PLUTOAWD

Yellow30 Sci-Fi is proud to announce it’s first annual award ever. After much deliberation by the staff it has been determined that the books we review needed some special type of recognition. Therefore we’ve come up with our own award. It will be called the Pluto Award.

Why the name? It would seem that after seventy-six years classified as a planet, Pluto would remain so. But in 2006 the IAU reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet. The uproar over the reclassification put Pluto in the news for months. The staff thought the irony in the whole thing was much like the publishing industry. Small presses are regarded by the major trade industry as “dwarf publishers” and relegate any author from them as outside the sphere of the big names at the “big guy” publishing houses. Therefore the staff thought it appropriate to name our award after the planet - Pluto.

So this will be our first annual award. Right now it will be just an online award given out once a year for the best science fiction - fantasy - alternate history book we review. Hopefully in later years we can break the award down into categories. This will be an actual physical award given the to winning author and mailed to them. As time goes by we hope to be able to align ourselves with a local sci-fi convention and give the award out there. For right now, the award will have the Internet as it’s place of beginning.

How will a book be chosen for the award?

1. All books published in 2006 and submitted for review no later than March 1, 2007 are eligible.

2. Nominees will be selected by Award Committee between March 30 and April 2, 2007.

3. Three finalists will be announced September 1, 2007.

4. On November 1, 2007 the winner will be announced.

This is a small step and even though the entries may be on a smaller scale than any national awards committee, we are acknowledging authors who have chosen a different approach to publishing.

BUT WAIT A MINUTE! What about the books published before 2006 that you've already reviewed? Don't worry... The staff has voted and we've determined to give out a one time award for those books. It's called the Charon Award. Click here to find out more information.