2006 Fan Audio Awards Voting: Jan. 15 - 31
(source: starwarsfanworks.com, 01-01-06)

Longtime fans of Star Wars fan audio productions and members of the fan audio community that has formed in recent years around Star Wars Fanworks no doubt remember that for the past two years, Star Wars Fanworks has sponsored a community-supported series of Star Wars Fan Audio Awards.

Early each year, online releases from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 of the preceding year are eligible for awards in a variety of categories. Since the 2005 broadcast year just ended, that means that it's almost time for the 2006 award series.

As in previous years, there are to be three main categories of awards: Audio Dramas; Radio Shows; and Audio Parodies (which also includes comedic segments in larger productions, such as radio shows). This year, with so many new radio shows on the scene, the radio show categories are being expanded to include four new categories: Best Celebration III Coverage; Best Revenge of the Sith Coverage; Best Panel of Radio Show Host (rather than just Best Radio Show Host); and Radio Show "Rookie of the Year."

In the past, the awards have been handled several different ways. This year, due to the sheer logistics of such an expanded community since last year's awards, the awards will be voted upon on the Fanworks message board at GalacticSenate.com. This will not be done via online polling, but be voted upon by people posting their votes in the appropriate voting threads. This is meant as a means of hopefully limiting votes to one vote per person (rather than the old "vote early and vote often" political joke) and allowing us to screen for "get out the vote campaigns" as happened the last time public polling was used, two years ago (when people registered just to vote, voted, and never posted again, many of whom turned out to be family members, coworkers, and similar people who were brought in to flood the online "ballot boxes").

At the moment, the final eligibility lists are being drawn up. The lists will be finalized soon, and voting will be carried out from Jan. 15 through Jan. 31. Winners will then be announced in a special 2006 award recap episode of Robbie Chastain's Star Wars and Beyond.

So, if you have things to catch up on before voting, it'd be a good idea to get started now. Voting begins in about two weeks.