Ted Meta: Runner-Up in Wicked Awards or, how I stopped worrying and learned to love self-nomination*
My "Ted" meta entry for this year's Big Damn Lovefest took pride of place as Runner-up in Round 10 of the Wicked Awards Best Essay/Meta catagory Not Fade Away, along with "Dean Winchester, An Analysis (c. Season 8)" by witchiam. The winner in the category? kwritten's meta masterpiece series Dawn Summers: Fighting for an Alternative Feminist Narrative.
ETA: Judges' Choice selections and banners by angelus2hot can be seen hereCan I say that again, pretty please? 'cause this bears repeating and I may never get to say it again: My meta was second to kwritten 's Dawn Summers meta series. In this context I get to mention mine and her's in the same damn breath, and there were other excellent entries that could have been chosen. That is damn fine company to be in. Thank you to the judges for the honor and thank you angelus2hot the lovely banner (Buffy in Tabula Rasa - do you know me or something? This is a prize in itself.) And congratulations to ALL of the other winners and nominees!
Behold the pretty banner! by angelus2hot
[I have feelings about this]When I say I didn't expect this, btw, it's no bull. I knew the Dawn Summers meta series was going to be a winner when I read it back in April, but someone nominated it for this round before I could. I nominated myself simply because I'm proud of my "Ted" meta and I want it to be read. It's one of the best things I've posted here, perhaps one of the better things I've ever written. BtVS appeals to me emotionally, intellectually, and aesthetically; I think all these aspects are woven into the fabric of that essay. Read it together with my Buffy and Tara meta, and between the two you have a pretty good idea of not only how I approach the series, but who I am as a person. (Granted, that's a lot of weight to pile upon a poor little essay!)
But for the sake of karma and conscience I made sure to nominate a ton of fics, videos, artwork and other meta; lest The Powers that Suck decide to strike me down for my hubris or something like that. I had meant to put up a post encouraging other folks to nominate metas but real life i.e. a wee little apartment fire kind of got in the way. Priorities and all that jazz. (Maybe the TPTS were telling me something after all?)
In the past I've suffered from the belief that it's "not the same" to nominate myself as if someone else does; but I think I'm over that mindset. The nominated pieces were judged on their own merit regardless of who nominated them. (Last year someone else kindly nominated my "Dopplegangers: Xander" meta; I was flattered but I think it's a subpar work. It didn't place and it didn't deserve to.)
This award is not how I learned to love self-nomination, however, although it's a lovely reward and confirmation that it's ok to self-nominate. What really shifted my mindset on this was my first (and probably only) entry in the btvs_hush icon challenge #257. I started to write a post to encourage folks to vote in it when it occurred to me: What's the difference between self-nomination and self-pimpage?
Answer? Nothing. Or at least not a whole lot that I can see. We want our work to be seen, read, appreciated; we don't get money for all our time and efforts so recognition comes in the form of awards, reviews and replies, page views, works by other people we inspire with our prompts, gifts from fandom friends, etc.
Every single day I am coming across a new story, meta or fanvid off someone else's recommendation. Awards nomination lists introduce me to entire worlds within this fandom I never knew existed. Every week I make new friends in this fandom thanks to someone else's links, and my participation in fandom gets a little richer with each interaction.
So self-nominate by all means, and don't be shy about it. (I can decide what's good and what's crap for myself, trust.)
*With apologies to Mr Kubrick for the theft of his title...but while we're on the subject, if you haven't seen Dr Strangelove, or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb yet, you owe to yourself to do so. Forget 2001: A Space Odyssey - sure it's "big" and "important" (a.k.a. frequently incomprehensible and pretentious); and it's a wet dream of film majors everywhere (and what the hell was it about, again?). For my money, Dr Strangelove is the true masterpiece, a blacker-than-pitch comedy about geopolitics and the little men with their fingers on the button that is still relevant, still as funny and as frightening as hell.
ETA: Judges' Choice selections and banners by angelus2hot can be seen hereCan I say that again, pretty please? 'cause this bears repeating and I may never get to say it again: My meta was second to kwritten 's Dawn Summers meta series. In this context I get to mention mine and her's in the same damn breath, and there were other excellent entries that could have been chosen. That is damn fine company to be in. Thank you to the judges for the honor and thank you angelus2hot the lovely banner (Buffy in Tabula Rasa - do you know me or something? This is a prize in itself.) And congratulations to ALL of the other winners and nominees!
Behold the pretty banner! by angelus2hot
[I have feelings about this]When I say I didn't expect this, btw, it's no bull. I knew the Dawn Summers meta series was going to be a winner when I read it back in April, but someone nominated it for this round before I could. I nominated myself simply because I'm proud of my "Ted" meta and I want it to be read. It's one of the best things I've posted here, perhaps one of the better things I've ever written. BtVS appeals to me emotionally, intellectually, and aesthetically; I think all these aspects are woven into the fabric of that essay. Read it together with my Buffy and Tara meta, and between the two you have a pretty good idea of not only how I approach the series, but who I am as a person. (Granted, that's a lot of weight to pile upon a poor little essay!)
But for the sake of karma and conscience I made sure to nominate a ton of fics, videos, artwork and other meta; lest The Powers that Suck decide to strike me down for my hubris or something like that. I had meant to put up a post encouraging other folks to nominate metas but real life i.e. a wee little apartment fire kind of got in the way. Priorities and all that jazz. (Maybe the TPTS were telling me something after all?)
In the past I've suffered from the belief that it's "not the same" to nominate myself as if someone else does; but I think I'm over that mindset. The nominated pieces were judged on their own merit regardless of who nominated them. (Last year someone else kindly nominated my "Dopplegangers: Xander" meta; I was flattered but I think it's a subpar work. It didn't place and it didn't deserve to.)
This award is not how I learned to love self-nomination, however, although it's a lovely reward and confirmation that it's ok to self-nominate. What really shifted my mindset on this was my first (and probably only) entry in the btvs_hush icon challenge #257. I started to write a post to encourage folks to vote in it when it occurred to me: What's the difference between self-nomination and self-pimpage?
Answer? Nothing. Or at least not a whole lot that I can see. We want our work to be seen, read, appreciated; we don't get money for all our time and efforts so recognition comes in the form of awards, reviews and replies, page views, works by other people we inspire with our prompts, gifts from fandom friends, etc.
Every single day I am coming across a new story, meta or fanvid off someone else's recommendation. Awards nomination lists introduce me to entire worlds within this fandom I never knew existed. Every week I make new friends in this fandom thanks to someone else's links, and my participation in fandom gets a little richer with each interaction.
So self-nominate by all means, and don't be shy about it. (I can decide what's good and what's crap for myself, trust.)
*With apologies to Mr Kubrick for the theft of his title...but while we're on the subject, if you haven't seen Dr Strangelove, or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb yet, you owe to yourself to do so. Forget 2001: A Space Odyssey - sure it's "big" and "important" (a.k.a. frequently incomprehensible and pretentious); and it's a wet dream of film majors everywhere (and what the hell was it about, again?). For my money, Dr Strangelove is the true masterpiece, a blacker-than-pitch comedy about geopolitics and the little men with their fingers on the button that is still relevant, still as funny and as frightening as hell.