The Hyatt International North on Sunday at 5:30PM was the place to be if you wanted to meet several of the authors who were Dragon Awards nominees and winners. Various genres were represented, and Bill Fawcett moderated. The authors on the panel were Marina Fontaine, Larry Correia, Jonathan P. Brazee, Declan Finn, Mark H. Wandrey, Vera Nazarian, Aleron Kong, and R. R. Virdi.

So what are the Dragon Con Awards? The following is the official definition of what they are.

Have you ever wanted to tell fellow fans when you’ve read a great new book or comic, play an awesome new game, or see an exhilarating movie? The Dragon Awards are your chance to share your opinions with, and see the recommendations of, tens of thousands of other fans everywhere! During the award nomination period, we will regularly send lists and information about your most popular choices.

Every fan anywhere is welcome, and encouraged, to both nominate their choices and then vote again on the final ballot! There is no qualification for voting – no convention fees or other memberships are needed. The only requirement is that you register your email address with every nomination or vote. This ensures that all fan’s votes count equally.

One of the important things Fawcett brought up about these awards is that it’s fan-driven. Depending on the markets and what is popular, the categories are flexible enough to allow variety for that year. For example, if zombie apocalypse is at the top of the reading charts for a year, then zombie apocalypse could be included as a category for fans to vote for their favorite book.

All of the authors on the panel loved to read and were inspired by other authors in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres. It definitely is not for the commercialism of it.

One of the best pieces of advice each of the panelist agreed on for up-and-coming authors is to write. You can’t edit what you don’t have. Stop planning and just do it. Submit it. Then do the next one.

Want to know more about this? Go to https://awards.dragoncon.org/the-process/ and read all of the guidelines, the past nominees, and all of the timelines involved. Maybe next year you can vote for your favorite book.