AwardWeb: Collections of Literary Award Information [online
resource] Available at: http://dpsinfo.com/awardweb/index.html
Rating: ooo
Reference type: Index/Abstract
Authority: This site is maintained by Laurie D. T. Mann. While no information about her specifically was to be found, the web site did have some very telling clues about her authority. First, the site won the Event Horizon E-Blast Sci-Fi Site of the Week award from The Sci-fi Channel. Second, Mann maintains about 300 other web sites, which suggests that she does so professionally. Third, the apparent completeness of her site lends it a "feel" of authority. Also, she gives credit to people who have contributed to the site, which means that she sites her references. Finally, the site has been in operation since 1994 with regular updates all along. This suggests that real research is going into the work to keep it current and accurate.
Audience Relation: Most writers read books with an eye for quality so that they may continue to develop their own skills. Thus, a site of award-winning books is a great place to find examples of high quality work as well as get a feel for what is being favorably received in the writing community.
Scope: This web site is very complete. All of the major and minor science fiction awards are listed, including many of the more obscure awards. One feature that would probably not be included in a print version is a list of online only awards from other web sites. Additionally, Mann provides links to a few mystery writing awards as well as some of the more major mainstream literary awards.
Content Evaluation: The front page of this site is quite large and should have been condensed. Instead of listing each of the awards on the front page, Mann should have listed all the categories with links to the complete list. To her credit, she does have "quick links" at the top of the awards list which provides the user with a link to the official pages of many of the major awards. Also, she does work from a fairly fast server and does not use many graphics, so the user does not have an incredibly long wait for the page to download completely.
The range of information at this site is quite extensive. Where possible, Mann links to the official web page for each award. However, she has created original content as well. For example, she compiled a very useful table on authors who have won multiple awards such as a Hugo, a Nebula and a Locus.
This web site is a great place to form a broad picture as to who is considered a great science fiction author. It is also useful for learning how the awards are given and who is responsible for awarding them. This could be used as sort of a "wish list" for aspiring authors, and may even provide avenues for submission to awards committees depending on the nomination procedures.
Availability:
http://dpsinfo.com/awardweb/index.html
