I’ve received enough replies to postings and e-mails that I felt confident in setting up a small web site regarding my LARP award idea that I want to share with you, my fellow LARPers. If you’re interested in this project please drop by that web site. There is more information there and ways that you can voice your opinion and participate in the creation of these awards.
http://www.free2w.com/larpawards/
Welcome to the boards, Amber! Sounds like a good idea, we have some original LARPs I think we’d be willing to enter. I certainly don’t oppose it. It seems a bit nebulous at the moment though - I say go ahead and make some rules! You should put up the judging criteria, the judging panel, the prize details, and give an idea of your current reach. I’m not sure having a separate discussion board is a good idea either, you might have better success by moving around all the existing ones (eg. PAGGA, Shades) and holding discussions there.
Part of my idea surrounding this award is to have the community help decide what the categories will be, what the judging criteria will be, and how things should be run. I look at my job/part in this to “herd cats.” In short make sure the project moves forward and that as deadlines are set, they are met. There are some discussion forums set up to discuss various elements of awards.
I just found those. I’m gonna go right ahead and hold the discussion here, though 
Here’s the opening post in Amber’s forums:
[quote]If that’s the case you’ve come to the right place to discuss that.
Feel free to post ideas, debate categories, and what not. All I ask
is that you remain civil and don’t start flame wars.
To start out I’ve come up with this list of questions that can be
used to help create the foundation of the LARP awards:
If there was an award given out by the LARP community to members
(both groups and individuals depending on category) of the community
what would you want? (NOTE: This is not restricted to just boffer
LARPs or just theater-style LARPs, this is for the ENTIRE LARP
community.)
What categories would there be? What would be method of submission
for the entries (a write-up, photos, video clip, audio
clip,combination of any of those)? What would be the judging
criteria for
each category (i.e. what will the entries be judged on)? How will
the judging be done?
How would judges be selected? How many judges would there be? What
criteria must a potential judge meet to be considered as a judge?
How many submissions can each group or chapter (if the LARP is a
part of a larger organization like NERO) submit? Is that number of
submissions the total over all or per category? What restrictions
will there be regarding entries (USA and Canada only or worldwide)?
Would there be an award given out to the winners of each category?
Would each category have only a single winner, would there be the
winner and a runner up, or would there be a 1st place, 2nd place and
3rd place winner per category?
How often would this awards competition take place? How would it
be hosted? Who would host it?
What would this award/award program be named?[/quote]
Those forums already have some good feedback from our very own Ryan Paddy and Derek Tomes! I also found this on the livejournal community:
I would tend to agree at this stage - decide on either USA or worldwide. I get the impression LARPs in the USA are quite different to the rest of the world. For example, we would shudder to put Mordavia in the genre of “Boffer” … and we recently ran a terrorist LARP… and a caveman LARP…
Here’s some feedback on the categories you have suggested:
[quote]Best Costuming, Female (based solely off the costume)
Best Costuming, Male (based solely off the costume)
Best Male PC (make-up, costume, overall appearance)
Best Female PC (make-up, costume, overall appearance)
Best Male NPC (make-up, costume, overall appearance)
Best Female NPC (make-up, costume, overall appearance)
Best Art/Scenery Direction (Set or Prop)
Best Sequence (Action / Dramatic)
Best Entity (Makeup, costume, and any other means used to represent a character’s body)
Best Group (Ensemble of characters judged on their overall appearance)
Best Scene (A scene involving characters. Judged on overall impact of scene.)
Best Prop (Item or set of related items that is not a costume or entity.)
Best Set Dressing (Augmentation of an environment to create a set.)
Best review of a larp event published online
Best larp article (not review) published online
Best video trailer promoting a larp (entries under 5MB).
Best world media article about larp
Best larp rulebook published online
[/quote]
Also, set a date. It doesn’t really matter when. I suggest entried close June 24 and winners are announced July 15. I pulled these dates out of nowhere 
I disagree. There is just as much variety in larp in the USA as this is around the world. Some styles do dominate, but alternatives exist. So exactly the same difficulties will be encountered. Vampire larps, Rules to Live By, and boffer larps are all extremely different and all found in the USA, as are larps with no rules.
This question is the only thing that puts me off this attempt at a new award. I can’t understand the reasoning behind it, and it bothers me. If the purpose of the awards is to bring the larp community together, why start out by dividing it into us and them?
I have no problem with Mordavia being described as a boffer larp. It is a boffer larp. The word sounds stupid to me, and is only used in the USA, but all it means is “larp weapon”. I prefer the term “live combat” as less USA-specific terminology, but in the end it’s just a word.
I’m one LARPer out of thousands and felt it best to consult my peers before making such a decision. One of the mistakes that Mr. Valenti made in regards to the LARPies was that he and his company created the LARPies (which were supposed to be for the whole, worldwide LARP community) without seeking input from the LARP community until they wanted nominations. This really seemed to irritate many groups.
In the wake of the LARPies and the feelings surrounding them I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t coming across as being too heavy handed and “this is the way it’s going to be.” I’m sorry if it came across that way or that it sounded as if I was trying to split it into two groups: us and them. It was never my intention. I merely wished to avoid the mistake of making decisions and then being accused of not seeking feedback and input from my peers in the development of something that should be for the LARP community, by the LARP community.
As for my decision to ask my fellow LARPers (both those who live on the North American continent as well as those in Europe, Austrailia, New Zealand, and elsewhere) what their thoughts are, I stand by it. Does the LARP community outside of North America want to be involved with this? If you do I welcome you input, feedback, and participation. For those that have done so, thank you.
Yep, I’d want to be involved.
I enjoyed the Shadies, and as there’s no sign of them happening again soon I’d like to see something else take their place.
I believe that an international competition would fulfil your goals of bringing the whole community together the best.
The person on the livejournal who suggested that you keep it within USA/Canada seemed to be implying that European larp would so overshadow yours in terms of quality that it would be an unfair competition. Are you going to stand for that? No, I thought not.
I’d be happy to post on-going hot topics of discussion here (and on other popular boards) for your and other LARPers input if that would be easier.
[quote=“Exquire”]Here’s some feedback on the categories you have suggested:
[quote]Best Costuming, Female (based solely off the costume)
Best Costuming, Male (based solely off the costume)
Best Male PC (make-up, costume, overall appearance)
Best Female PC (make-up, costume, overall appearance)
Best Male NPC (make-up, costume, overall appearance)
Best Female NPC (make-up, costume, overall appearance)
Best Art/Scenery Direction (Set or Prop)
Best Sequence (Action / Dramatic)
Best Entity (Makeup, costume, and any other means used to represent a character’s body)
Best Group (Ensemble of characters judged on their overall appearance)
Best Scene (A scene involving characters. Judged on overall impact of scene.)
Best Prop (Item or set of related items that is not a costume or entity.)
Best Set Dressing (Augmentation of an environment to create a set.)
Best review of a larp event published online
Best larp article (not review) published online
Best video trailer promoting a larp (entries under 5MB).
Best world media article about larp
Best larp rulebook published online[/quote][/quote]
Thanks for the feedback. I’ve replied to each concern below:
Thanks for this insight. In light of making the categories as cross-genre/form compatible as possible perhaps it is best to drop the NPC/PC deliniator.
There are some categories that do divide this out. Perhaps it is a good idea to have the two as separate categories and not one. I’ve removed the category that included both.
See my reply to best scene. I think that sums things up the best.
What criteria would be used to judge the best online thread? What would be the puropose of including this?
After hearing feedback from several people that it’s hard to capture all the elements (thoughts, feelings, emotions, sounds, lighting, background happenings, and etc) I agree that as of right now this would be too hard or unfair to include.
Thanks, not my word, just reposting ideas from other discussions.
I’m hesitant to remove this one as some groups (and slow more are creating videos) do create promotional videos for their games/organizations. Should this be changed to best LARP video or would that turn into best scene and become a problem category?
I think that’s in regards to news stories, magazine articles, and etc. written about LARPing or a LARP group. The more I look at this one the more I feel it would be hard to assign fair judging criteria for it. Anybody have any ideas on this one?
Agreed, and so I’ve changed the category. I have a feeling this was the initial intent anyhow. Judge based on appearance and ease of use/readability and not on the rules.
What constitues a best small LARP or best big LARP? What criteria would they be judged on?
Below would be the modified cagetory list:
Best Costuming, Female (based solely off the costume)
Best Costuming, Male (based solely off the costume)
Best Male (makeup, costume, overall appearance)
Best Female (makeup, costume, overall appearance)
Best Entity (Makeup, costume, and any other means used to represent a character’s body)
Best Group (Ensemble of characters judged on their overall appearance)
Best Prop (Item or set of related items that is not a costume or entity.)
Best Set Dressing/Best Set (Augmentation of an environment to create a set.)
Best review of a larp event published online
Best larp article (not review) published online
Best video trailer promoting a larp (entries under 5MB).
Best media article about larp
Most attractive looking rulebook available online
I’m working to set up a list of deadlines. They’ll be announced soon.
Can we have a “Best Cleavage” category this year please?
I think it would be popular andthis way we can remove all the scantily clad females from the “Best female PC/NPC” category and actually get a best female that’s wearing a costume.
Derek. 
After hearing feedback from several people that it’s hard to capture all the elements (thoughts, feelings, emotions, sounds, lighting, background happenings, and etc) I agree that as of right now this would be too hard or unfair to include.[/quote]
I disagree. A scene is just judged visually, it’s a catch-all category for photos of “stuff happening”. One character confronting another, two armies clashing on a battlefield (see one of the winners of Shadies), a character carrying their dead comrade through town, etc. It makes more sense if you think of it as “best photo of a scene”. That didn’t need to be stated in the Shadies, because they were all photo awards.
I agree on action sequence though, it’s not really likely that you’ll capture a sequence and it’s unduly biased towards larps that have “action” in the sense of physical violence. It was in the original Shadies, and I suggested it be replaced with the more generic “Best Scene” that would be inclusive of all larp types.
Thanks, my word. The concept was to separate the “creature” from its “costume” in terms of judging. And entity is much wider than creature, it can include robots, maybe even a character that just appears on screen.
It came from my suggestions for the next Shadies catagories: larplist.com/modules.php?nam … opic&t=468
…but it might be worth encouraging those who are. I see this as an emerging field.
After hearing feedback from several people that it’s hard to capture all the elements (thoughts, feelings, emotions, sounds, lighting, background happenings, and etc) I agree that as of right now this would be too hard or unfair to include.[/quote]
I disagree. A scene is just judged visually, it’s a catch-all category for photos of “stuff happening”. One character confronting another, two armies clashing on a battlefield (see one of the winners of Shadies), a character carrying their dead comrade through town, etc. It makes more sense if you think of it as “best photo of a scene”. That didn’t need to be stated in the Shadies, because they were all photo awards.
I agree on action sequence though, it’s not really likely that you’ll capture a sequence and it’s unduly biased towards larps that have “action” in the sense of physical violence. It was in the original Shadies, and I suggested it be replaced with the more generic “Best Scene” that would be inclusive of all larp types. [/quote]
I could see this as a category if it was labeled as “Best photo of a scene.” That I think is a good idea. Best action sequence I can see being a problem and best not including. As you mentioned, having action in it would remove several potential LARPs from nomination. The goal is to be inclusive and not exclusive.
For those that are interested the site I’ve created for the LARP awards project I’m spearheading has been updated.
http://www.free2w.com/larpawards/
I see you’ve got some banners available here, and I think Diatribe would probably be happy to put a banner into rotation seeing as it’s a community project.
But the banner sizes are wrong for us. Could you do a 468 x 60 pixel banner like the ones above? Under 20kb please. I think that size is an industry standard so others may find it useful too.
[quote=“Ryan Paddy”]I see you’ve got some banners available here, and I think Diatribe would probably be happy to put a banner into rotation seeing as it’s a community project.
But the banner sizes are wrong for us. Could you do a 468 x 60 pixel banner like the ones above? Under 20kb please. I think that size is an industry standard so others may find it useful too.[/quote]
Sure can I’ll have it up either later today or tomorrow.
Great, thanks Amber.
I’ve got that new banner created and up. It’s the second from the top. Thanks a bunch.
Thanks.
I’ve added it to Diatribe banner rotation. If the admin or committee objects I can take it out again, I just figured a good game is a fast game and so on.
Craig, note that I’ve also taken down May Day banner because it’s passed. And I’ve put a 1 pixel black border around the banner image. I think that’s more sensible than expecting all the banners people submit to have their own border built in.
[quote=“Ryan Paddy”]Thanks.
I’ve it into the Diatribe banner rotation. If the admin or committee objects I can take it out again, I just figured a good game is a fast game and so on.
Craig, note that I’ve also taken down May Day banner because it’s passed. And I’ve put a 1 pixel black border around the banner image. I think that’s more sensible than expecting all the banners people submit to have their own border built in.[/quote]
Yup, I agree with all that. If I’d been around at this time I would have done the same stuff - I wanted to have something ready to replace May Day before I took it down.