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Hey guys,

I was looking at the stories that have been nominated and wanted to give
you guys an update on some "at-risk" categories and subcategories.

I mentioned Non-Fiction stories before, and there are now 7 essays
nominated, so we'll probably be able to have a category there. It will
be on the small side, though, so if you know good essays that haven't
already been nominated, please feel free to nominate them. For the
record, the following nonfiction works have been nominated:

--- "A Woman in Few Words: The Character of Nerdanel and Her Treatment
in Canon and Fandom" by Dawn Felagund
--- "Arvedui v. Pelendur" by Roh Wyn
--- "Galdor: An Elf By Any Other Name..." by Marta
--- "Name Calling: Group Identity and the Other among First Age Elves"
by Angelica
--- "On Canon and Fanfic" by Marta
--- "One Step More  The Heroism of Frodo Baggins" by ConnieMarie
--- "Tolkien's Parish: The Canonical Middle-earth" by Steuard Jensen

Poetry worries me more. There are currently 11 poems nominated. Usually
we like to place poems in a special poetry subcategory within one of
their selected main categories. This meant that poems would not only be
competing against other poems, but also against other poems involving
the same time period or race, or about the same genre. In other words,
humorous limericks probably wouldn't go head-to-head with dramatic odes
or romantic sonnets. (Or at least if they did, they'd have something
else in common.)

But with only 11 poems, we probably won't be able to split them up like
this. Instead, we'll probably have one category for all the poems, and
split it up as best as we can into subcategories. We did this last year,
and it was better than not having *any* poetry groupings, but definitely
not an ideal situation - we did it because we didn't have enough poems
to divide them up any other way. So if you know of any noteworthy poems
that haven't been nominated, please put them forward. The more poems
nominated, the better we can categorize them so that they only compete
against similar poems.

For your record, the following poems have been nominated:

--- "Answers" by Armariel
--- "Bearer of the Ring" by ConnieMarie
--- "Elrond's Farewell" by Armariel
--- "Maglor's Song" by Robinka
--- "Philosophia to Philomythus and Misomythus" by Pandemonium_213
--- "Rebirth" by Aranel Took
--- "Shire" by Aranel Took
--- "Temptation" by Princess Artemis
--- "The Bridge" by Armariel
--- "The Gardener Speaks" by Armariel
--- "Three Songs" by Lindelea

Finally, here are some groupings that are danger of not having a viable
category.

For finished stories:

--- only four have selected "Genres: Crossover"
--- only four have selected "Genres: Longer Works"
--- only six have selected "Genres: Mystery"
--- only four have selected "Races: Dwarves"
--- only seven have selected "Races: Other Beings"
--- only six have selected "Races: Villains"
--- only six have selected "Times: Early Third Age (1-2850 TA/pre-1250 SR)"
--- only six have selected "Times: Modern Times"
--- only seven have selected "Times: Multi-Age"

--- only twenty-one works-in-progress have been nominated, in any category.

(Fixed-length ficlets are a bit harder to judge what's really in danger;
I'll try to look at them for next week.)

Some of these categories have just enough to be viable, but only if we
pull a bunch of stories into their third choice. Which we usually try
not to do. Others, we won't be able to have a place for those stories in
the mentioned main category as things now stand; the stories will be put
in one of their other category choices.

Now, I'm not saying go out and nominate a bunch of stories just because
they would fit in any of these groupings. But if you are looking over
these lists and thinking "Gee, I know a spectacular Crossover that's
never been nominated!" (or a piece set in the Early Third Age, or about
Dwarves... you get the picture), you might want to consider nominating
it. Don't do this *just* to fill up a category  we always make things
work, and I'd rather have good stories all around than full categories
all around  but maybe have a think on which of your favorite stories
might fit well in these categories. And if anything jumps to mind, feel
free to go ahead and nominate it.

REMEMEBER:

--- nominators have until June 15 to nominate stories
--- authors have until June 21 to finalize their nominations

Both days end at 11:59:59 PM GMT. The current official site time when
you loaded the webpage is displayed at the bottom of every page of the
MEFA2008 website, in the bottom left corner.

Thanks

Marta