Contents

  1. Preamble
  2. Interpretation
  3. Categories of Awards
  4. Categories with a single nomination that is not able to be redistributed
  5. Nomination Process
  6. Final Ballot
  7. Ballot Papers
  8. Voting for the Awards
  9. Display of nominated works
  10. The Trophy
  11. Variations to these Rules
  12. Interpretation of these Rules

Schedule Of Categories

  1. Preamble to the Categories
  2. Categories of Award Available for Nomination
  3. Professional Categories
  4. Fan Categories
  5. Special Awards
  6. Specifications for the Special Awards

Rules

  1. Preamble
    The national science fiction and fantasy awards awarded by The Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand (SFFANZ) shall be called “The Sir Julius Vogel Awards” (Awards). The Awards shall be given annually to recognise excellence in science fiction and fantasy by New Zealanders and New Zealand residents.
    Awards may be given for original works released in the calendar year preceding the national convention. Awards may also be given for services in promoting science fiction, fantasy or horror (SF/F/H).
    SFFANZ is responsible for overseeing and running the awards.
  2. Interpretation
    For purposes of clarification the following definitions apply:
    1. Deadlocked vote is where two or more nominees have the same number of votes before the next iteration of the allocation of preferences.
    2. New Zealand citizen is as defined by the New Zealand government
    3. New Zealand content is for a project undertaken by a group of people, the majority of the technical work and creativity must have been accomplished by New Zealand citizens and/or residents.
    4. Original work is the first release of a work. For collections of works gathered under one title, at least fifty percent of the individual works must not have previously been TOGETHER in another collection. (Collection refers to anthologies, omnibuses and similar styles of work.)
    5. Released is released or published anywhere in the world in an edition dated in the calendar year immediately preceding the year the award is held
    6. Resident is someone who is entitled to live, study or work in New Zealand and who habitually resides in New Zealand, where habitually resides is treated as having lived in New Zealand for at least nine months of the calendar year for which that person or that person’s work has been nominated.
    7. Tied vote is where two or more nominees have the same number of votes after the allocation of preferences.
  3. Categories of Awards
    1. The categories of the Awards for nomination and the descriptions of those categories that may from time to time be awarded are listed in the schedule.
    2. After nominations are closed SFFANZ may decide the categories to be awarded by redistributing nominations. Such redistribution is to take into account the number of nominees for any category and whether the nominees in a category are of similar enough nature.
  4. Categories with a single nomination that is not able to be redistributed
    • Any category, with the exceptions of Best New Talent, Services to Fandom and Services to Science Fiction, that has a single nomination shall include on the ballot the option to carry forward the nomination to the following year. Where a nomination has already been carried forward for a year and is not able to be redistributed to another category, then that category shall be included in the final ballot.
  5. Nomination Process
    1. Eligibility for nomination – any New Zealand citizen or New Zealand resident may be nominated, subject to eligibility, but nominees may not be involved with counting the votes for their category.
    2. Eligible nominators – the nominator may be anyone who is a natural person or body corporate.
    3. Nominations – nominations may be submitted from December 1st in the year preceding the convention if the board of SFFANZ deem it to be appropriate (for example in the case of a convention taking place unusually early in the year). Otherwise nominations may be submitted from January 1st in the year of voting for the awards or up to 4 months before the national convention, whichever is the earlier, with the nomination period closing at least one month before the national convention.
    4. In any year when there is no national convention nominations shall open on 1 January and close at 8p.m. on 31 March.
    5. Nomination limits – the nominator may nominate any number of works in any category. However, the nominator may nominate any given work only once in a category. All nominations must include the name and contact details of the nominator. Where a nominated work does not meet the criteria for its nominated category, SFFANZ may move the nomination to the appropriate category; or where a work does not meet any criteria, refuse the nomination.
    6. It is expected that the nominator has read, viewed or otherwise consumed the nominated work and that the nominator considers it worthy of the award.
    7. Contact details – the nominator must include contact details for any nominees.
    8. Nominee to be contacted – nominees will be contacted and invited to accept the nomination. If a nominee declines nomination, the nomination will be withdrawn from contention.
    9. Once all initial administrative details have been completed, a long list of all the nominated works will be published. This will be followed by publication of the final ballot once the administrative details for producing this have been completed.
  6. Final Ballot
    1. Number of finalists – up to five nominees with the most nominations shall appear on the final ballot. In the event of a tie for fifth place, up to seven finalists may appear on the final ballot. In the event of a four-way tie (or more) for fifth place, only the top four finalists shall appear on the ballot.
    2. In the event of an extreme number of ties, SFFANZ will determine a method to bring the number of nominations down to seven or fewer. When breaking ties, preference will be given to nominations from SFFANZ members. If ties continue, a random ballot will be used to select final ballot entries.
    3. In the event that any one creator has multiple works on the final list in any one category, the board has the discretionary power to limit this number, based on precedent where possible.
    4. Order of finalists – the finalists shall appear in random order.
    5. No Award – the option of “No Award” shall appear last on the ballot for all categories.
    6. Carrying forward of nominations – the SFFANZ board may choose to include the option of “Carry forward” of nominations for any category in the ballot. Where that option is chosen it shall appear immediately above “No Award”. This option will not be presented if the category has already been carried over from the previous year.
  7. Ballot Papers
    1. SFFANZ will distribute ballot papers after deciding the categories to be awarded for that year.
    2. The ballot paper may be in multiple parts to allow voting by categories.
  8. Voting for the Awards
    1. Eligibility of Voters – all members of SFFANZ and all members of the National Science Fiction convention for the voting year are eligible to vote.
    2. Allowance shall be made for people who cannot physically attend the national convention or annual general meeting by supplying voting papers to them by mail, or other means deemed suitable.
    3. Preferential Voting – voting in each category shall take place according to a preferential system.
    4. The preferential voting system will require voters to rank the nominees in order of preference, with 1 indicating a first preference, 2 a second preference, and so on. “No Award” and “Carry forward” are treated as nominees for the purposes of voting.
    5. Tied winners – in the event of a tie for winner in any category, all tied works will be deemed to have won the award. In the event of a tie for winner between a nomination in any category and the option of “no award” or carrying the nominations forward the nomination shall be declared the winner. In the event of a tie between “no award” and carrying the nominations forward in any category “no award” shall be the winner.
    6. During the counting of ballots, SFFANZ has discretion to mediate deadlocks in the count of votes, should they occur. This means that if in intermediate stages of the counting process there is a tie, the counters and SFFANZ may decide an appropriate way to break the deadlock. This does NOT apply to the final result.
    7. Anonymous voting – the ballot for the Awards shall be secret with no disclosure of the voting intentions of individual voters. However, SFFANZ may require voters to identify themselves on the ballot papers for the purposes of identifying the bona fides of the vote to be cast.
  9. Display of nominated works
    • The nominees will be asked for display copies of the nominated work. These works will be displayed as widely as is reasonably possible before voting takes place. Display areas will include a website and display of items at the national convention. Duplicates of the nominated items will be requested so as to be able to have more than one display of the items.
  10. The Trophy
    • The Trophy – Sir Julius Vogel Award winners shall receive a trophy that is consistent from year to year. Sir Julius Vogel Awards given to a nominated work that involved multiple people will consist of only one trophy.
  11. Variations to these Rules
    • SFFANZ reserves the right to temporarily modify the awards rules for any given national convention or annual general meeting should circumstances require it. These modifications and reasons for them will be explained fully as soon as possible. Permanent modifications to the rules will only be carried out by a vote of SFFANZ members.
  12. Interpretation of these Rules
    • In the event of a dispute as to the interpretation of these rules the Committee of SFFANZ shall be the sole interpreter.

Schedule Of Categories

  1. Preamble to the Categories
    • Over the decades that awards such as this have existed, technology and the forms available for the presentation of work have changed substantially. It is the intent of these awards to recognise excellent work irrespective of the medium used. The nature of the work should still define its category. In the following categories, it is assumed that a given work is presented in a single medium, except where noted otherwise. As such, except in rare circumstances, a work will not be eligible for multiple categories and, if nominated for different categories, will be assigned to whichever is deemed most appropriate. We (SFFANZ) acknowledge that the lines between categories may not be clear-cut, and that in some cases we may need to make a judgement on the best category for a work, or on the eligibility of a work for nomination. This may involve consultation with the nominator and/or the nominee. Where a particular category is unclear, SFFANZ will use its best judgement in determining the most suitable category for a work. Example: A novel is a narrative of a certain length, traditionally printed on paper. For the purposes of categorisation, a novel in electronic or audio form is also eligible. If, however, the novel’s presentation is in a form more associated with an audio play, with voice actors, added sound effects, and music, it would be more appropriate to consider it a dramatic presentation.
  2. Categories of Award Available for Nomination
    • Not all of the following categories may be considered appropriate for any particular year, but they will be used when it is appropriate to do so. The categories below are not meant to stifle options. If a category can be usefully split, it will be considered. SFFANZ will also accept suggestions for other possible categories if voters believe there would be enough nominees for them. Initially, SFFANZ expects the categories to be compressed. Categories will not generally be split, nor new categories created, unless the resulting categories contain three or more nominees each
    • Professional Categories
      • Best Novel
      • Best Youth Novel
      • Best Novella or Novelette
      • Best Short Story
      • Best Collected Work
      • Best Artwork
      • Dramatic Presentation
      • Best Production/Publication
      • Best New Talent
    • Fan Categories
      • Best Fan Writing
      • Best Fan Artwork
      • Best Fan Production/Publication
    • Special Awards
      • Services to Fandom
      • Services to Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror
  3. Professional Categories
    1. Novel
      Novel is any single work of SF/F/H over 40,000 words in length.
    2. Youth Novel
      A Youth Novel is any single work of SF/F/H of any length or word count, published as a self-contained work rather than in a collection, and specifically written for young adults or children.
    3. Novella or Novelette
      A Novella or Novelette is any single work of SF/F/H between 7,500 and 40,000 words (inclusive) in length.
    4. Short Story
      A Short Story is any single work of SF/F/H under 7,500 words in length.
    5. Collected Work
      A collected work is a SF/F/H collection or anthology, magazine or journal, e-zine or webzine which must pay contributors in other than contributor copies and incidentals, or is sponsored by an institution other than a fan club, or whose editors declare themselves to be professional. At least one edition of a collected work must have been issued in the eligible calendar year. To be eligible, the work must contain not less than two genre-related contributions. An omnibus (defined as a collection of novels) is eligible where 50 percent or more of the individual works it contains have not previously been on the SJV ballot.
    6. Artwork
      An artwork is an original single work, or series of original related works of art in any medium other than prose/paragraph text. Prose / paragraph text may be included but should not be the primary medium. Where stock, Artificial Intelligence originated or existing artwork is incorporated, it must be transformative so as to constitute a new, original artwork.
    7. Dramatic Presentation
      A dramatic presentation is a general release of a film, episode or series as a whole.
      A dramatic presentation includes, but is not necessarily limited to a film, stage play radio show and/or play, TV show and internet transmission.
      Where the performance is released as a series which tells a continuous story, the whole series or some subset such as an individual episode or multipart episode may be considered to be a single unit for nomination purposes.
      If both individual episodes of a series and the series as a whole are nominated then whichever of these receives the most nominations will appear on the final ballot. In other words, a series cannot appear on the ballot as both a series and as individual episodes. However several individual episodes may appear separately if they receive individual nominations.
      A general release is where the work is generally available to the public. This includes, but isn’t limited to, theatrical, web, DVD/Bluray/Video. Works nominated on the basis of only a festival release may be accepted for nomination in the year of the festival at the discretion of the nominees on the understanding that if the nomination goes forward a later general release will not be eligible for nomination. Thus a work may be nominated as either a festival release or a general release but not both.
    8. Production/Publication
      Professional production/publication is for work in any medium other than those eligible for other categories. The work must be first released or made available for public viewing in the eligible calendar year. The producer of the work must have received payment or have intended to have received payment for the work produced. Eligible works include but are not limited to: comic strips, advertising copy (moving or still), media presentations not specifically intended to be dramatic presentations, art, periodical, journal, e-zine, webzine, computer application, or website.
    9. Best New Talent
      Best new talent recognises excellence in new talent in any professional field within science fiction, fantasy, or horror.
      The nomination is for the nominee’s total body of professional work to the end of the eligible year.
      A nominee may be nominated in any other category concurrent with the best new or emerging talent award.
      A nominee is eligible for nomination in any of their first four years as a professional in any genre, starting with the calendar year of their first public release.
      Where the start of a professional career is unclear, SFFANZ will use its best judgement in determining its most likely starting point, in consultation with the nominee.
      If the nominee fails to win the award on their first nomination, they may be nominated one further time, so long as that second nomination is still within their first four years as a professional. No previous winner of this award may be nominated again, and no nominee may be nominated in more than two years.
  4. Fan Categories
    1. Fan categories primarily cover work for which the producers receive no payment other than contributor copies and other incidentals e.g. coffee mug, t-shirt, poster. Where revenue is received for work, the intent must be for this income only to cover the costs of production and distribution. In cases where it is unclear whether a work is a professional or fan work, SFFANZ will use its best judgement in consultation with the nominee and nominator.
    2. Fan Writing
      Fan Writing recognises an individual for a work or body of work first released or made available for public viewing in the eligible calendar year. The work may be fiction or non-fiction.
    3. Fan Artwork
      Fan Artwork recognises an individual for a work or body of work first released or made available for public viewing in the eligible calendar year.
    4. Fan Production/Publication
      Fan production/publication is for work in any medium other than those eligible for other categories. The work must be first released or made available for public viewing in the eligible calendar year. Eligible works include but are not limited to: comic strips, art, video, film, periodical, theatrical, journal, e-zine, webzine, computer application, or website.
      Nominations may be for one or more releases of the same work (e.g., issues of a fanzine). Where multiple nominations stress different releases of the same work these may be grouped together as one nomination if that is deemed appropriate.
      Substantial evidence of actual editorial work must be present – a simple collation of items, such as in a blog or an infrequently-updated website, would not normally qualify for nomination in this category. Typical works would include fanzines, podcasts, fan fiction anthologies, and regularly updated web zines.
  5. Special Awards
    1. Services to Fandom
      Services to fandom recognises significant achievement by an individual or group that has benefited New Zealand fandom, or significant achievement by New Zealanders that has benefited fandom overseas. Specifications for this category are listed below.
    2. Services to Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror
      Services to science fiction, fantasy or horror recognises significant achievement by an individual or group that has encouraged science fiction, fantasy or horror as genres within New Zealand, or significant achievement by New Zealanders that has encouraged one of these genres overseas. Specifications for this category are listed below.
  6. Specifications for the Services Categories
    • Typically the award is for cumulative service over several years, though a significant one-off service in a single year may also be eligible.
    • Nominees are not required to be New Zealand citizens or New Zealand residents.
    • The award may be presented in conjunction with other awards if appropriate, but a nomination must not solely cover work which would be wholly covered by another category.
    • The nominator must supply a written precis of approximately 100-500 words containing the reasons for their nomination. These precis will be made available to voters. If a nominee receives more than one nomination, precis will be grouped together. The nominee may be contacted and asked if they wish to add anything to the precis.
    • Individuals and groups are treated as distinct entities for the purposes of this award. That is, someone winning the award as part of a group remains eligible for nomination for other work they have done as an individual, and vice versa.
    • Previous individual winners may not be nominated for the same type of work within five years of winning an award. Previous group winners may be nominated for the same type of work within five years of winning an award, but only if there has been a significant turnover of membership of that group. In these instances, eligibility for repeat nomination will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
    • Previous winners may not be nominated again for the same work covering the same time period. If multiple nominations stress different time periods, the longest time period will be used to determine future eligibility.
    • If a named nominee in a Services category has been a previous winner (or is a group containing a previous winner), either individually or as part of a group, details of their previous win(s) will be recorded in the text of their nomination.