The Marr Awards (nominate me! =P)

I’ve been a member of Rath n’ Ruins* for the past two and a half years—and a staff member for a little under that time. Anyone who knows me (and, I’m guessing, if you read this blog, you know me) knows what an important part the Rath has taken in my life.

The Rath is a place to make friends, a place to think, a place to work, and a place to play. I DO consider it a job—just a job I choose to do =) Unfortunately, my real-paying-job and my health issues have reduced my time on the Rath considerably. However, no matter what else is going on in my life, it is still on my mind.

The Rath has been going through constant change. When I joined it was a tiny niche with a few hard-core readers who posted essay-long answers. As time went on, new places opened within the Rath: spaces to talk about other books, spaces to write, spaces to talk about your personal life, to make friends or just to goof around. Now, with a Wicked Lovely movie in the making and the WL series close to its last installment, a whole new era of the Rath is under way.

To prepare Wickedlovely.com and the Rath n’ Ruins forum for this new stage, there has been lots of planning and brainstorming going on behind the scenes.

One of the things that developed from all this planning has been the Marr Awards. As I am not a humble person, I will say it was my idea =P However, I can in no way take credit for the awesomeness that the Awards have turned out to be. What I had thought of as a cool way for Rathers to vote for their favorite WL characters and scenes, has turned out to be a huge enterprise, where readers themselves are rewarded.

What started out as a tiny activity now has a BUNCH of people working on it, including 5 different teams: internal publicity, external publicity, graphics, prizes, and nominations (of which I am team leader). All of these teams have been working very hard to make this a wonderful experience for everyone (a special shout out goes to loony, who has been my right-hand in all things nom-related, and has been doing a k*ck as job).

The Marr Awards go out to categories in three different groups:

Canon: Here, people can vote for things like “Best Fight”, “Favorite Character”, “Best Character Development”, “Deserves a Slap”, etc.

Fandom: These awards go to all fans, not just members of the Rath. Awards here are art related like: Best Artist, Best Video, Best Fanfic, Best Banner/Icon, Best Art that is not 2 D, etc.

Rath n’ Ruins: These prizes go out to Rathers for things like Friendliest, Best-Staff Member, Funniest, Best Commentator, etc.

Winners of both Fandom and Rath n’ Ruins categories will win awesome prizes =)

And, the point of this is (insert publicity jingle here) I’ve been nominated for Rath n’ Ruins: Best Staff Member! Woo hoo! However, in order for me to get on the ballot, I have to get enough nominations =) So, if you find it in your heart to help me out, please go nominate me here and keep your eyes open for voting season (which will be in June), so that you can vote for me. =)


*Rath n’ Ruins is the fan forum of WickedLovely.com, a website devoted to the work of author Melissa Marr.