Gaylactic Spectrum Awards - Award Process

Award Process

Since their inception, the awards have been given in categories for novels and best other work. Other categories have also been added and removed in intervening years, including categories for short fiction (since the second year) and comic books for one year. A short lived "People's Choice" award voted by convention attendees was also awarded to one work from any of the category nominee short lists. The award for best novel is the only one to have been handed out every year since the awards began. Currently, there are three regular categories, novels, short fiction and other works. The other works category is for works in any non-novel, non-short-fiction medium. This includes: comic books, graphic novels, movies, television episodes, multimedia, anthologies, story collections, gaming products, artwork, music.

The categories are open to submission of English-language works released during the prior calendar year in North America that include "significant positive GLBT content". The time-frame of eligibility is based on copyright date for first printing for written works, cover date for magazines and comic books, release date for films, first air date for television. Works must be "professionally" published or distributed to be eligible for consideration and be wholly original and legal. The judges may choose to extend eligibility for a work due to oversight, confusion regarding release dates, or problems with availability. An open nomination/recommendation process is used to identify works to be considered by the judges. Works of any format produced before the inception of the awards are eligible to be inducted into the "Hall of Fame"; these inductees are selected solely by the judges.

The results are decided by a panel of judges from the list of submitted nominees; nominations may be made by anyone. The judges are volunteers from science fiction fandom and GLBT community, with one volunteer as the "Award Administrator". The judges review each recommended work and the long list of nominees is reduced via review and discussion to a short list of finalists, and then one or more winners is chosen by consensus or vote. The results are generally announced and presented at Gaylaxicon, a convention dedicated to LGBT science fiction, although they have also been presented at Worldcon in the past. Each award consists of an etched image on lucite on a stand, using a spiral galaxy in a triangle logo, based on the logo the Gaylactic Network. The award winner's name, work title, award year and category are etched on a small plaque on the base or on the plexiglass itself. A small cash stipend is also awarded to winners in the Best Novel category. The cost of the awards is paid through individual donations and fundraising events.