Silmarillion Awards - Wisest Counselor Nominations

Hear ye, hear ye! The second annual Silmarillion Awards begins today!

What are the Silmarillion Awards, you might be wondering? You might remember when I hosted the Best Riddling and Poetry Silmaril last year, but if not, let me give you a rundown.

They're like the Oscars for fantasy characters, voted for by you. This is a fun way to show your favorite characters your love and support! Of course, since Lord of the Rings is widely accepted as a standard of excellence in this genre, each award is presented by someone from Middle Earth. This means that you cannot nominate or vote for a LOTR character. But anyone else within the realm of fantasy is fair game!

And what kind of awards, pray tell, will be handed out? Well, the lineup is new and improved (since a couple of categories last year veered into spoiler territory), and it looks more exciting than ever!

infographic designed by Deborah O'Carroll

Your first step, once you finish reading this post, is to head to all the blogs and start making nominations!

Wisest Counselor Silmaril - Tracey @ Adventure Awaits

Least Competent Henchman Silmaril - Kyle @ Kyle Robert Shultz

Silver Tongue Silmaril - Madeline @ Short and Snappy

Most Epic Hero Silmaril- Abbey @ Regarding Reading and Writing

Strangest Character Silmaril - Savannah @ Scattered Scribblings

Most Epic Heroine Silmaril - Deborah @ The Road of a Writer

Most Mischievous Imp Silmaril - Elise @ Author E.E. Rawls

Most Magnificent Dragon Silmaril - DJ @ DJ Edwardson

Most Loyal Friend Silmaril - Zachary @ Zachary Totah

Most Nefarious Villain Silmaril - Jenelle @ Jenelle Schmidt

The Rules:

• You can nominate as many characters for each award as you like.
• You may "second" as many characters as you like. (An example of seconding: someone might nominate Susan Pevensie for an award, and if you agree, you can second the nomination.)
• Please mention which book/series each nomination is from!
• You may not nominate and then second your own recommendation. (At this stage of the awards, you can nominate and second as many characters as you want, but you still get only one vote per character.)
• Authors can gladly participate, but they may not nominate/second any of their own characters. However, they are welcome to let their readers know about these awards and may suggest characters to their own readers that could be nominated for various awards.
• The awards are for fantasy characters only. Sorry, Katniss Everdeen--you're from a dystopian series.
• These are lifetime awards! Last year's winners are now ineligible.
• Again, because Tolkien characters are the standard for the awards, they are also ineligible. (As one of the Silmarillion Awards hosts put it, having Gandalf present an award to himself would be awkward.)
• Use #SilmAwards2017 when talking about or promoting the awards on social media!

This year is going to be even more fun than last year! For one thing, there is a smorgasbord of giveaways, and also an upcoming scavenger hunt. For another thing, you can now buy mugs and t-shirts! The proceeds will go to cover the costs of prizes for the giveaways.

Speaking of giveaways, before I get into the particular award I'm hosting here on Adventure Awaits, why don't you check out this giveaway? a Rafflecopter giveaway (If my attempts to embed it into the post don't work, please just click the link.) You could win these four books!

paperback copy of Alora: The Wander-Jewel by Tamie Dearen + ebook copies
of Evangeline, Eun Na and the Phantom, and Foxtails by Erica Laurie

The top five characters with the most nominations/seconds in each category will move on to the voting round next week!

If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to ask.

Let the Wisest Counselor nominations begin!

As you have seen, I will be hosting the Wisest Counselor Silmaril. This award should go to a character who exhibits maturity regardless of age. Someone whose advice is sound and whose counsel is timely. This kind of character is often instrumental in helping the protagonist(s) achieve their goal, although their words may not always be what the hero wants to hear. This character holds fast to truth and imparts it to others. He or she is not necessarily perfect, but they provide an example to be followed. Without their sage counsel, many a quest would end in tragedy, and many a hero would make unfortunate decisions. We owe quite a few happy endings to this wise sort of character, indeed.

Last year's winner of the Wisest Counselor Silmaril was Aslan himself. (Check out the award ceremony here.) Just like last year, Gandalf will be presenting this award to the winner. I think we can all agree that these fellows of Middle Earth are two of the most iconic counselors in the history of fantasy! And Aslan was definitely a worthy first winner!

(Remember, Gandalf, Elrond, and Aslan are ineligible to receive this award.)

Now it is up to you to nominate who you think is the wisest counselor in fantasy! Nominations are open from today (July 3rd) until Friday, July 7th! Be sure to stop by each of the participating blogs this week to get those nominations in for every category. Happy nominating!