2007 Fan Audio Awards Procedures
(source: starwarsfanworks.com, 12-15-06)

Recently, Fanworks visitors who participate on the Fanworks message board over at GalacticSenate.com (see the link on the top of the right-hand column) have been privy to discussions involving the 2007 Star Wars Fanworks Fan Audio Awards, for which deliberations are slated to begin sometime in January. The primary concerns of these discussions have been how to keep the awards both meaningful and honest in a more decentralized, podcast-centric genre.

Several ideas have been tossed about, including the formation of a Fan Audio Academy as was the case in some previous years, or perhaps having awards handed out by Fanworks as an institution while leaving projects by the site's founder and operator out of the running for any awards. Eventually, the solution used last year seemed to be the best option, barring a little bit of "tweaking."

So, the lowdown on the 2007 awards is this:

From January 1 through January 14 (the first two weeks of 2007), voting will be held for the 2007 awards. The awards will cover anything released during 2006, and all projects and participants will be eligible for awards. (Final lists of voting choices/nominees will be posted during the last weeks of December for community approval.) Categories will remain similar to last year's awards.

As for the items being discussed on the message board: This year, we will again put out a very specific requirement that no projects under consideration can carry out a "get out the vote campaign." (This is an award series based on merit, not popularity.) Therefore, any project that is found to be discussing/promoting the awards on their shows or websites in the lead-up to the awards or duing the awards will be immediately disqualified from any awards, unless that website is a site dedicated to the community, such as Fanworks, FanAudio.com, TSWPN, or the like.

Also, to be eligible to vote, an individual must be one (or both) of the following: A fan audio project participant (creator/actor/producer/etc.) or a fan audio listener who has been a member of the community long enough to have been a registered member of the GalacticSenate.com forums (and thereby the Fanworks message board) since December 1, 2006, at the latest. (In other words, creators will be unable to put out a call for their listeners to flock to the message board, register, vote, and disappear again.)

Voting will be carried out via either GalacticSenate.com Private Messages or direct emails to Fanworks.

Keep an eye out here and on the Fanworks message board for more details as they become available.