SFX announced the winners of the SFX Awards at the SFX Weekender 3 on February 4. The awards are a mix of reader voted awards and awards given by a jury. The Elisabeth Sladen Award is a new category which was added in memory of Elisabeth Sladen. It will be given for contributions to children’s sf/f in any media.
Reader-Voted Awards
- Best Film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
- Best Director: Matthew Vaughn for X-Men: First Class
- Best Comic: The Walking Dead
- Best Novel: A Dance with Dragons, by George R. R. Martin
- Best TV Show: Doctor Who
- Best New Show: Game of Thrones
- Best Actor: Matt Smith for Doctor Who
- Best Actress: Alex Kingston for Doctor Who
- Biggest Disappointment: No cameo for Stan Lee in X-Men: First Class
SFX Team Choice Awards
- Outstanding Literary Contribution: Brian W. Aldiss
- Screenwriting Excellence: Neil Gaiman for Doctor Who “The Doctor’s Wife”
- Breakout: Joe Gilgun for Misfits
- Living Legend: Brian Blessed
- Elisabeth Sladen Award: The Sarah Jane Adventures
- Lifetime Achievement: John Wagner & Carlos Ezquerra
- Hope for the Future: Dirk Gently
- Phenomenon: Merlin
For more information…
The Speculative Literature Foundation has announced that it is accepting applications for the 2012 Older Writers Grant. A grant of $750 is available to any writer of speculative literature older than 50 who is just beginning to work professionally in the field. Applications are due on March 31 with the winner announced on June 1.
For more information…
The winner of the first Galactica Suburbia Award, presented by the Galactica Suburbia podcast for activism and/ or communication that advances the feminist conversation in the field of speculative fiction has been announced. In addition to the winner, an honors list was also released.
Winner:
- Nicola Griffith for the Russ Pledge, and associated blogging
Honors List
- Carrie Goldman and her daughter Katie, for sharing their story about how Katie was bullied at school for liking Star Wars, and opening up a massive worldwide conversation about gender binaries and gender-related bullying among very young children.
- Cheryl Morgan for Female Invisibility Bingo, associated blogging, and podcasting, and basically fighting the good fight
- Helen Merrick, for the Feminism article on the SF Encyclopedia
- Jim C Hines for “Jane C Hines” and associated blogging, raising awareness of feminist issues in the SF/Fantasy publishing field.
- Julia Rios, Kirstyn McDermott, and Ian Mond for Episode 11 of the Outer Alliance podcast
- L. Timmel Duchamp for continuing to raise issues of importance on the Ambling Down the Aqueduct blog and various Aqueduct Press projects
- Michelle Lee for the blog post “A 7-year-old girl responds to DC Comics’ sexed-up reboot of Starfire”
For more information…
The Screen Actors Guild announced the winners of the annual SAG Awards on January 29. Genre works took three awards during the evening.
- Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series: Jessica Lange, American Horror Story.
- Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
- Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series: Game of Thrones
For more information…
The British Science Fiction Awards nominees have been announced. The awards will be presented at Eastercon in April.
Best Novel
- Cyber Circus, by Kim Lakin-Smith
- Embassytown, by China Miéville
- The Islanders, by Christopher Priest
- By Light Alone, by Adam Roberts
- Osama, by Lavie Tidhar
Best Short Fiction
- “The Silver Wind,” by Nina Allan
- “The Copenhagen Interpretation,” by Paul Cornell
- “Afterbirth,” by Kameron Hurley
- “Covehithe,” by China Miéville
- “Of Dawn,” by Al Robertson
Best Non-Fiction
- Out of This World: Science Fiction But Not as We Know It, by Mike Ashley
- The SF Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition, edited by John Clute, Peter Nicholls, & David Langford
- Review of Arslan, by M.J. Engh & Abigail Nussbaum
- SF Mistressworks, edited by Ian Sales
- Pornokitsch, edited by Jared Shurin & Anne Perry,
- The Unsilent Library: Essays on the Russell T. Davies Era of the New Doctor Who, by Graham Sleight, Tony Keen, & Simon Bradshaw
Best Art
- cover for The Noise Revealed, by Dominic Harman
- cover for A Monster Calls, by Jim Kay
- cover for Osama, by Pedro Marques
- cover for A Glass of Shadow, by Anne Sudworth
For more information…
Genevieve Valentine’s debut novel Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti has been announced as the winner of the William L. Crawford Award. The Crawford Award is presented annually for a new fantasy author whose first book appeared during the previous year. It is presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, which will be held this year from March 21-25 in Orlando, Florida.
For more information…
The nominees for this year’s Academy Awards have been announced and winners will be presented on February 26. The science fiction film Hugo received the most nominations, with 11 nods. Nine films were nominated in the Best Picture category. Categories with nominees of genre interest are listed below.
Best Picture
- The Artist
- The Descendants
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- The Help
- Hugo
- Midnight in Paris
- Moneyball
- The Tree of Life
- War Horse
Best Director
- Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris
- Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
- Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life
- Alexander Payne for The Descendants
- Martin Scorsese for Hugo
Animated Feature
- A Cat in Paris
- Chico & Rita
- Kung Fu Panda 2
- Puss in Boots
- Rango
Animated Short Film
- Dimanche/Sunday
- The Fantastic Flying Books o fMr. Morris Lessmore
- La Luna
- A Morning Stroll
- Wild Life
Writing, Adapted Screenplay
- The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
- Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan
- The Ides of March, Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
- Moneyball, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
Written, Original Screenplay
- The Artist, by Michael Hazanavicius
- Bridesmaids, by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
- Margin Call, by J.C. Chandor
- Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
- A Separation, by Asghar Farhadi
Art Direction
- The Artist, Laurence Bennett (Production Design) and Roubert Gould (Set Decoration)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Stuart Craig (Production Design) and Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
- Hugo, Dante Ferretti (Production Design), Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration)
- Midnight in Paris, Anne Siebel(Production Design) and Hélène Dubreuil (Set Decoration)
- War Horse, Rick Carter (Production Design) and Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)
Achievement in Cinematography
- The Artist, Guillaume Schiffman
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Jeff Cronenweth
- Hugo, Robert Richardson
- The Tree of Life, Emanuel Lubezki
- War Horse, Janusz Kaminski
Achievement in Costume Design
- Anonymous, Lisy Christl
- The Artist, Mark Bridges
- Hugo, Sandy Powell
- Jane Eyre, Michael O’Connor
- W.E., Arianne Phillips
Achievement in Film Editing
- The Artist, Anne-Sophie Bion & Michael Hazanavicius
- The Descendants, Kevin Tent
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall
- Hugo, Thelma Schoonmaker
- Moneyball, Christopher Tellefsen
Achievement in Makeup
- Albert Nobbs, Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston, and Matthew W. Mungle
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
- The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
- The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams
- The Artist, Ludovic Bource
- Hugo, Howard Shore
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias
- War Horse, John Williams
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
- “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
- “Real in Rio” from Rio, Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Achievement in Sound Editing
- Drive, Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
- The Girls with the Dragon Tattoo, Ren Klyce
- Hugo, Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
- War Horse, Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
Achievement in Sound Mixing
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, and Bo Persson
- Hugo, Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
- Moneyball, Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco, and Ed Novick
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush, and Peter J. Devlin
- War Horse, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, and Stuart Wilson
Achievement in Visual Effects
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler, and John Richardson
- Hugo, Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman, and Alex Henning
- Real Steel, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor, and Swen Gillberg
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, and Daniel Barrett
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler, and John Frazier
For more information…
Christopher Kastensmidt’s The Elephant and Macaw Banner and Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show have announced the winner of the Hydra Competition to find the best sf short story published in Brazil during 2009 and 2010. Brontops Baruq’s story “História com desenho e diálogo” was selected by Card and translated from Portuguese into English by Kastensmidt. It appears in the current issue of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show.
For more information…
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced the nominees for the Orange British Academy Film Awards. Categories with films of genre interest are listed below. The winners will be announced on February 12.
Animated Film
- The Adventures of Tintin
- Arthur Christmas
- Rango
Director
- Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
- Nicolas Winding Refn for Drive
- Martin Scorsese for Hugo
- Tomas Alfredson for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- Lynne Ramsay for We Need to Talk About Kevin
Original Screenplay
- Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
- Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig for Bridesmaids
- John Michael McDonagh for The Guard
- Abi Morgan for The Iron Lady
- Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris
Original Music
- Ludovic Bource for The Artist
- Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Howard Shore for Hugo
- Alberto Iglesias for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- John Williams for War Horse
For more information…
Pulpfest has renamed the Munsey Award. The Munsey, previously named for nineteenth century publisher Frank Munsey, has been presented for efforts and ongoing involvement in the improvement, elevation, and continuance of keeping the pulps alive and well. In the future, the Award will be known as the Rusty Hevelin Service Award, after the fan who helped found Pulpfest, and who died in December. The first Rusty Hevelin Service Award will be presented at this year’s Pulpfest in Columbus, Ohio on the weekend of August 9.
For more information…
