Awardsmanship

Ah, yes, the time has come for another spout of fanfiction awards, one much like the great Hanfic Awards from last January. This time though, these awards are known as the "Really Big Hanson Fanfiction Awards 99". Really big, indeed... Big travesty, that is.

It's times like these that I truly question the minds of those reading fanfiction, and even those writing the stories themselves. Sure, some of the stories deserved their nominations, but for the most part, the awards are purely teenie-infested, filled to the brim with stories by authors who more than likely campaigned for their stories to end up on the final panel. It's purely disgusting, and the main reason I boycotted the entire awards myself, for it's all become a popularity contest and has no real literary merit whatsoever.

Am I being too harsh? Hecksie no. Any awards in support of hanfiction which fails to highlight the utterly brilliant "Now Tell Us What You Heard" by the equally brilliant Jessica Rose as Best Short Story doesn't even deserve to be on the internet. The story is beyond fanfiction; it's real, and it's breathtaking. It's called literature... Something most Hanson fanfiction readers seem to not be able to recognize, apparently. I'm not blaming the people running the awards, they've obviously put a lot of work into it, and I applaud their effort, but the fact of the matter is, if you have nothing but people who enjoy reading trashy porn voting on the nominees, you're going to end up with some absolutely dreadful results.

Another huge gripe of mine? The category of "Best Airhead", in which the delightful Lexie from Kayla's magnificent "Perspective" was a nominee. I'm sorry, but that's a complete insult to Kayla and her writing, for her characters have always been some of the most brilliant among Hanson fiction. I've never denied being a huge fan of Kayla's stories, and if the so-called freaks who nominated Taylor from INAP as Best Taylor chose the brilliant Lexie as "Best Airhead", I feel ashamed to be writing for a possible audience which includes these horny teenaged girls. It's an utter travesty, and I stand by my word.

Yet ANOTHER gripe... "Best Funny Story" (which, any educated person would realize would normally be reffered to as a COMEDY) fails to showcase "Tulsa 74132". Sure, they're not updating anymore, but it's still by FAR the funniest creation on the internet, and to get shunned in such a way to stories with absolutely no substance whatsoever such as the awful "Dazed, Confused, and Horny" or whatever it's called is an insult to the entire genre known as Hanson fanfiction.

My last gripe before completely shutting up is... couldn't they even get the title of Nick's story correct? It's not "Zac Says Taylor Still Wets The Bed", it's "Zac Says Tay Still Wets The Bed". Trivial, I know, but it just annoyed me. For a story to actually be nominated that deserves it, and thus isn't even spelled correctly, the little things bother me all that much more.

For those who are writing fanfiction for simply the joy of the process and the love of writing, please continue to write, and don't bother with such dreadful displays of "awardsmanship". As I already mentioned... Merely a popularity contest.