{"id":7163,"date":"2024-05-10T00:01:16","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T05:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=7163"},"modified":"2024-05-05T17:36:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-05T22:36:17","slug":"five-ways-to-make-a-difference-in-the-prometheus-awards-including-two-less-obvious-steps-worth-taking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/five-ways-to-make-a-difference-in-the-prometheus-awards-including-two-less-obvious-steps-worth-taking\/","title":{"rendered":"Several ways you can make a difference in the Prometheus Awards \u2013 including some less-obvious steps worth taking"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/p>\n

Without the Libertarian Futurist Society and its members, the Prometheus Awards wouldn\u2019t have survived for 45 years \u2013 and counting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Prometheus, the light bringer (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans have made a difference over the decades in three major ways: Through their continuing LFS memberships and support, by becoming active in the discovery and nominating process of our awards and ultimately, by reading the annual finalists and voting to choose the annual winners.<\/p>\n

Yet, there are several less obvious but vital ways that LFS members (and others) can help enhance the awards process and help ensure that worthy potential contenders aren\u2019t overlooked \u2013 especially in the annual Best Novel category, first presented in 1979.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Often, as is common but taken for granted in many areas of human society, an exclusive focus on official procedures and formal rules can tend to blind us to other ways, sometimes unsung, in which people can participate, cooperate and take the initiative to sustain or improve programs through service and volunteering.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>One key step in the Prometheus Awards, as in most other awards, may seem self-evident but it\u2019s crucial in making it possible to give all eligible works full consideration: Simply bringing potential candidates to our attention.<\/p>\n

One might assume that the LFS and Prometheus finalist-selecting judges would already be aware of novels that fit the awards\u2019 distinctive dual focus \u2013 at once literary and thematic in celebrating outstanding fiction that explores and dramatizes the value of freedom and individual rights or that illuminates the evils of tyranny, slavery, war and other excesses and abuses of coercive State power.<\/p>\n

ALERT US WHEN YOU COME ACROSS A CANDIDATE
\n<\/strong>
\nBut that\u2019s sometimes not the case \u2013 which is why it matters a lot if LFS members, and other libertarian and freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans can alert us as soon as you come across any works that seem to fit our award and may deserve Prometheus recognition.<\/p>\n

More often than one might expect, solid candidates for nomination are not identified until rather late in the awards cycle, making it more difficult to obtain and read the novels before our annual Feb 15 Best Novel nominating deadline.<\/p>\n

Given the vast number of works of speculative fiction published each year, finding outstanding fiction that fits the specific focus of the Prometheus Awards can often feel like looking for a needle in a haystack.<\/p>\n

So it really helps a lot when Prometheus Awards finalist-selection judges can find out early about potential candidates for nomination – so that we can find and read them and consider adding them to our short-list of eligible, bona fide candidates for the next annual award.<\/p>\n

Here it\u2019s not just LFS members who can help. The Libertarian Futurist Society also welcomes other sf\/fantasy fans, publishers and authors who alert us to works of fiction that we may not know about but which should be considered for potential nomination and further Prometheus recognition.<\/p>\n

Submissions or formal nominations of 2024 novels are already being accepted for next year\u2019s awards \u2013 and we truly appreciate finding out potentially worth works sooner rather than later!<\/p>\n

For guidelines about how to submit works for consideration and what kind of fiction we\u2019re looking for, check out this recent Prometheus Blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

COVERING THE BASICS
\n<\/strong>
\nThrough the informative LFS News<\/em><\/strong> updates sent by email on a quarterly schedule to all current members, three fundamental steps by LFS members tend to be emphasized and encouraged:<\/p>\n

\u2022 MEMBERSHIPS:\u00a0<\/strong>Sustaining the awards and their gold prizes through your LFS memberships, whether as Basic or Full members or as Sponsors or Benefactors.<\/p>\n

For more information about how to become an LFS member or renew your membership, check out the LFS website\u2019s membership page.<\/a><\/p>\n

* NOMINATIONS:\u00a0<\/strong>Formally nominating eligible works for the two annual categories for Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Prometheus Hall of Fame) or for occasional Special Awards.<\/p>\n

While the Best Novel category basically focuses on novels first published within each calendar year, the Best Classic Fiction category is open to many types of fiction – novels, novellas, stories, films, TV episodes\/series, plays, musicals, operas, songs, records, trilogies, anthologies, etc. that first appeared at least 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

For more about what kind of information to submit with your nomination \u2013 or alternatively, simply a suggestion or submission of a candidate for nomination, check out the submission-guidelines letter<\/a> on the LSF website\u2019s front page.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 VOTING:\u00a0<\/strong>Reading the finalists and ranking them on the final ballot sent to all LFS members to help each year\u2019s winners by our traditional July 4 voting deadline.<\/p>\n

For an illuminating essay clarifying the broad range of what\u2019s eligible for Prometheus recognition and what the awards\u2019 focus on \u201clibertarian\u201d and\/or \u201canti-authoritarian\u201d themes means, check out LFS President William H. Stoddard\u2019s seminal essay \u201cWhat Do You Mean \u2018Libertarian\u2019?<\/a> (and why Tolkien\u2019s trilogy deserved its Prometheus.\u201d)<\/p>\n

CONSIDER BECOMING A PROMETHEUS \u2018EARLY READER\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beyond those three basic steps to support our organization and award, LFS members are invited to consider volunteering to join our informal Early Readers group.<\/p>\n

More about this valuable program in upcoming blog posts, but basically, Early Readers are LFS members who volunteer to read one of more award candidates of their choice.<\/p>\n

If they\u2019re interested and when they have time, Early Readers are invited to pick a novel from our evolving list of \u201cpotential candidates for Best Novel nomination\u201d list to read and report on confidentially.<\/p>\n

Two fundamental questions that Early Readers strive to answer: Whether, in your considered opinion, the novel fits the distinctive dual focus<\/a> of the Prometheus Award – and if so, whether the work is strong enough (in quality, readability, plotting, characterization, world-building, imagination, suspense and\/or humor) to merit a formal nomination.<\/p>\n

To bring to our attention any 2024 novels that may fit the Prometheus Awards, or for more information about how you can participate in our Early Reader program, contact Michael Grossberg, chair of the Prometheus Best Novel finalist-judging committee, at bestnovel@lfs.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 including the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards\u2019 distinctive dual focus.<\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a>an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/em>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch <\/strong>videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer and Sarah Hoyt),Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s Facebook page<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0for periodic updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us! <\/em><\/strong>To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction,join<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg Without the Libertarian Futurist Society and its members, the Prometheus Awards wouldn\u2019t have survived for 45 years \u2013 and counting.   Freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans have made a difference over the decades in three major ways: Through their continuing LFS memberships and support, by becoming active in the discovery and nominating process of … Continue reading Several ways you can make a difference in the Prometheus Awards \u2013 including some less-obvious steps worth taking<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2236,1124],"tags":[595,594,2283,2351,1552,164,1349,1827,46,2238],"class_list":["post-7163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-award-submissions","category-lfs-programs","tag-best-classic-fiction","tag-best-novel","tag-early-readers","tag-finding-award-candidates","tag-judging","tag-libertarian-futurist-society","tag-lord-of-the-rings","tag-nominations","tag-prometheus-awards","tag-submissions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-1Rx","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7163"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7435,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7163\/revisions\/7435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}