I finally finished all of the required reading and cast my ballot. Although I said I would post my choices here, I’ve decided not to do that on account of the ballot being of the ranked-preference sort as opposed to a single choice in each category. This was my first vote, so I was a little unclear on how it all worked, but a long list of preferences makes for a lousy post. Instead, I’ll just note a few general impressions:
1) The reading was eye-opening and I wound up voting for some things that weren’t previously on my radar. No matter how objective one tries to be, preconceptions are a real thing, but there were some outstanding entries in unexpected places this year (graphic novels, I’m looking at you. Ms. Marvel was a revelation to me.)
2) The Sasquan folks were quite friendly and helpful in getting me set up. I’m a newbie at this and getting from point A (interest in voting) to point Z (having the ballot up on my screen) was not without a little difficulty. The folks at Sasquan provided swift and accurate help when I needed it.
3) If you’re going to submit a slate and the entire slate wins nominations, please, for the love of all that is good and right, try to make sure there’s at least one worthy nominee in that slate. I dislike the tactic of slate nominations, but if there are good candidates on the slate, I won’t vote against them out of spite. Slate-nominating mediocre material, on the other hand, lies somewhere between trolling and vandalism. I had no problem listing “No Award” first in instances where there were no worthy candidates.
If you’ve never participated before, I cannot recommend it highly enough. The price of entry is a little steep, but the reading packet is more than worth the price.
-RK
