Hello Everyone!

Calling All Volunteers!

The 2006 Orion Awards need YOUR help! Now is the time for you to contribute to the phenomenon of the Orion Awards! There are so many different ways for you to do your part for these Awards...

Join the forums and participate in the discussions! This stimulates the activity of the forums, and creates a warm and welcoming community where AF fans can mingle. The forums include an AF discussion board, where TLC is thoroughly chewed over, a fanfiction feedback board, where one can post a link to their fic and request constructive criticism for it, and a general discussion board, where the topics range from school to favorite movies! The Orions would not be what they are today without the forum members to keep the place alive! So register, if you haven't yet, and post as much as you can if you're already a member!

Now, nominations! Nominating closes on January 14, which may seem like a long way off, but it's really quite near - so send your noms in now, or you'll be kicking yourself January 15. The Orion Awards could not function without fic nominations. The more people that nominate, the likelier it is that all of the great fics from the previous year will be recognized and praised! So nom your favorite fics, even if you are intimidated by some of the other nominations for that category. Don't let anything make you feel like your nom is inadequate; if you really like the fic, nom it. Even if it doesn't win, it may still make it onto the shortlist - and even the honor of simply being nommed can mean a lot to an author (I would know). How do you nominate fics, do you ask? Simple. If you are a member of the forums, you can nom right on the forums in the nominations board in the appropriate thread. Otherwise, you can fill out the main Orion Award website's nomination form for each of your noms. If neither the form nor the forum work, you can email us at orionawards@gmail.com, using this template to submit your nomination. For more information about the nomination process, visit the nomination FAQ page. For the Eligibility Rules, see here.

In addition to the judged Orion Awards, we host the popular vote People's Choice awards for a number of categories. The People's Choice (or PC) polls will be open from February 1 to February 28 for determining the shortlists, and from March 1 to March 31 for determining the winner for each category. The results of the polls to decide the winners will be announced on April 1. The PC polls can be found here, and anyone who is a member of the forums can vote. This year, the list of People's Choice categories has grown! The following categories will be offered as PCs:

People's Choice Best/Most Memorable Line
People's Choice Best Original Character
People's Choice Best Action/Adventure Fic
People's Choice Best Relationship Fic (includes Het and Slash)
People's Choice Best Drama/Angst Fic
People's Choice Best Humour Fic
People's Choice Best Overall Fic

You can go here if you want a description of each of these categories. You can start reading this year's nominations now, so that you'll be ready to vote when the time comes!

We're always on the lookout for new Judges, so if you're willing to put in the time and effort, you can help us go through the process of picking shortlists and winners! If you apply now, you can become a Judge Trainee (or JT, for short). JTs have the same responsibilities as full-fledged Judges - as in, they have to read all the fics for the categories they are assigned to judge in - and their comments on judged fics will be taken into account during shortlisting and picking winners, though perhaps more weight will go to the opinions of the more experienced Judges. However, if the JT proves him- or herself capable of critically examining fanfiction and meeting deadlines, a promotion to full Judge will soon follow! To apply to be a JT, you need to contact the Judge Coordinator, TheWhiteLily; she can be reached through the Orion Awards forums. Potential JTs must fill out a survey about their experience in the fandom, and then must judge a test fic. Then you can start judging! Judging is a fun, if exhausting, process - you'll have a grand time reading the awesome noms and then analyzing them with the other Judges and JTs! If you want to be a Judge, I recommend you sign up as soon as you can, because the 2006 Orion Awards are drawing near, and you'll need time to read the noms!

Another, much simpler way of helping out at the Orions would be to link to us on other sites or mention us to your fandom friends. This will increase people's awareness of our project, hence increasing the flow of traffic through our site and forum. If more fans know about the Orion Awards, more people will be exposed to quality writing, and more will strive to receive an Orion. Then, the average quality of writing in AF fanfiction will gradually improve; this is one of the fundamental goals of the Orion Awards, in addition to giving the due appreciation to the best of AF fanfiction.

Thank you for supporting the Orion Awards!