As I mentioned in my last post, I have some issues with the LIW Awards. My first issue is that it’s a popularity contest. There are shows with plenty of fans that only watch that one show and will vote for it in every category. This seems to be what happened last year, when Nothing Much To Do swept the awards. Don’t get me wrong, I loved NMTD, and was glad to see it praised, but the amount of awards it won (I think it was 8/10 categories) was a bit ridiculous.
I’m not sure how to adjust for this. My thought is to limit who can vote the second time through. Right now, everyone nominates who they want, and the most common choices get voted between in a second vote. I would say limit nominations from any one show to one per category, but before they can vote, they have to check off all the shows they’ve seen. Seen could be defined as only in it’s entirety or at least in part, I’m not sure which is more fair. From there, you could be ineligible to vote if you haven’t seen over a certain percent of the shows (60% perhaps?). Better yet, you could make it so they can only vote in categories that they’ve seen 3 or more of the shows in (assuming there are 4 or 5 nominees in each category). I think this is fair because it eliminates those who only watch one or two shows, but still takes popularity into consideration. However, this could seem exclusionary.
Secondly, the awards themselves do not reflect the community. It follows the standard awards show format, but our community puts value on nontraditional aspects. Why not have an award for the most organic-feeling show, or the most LGBTQIA+ inclusive show, or the most racially/ethnically diverse show? Why not give an award to the show that used the most creative fundraising techniques? The show that did it best on no budget at all? The possibilities are endless. Last summer, my best friend, Claire, and I made this video, where we discussed these issues in more dept.
Now, I know why it was kept so limited. There is a grand total of ONE PERSON running the LIW Awards. More than 10 categories is too much to ask of one person. So why not ask a friend to help? An unbelievable number of people would be willing to, as evidenced by the outpouring of support and help offered anyone asks for help on a webseries or webseries-related project. Or we could have another set of awards run by someone else that reflects these values. I don't know how well this would go over in the fandom, considering that the Literary Inspired Webseries Care Center (formerly the LBD Care Center) runs the current award and has a huge following. It may feel like infringing on their territory.
Bringing back the topic of fundraising, is it really fair to put shows that can afford to pay their actors up against shows that are just made in the free time of a group of friends? I’m not super sure about this. On one hand, it makes shows with no funding all the more impressive when they’re comparable, but the shows that can afford proper lighting and sound equipment etc. will always have the upper hand.
What do you think? Remember, voting for these awards closes tomorrow, so if you want to vote, do it now. My suggestions are in my last post.
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