The Idiot Savants are an arts industry award currently co-sponsored by non-arts affiliated denizens of the c-p insanity subkultur and the Death Equinox convention. Should Death Equinox cease to exist, or become inappropriate as a location for the awards ceremony, the awards shall revert back to the subkultur convergence. The following guidelines were debated between heavily varied "democratic" committees to avoid biased stacking.
The Idiot Savants honour "insane" and "socially awkward" individuals whose skills in artistically portraying the "less wholesome" aspects of life exceed the norms. Please bear in mind that this does not mean "Vote for the best mainstream hack novel around", nor does it indicate anything other than admiration for the nominees/recipients. "Insanity" was once considered to be a sign of divinity, and so it shall be perceived with these awards.
An unbiased representative will act as both the vote-taker and the awards ceremony host. No one else will be allowed to view the completed ballots, nor will anyone else be informed of the results until a verdict has been reached (or a tie-break vote is called).
Procedure: All pre-registered Death Equinox attendees will receive these guidelines and a ballot which includes the 6 categories for nomination. Attendees may make ONE nomination per category. The nomination can be for an "art" form of any variety: eg a fiction story, non-fiction article, painting, music CD, film, comic book, magazine, etc. The nominated item must have been released in the year prior to the convention which they are being awarded at (preferably by US release dates, so as not to straddle votes over separate years. Example: if a film was released in Europe in 1996, and the US in 1997, its likelihood of winning an award in 1998 would be considerably greater.). If the nominated item is overtly obscure, the nominator must supply a means of verification for its existence. Do not make identical nominations for multiple categories, pick the best category for each item and give 6 different items a chance for winning.
Categories: "Most Bizarrely Schizophrenic", "Most Disturbingly Emotive", "Most Intellectually Evocative", "Most Sadistic & Depraved", "Most Perversely Arousing", "Most Relentlessly Psychotic".
Determination of Winners: The ballots will be tallied on August 20. Items with the most nominations, in each given category, will be declared the winners. Each category will be tallied separately, with no regard for additional votes in other categories, so please be very selective in your placement of nominations. In the event of a tie, the vote-taker will issue a call for a tie-breaking vote. Previous participants will be asked to submit votes for one tied item per category. The dead-line for receipt of tie-breaking votes will be September 1. The tied items which do not win will be granted honourable mentions.
Disqualification: The only factors for disqualifying a nominated item will be if it a. cannot be proven to exist b. proves to not have been released in the proper year c. does not adhere to these nomination guidelines. Please give sincere nominations rather than using these awards as a marketing tool. There is no true satisfaction in a hollow victory derived from insincere campaigning.
Presentation: The awards will be given annually at Death Equinox in Denver, CO (early October). Winners will be notified at least 3 weeks prior to the ceremony. If the recipient cannot be present, their award may be presented to a representative chosen by them. Should no selected representatives be present, the absentee award will be announced at the ceremony and granted via snail mail.
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