press is a for-profit publisher, it serves a greater purpose in providing a valuable space for women’s fiction, often publishing otherwise marginalized authors. Further, Duchamp has often set aside her own career and fiction over the past five years to run Aqueduct Press. For these efforts, she is the 2010 recipient of the Neil Clarke Special Achievement Award.
September 20, 2010 at 6:01 pm
You’re my boy Larry, you’re my boy.
September 20, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Oooo, that’s some fierce competition. Congrats to all the finalists!
September 20, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Congrats to all!!
September 20, 2010 at 6:18 pm
An admirable assortment. If not bird heads for everyone, then at least last drinks. Cheers to the bunch of you!
September 20, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Jeff: This made my evening. Many thanks!
September 20, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Wow. Jeff, I am *floored.* ^___^
Thanks for the nomination, and cheers to all my fellow nominees!
September 20, 2010 at 9:08 pm
Squee! Congrats to all!
September 20, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Ann and I had a fun time going through possible nominees, and already making the start of a potential list for next year. Cheers, Jeff
September 20, 2010 at 9:36 pm
As I said elsewhere, I consider it a great honor to be included among so many excellent people. Thanks, again.
September 20, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Thanks, guys! It’s an honor. Congratulations to all the wonderful folks you so kindly acknowledged and hooray for Timmi! She more than deserves the recognition. Thank you again.
xLes
September 21, 2010 at 1:04 am
Squee. Congratulations to all finalists and an cheers for Timmi. I second Les in saying that she certainly deserves the recognition. I’ll raise my cup to that.
September 21, 2010 at 3:09 am
[...] Head Award (yes, seriously) Posted on September 21, 2010 by lavietidhar No, it’s a really cool award given out by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer to “celebrate those in the genre community who enrich us [...]
September 21, 2010 at 3:47 am
Great nominees for international activism. I wonder if Albedo One was considered, though. It’s an Irish magazine that’s had a programme of international fiction in translation running for a couple of years now. Shameless self-promotion (with a touch of sour grapes, admittedly). :-)
September 21, 2010 at 5:49 am
[...] Ann & Jeff VanderMeer have released the nominees for the 2010 Last Drink Bird Head Awards. The full list is available here. [...]
September 21, 2010 at 7:17 am
John:
There are lots of magazines and publishers who should be up for such awards, but we don’t have a specific category for that. (If there were, Masumi Washington and Nick Mamatas would be up for Haikasoru, for example.) These are service awards that are primarily meant to go to people who are volunteering time and energy in some way.
We should have a formal nomination process next year, as we recognize that although this is an ad hoc award we created primarily so Ann and I could help fill the gap in SF/F awards with regard to this kind of service, people are going to expect a certain amount of standard process from it. (Others are, of course, welcome to create their own service awards and nominate whomever they like.)
JeffV
September 21, 2010 at 8:18 am
Hi Jeff,
I appreciate the response. As I hinted at in my post, I’m just in a slightly grumpy mood today. :-)
John
September 21, 2010 at 9:29 am
Apparently.
September 21, 2010 at 4:02 pm
I am thrilled to be in such a high-powered and admirable list. I hadn’t been aware of the award, and I hope to stay in touch and nominate and generally participate in such a great idea.
September 22, 2010 at 2:33 am
Thank you so much! I can’t really top Matt Cheney’s recursively vocabulary-expanding response, so I’ll just link to that.
September 22, 2010 at 9:04 am
Debbie and Abigail–glad you’re both pleased, and thanks again for all that you do.
jeffv
September 23, 2010 at 1:21 am
[...] Ecstatic Days » Blog Archive » Last Drink Bird Head Award … Share and Enjoy: [...]
September 25, 2010 at 10:46 am
[...] Announcement Leave a Comment Recently, Ann and Jeff VanderMeer announced the finalists for Last Drink Bird Head Award and Beyond Victoriana was graciously nominated under the category for “Gentle Advocacy.” [...]
September 29, 2010 at 9:01 am
Ummm… Capclave is October 22-24 this year with the Awards being given on the 23rd.
October 4, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Goodness, I’m honored. (I really don’t rate it, I think)
October 6, 2010 at 8:04 am
[...] to epics and am proud he does a column over at BSC for – Notes from New Sodom – which recently got nominated for a Last Drink Bird Head award by the speculative dynamic duo of Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. Guy [...]
October 21, 2010 at 9:01 am
Who are these people?
February 6, 2011 at 4:21 am
Happy to know that we’re nominated. I take this as a great encouragement. Thanks a lot!