Can you believe it? It’s time to start working on your nomination lists for The 2021 Swoon Awards!!!
The 2020 Swoon awards had over 13,000 nominations. Wow, talk about the love for romance!
We want to thank everyone who took the time to nominate one or maybe 20 books (lol). During the nomination period, we were floored by the diversity of nominations which made the semi-finalists round really competitive. You can check out the full list of 2020 Swoon Award Winners.
Let’s Recap, Shall We!
The outpouring of support we received last year really inspired The Swoonies during the 2021 planning. We reviewed your feedback and have made a few changes:
- We updated the rules to clarify what books can be nominated;
- We also added a statement on diversity; and
- Finally, we have a system in place to vet nominations. Readers will have an opportunity to submit concerns about a nominated book that made it to the semi-finals round.
Administrative Updates and a Request
The Swoon Awards website is fully self-hosted. Yay!!! The migration happened over the summer and was a huge undertaking. The Swoonies team felt it was a necessary move to better support the growth of the awards.
As you know, The Swoon Awards is a volunteer-run operation and as the award grows, our cost grows too.
We are currently crowd-sourcing $300 for the 2021 cycle. This financial goal will cover the cost of hosting the website, forms, and images. If you have the means, please consider donating to our Kofi.
For the sake of transparency, here is the costs breakdown:
- Website hosting + domain renewal – $160/year
- Voting forms (Cognito forms) – $35/month (required for 2021 awards: $105/3 months)
- Graphics – $50
So when do The 2021 Swoon Awards officially begin?
The nomination period will begin on:
November 15th at 12 P.M EST
We ask that you familiarize yourself with the category definitions and that you follow the rules during the nominating process. We will be vetting books and removing books that do not meet the criteria.
You can find the full timeline for each of the voting rounds here.
In just a few more days, we will begin this cycle and we want to thank YOU for coming along on this journey.
Get your lists ready and be sure to reach out to us with any questions!
