Announcing: The DA BWAHA AWARD

DA BWAHAIt’s March Madness time which means brackets, spoilers, and, of course, romance books!  Admittedly, the last element of the list is a rarely known component of March Madness, one that is often lost amongst the basketball hoopla. Which is so wrong, we will do all kinds of crazy shit to make it right.

We thought it was time to shine a light on the major, but forgotten, player.  This year, Dear Author and the Smart Bitches have combined their internet foo to bring you the DA BWAHA tournament.  (That would be the Dear Author-Bitchery Writing Award for Hellagood Authors for the acronym challenged).

It is a tournament of books that will be held during this month of March to determine THE ONE BOOK THAT WILL RULE THEM ALL. (No comment on which book will bind them. That’s kinky, and we don’t go there on the first date.) 

This tournament will be run exactly like the NCAA Collegiate basketball tournament. If you’re not familiar with bracketology, March Madness, or the absolute insanity that is the NCAA basketball playoffs, hold on to the seat of your pants. 

1. There will be a field of 64 nominated books published in 2007 that were nominated by the bloggers of Dear Author, Smart Bitches, Speak Its Name, The YA YA YAs, Uniquely Pleasurable and Teddy Pig.

2. There are eight nominated books in each category. The 8 categories of books are:

  • Young Adult
  •   Erotica/Erotic Romance
  • GLBT  
  • Paranormal  
  • Contemporary  
  • Historical  
  • Category
  •   Novel With Romantic Elements

3. Each reader who wishes to participate will have a few days to fill out his or her bracket of winners.

4. Once the tournament begins, we’ll be holding daily votes to determine which books advance through the tournament. We’re pitting book against book within the categories, and then, as the tournament advances, books will face off against one another across genre and subgenre until we reach the Book of the Year, or, the ONE BOOK THAT WILL RULE THEM ALL. (Again: bondage? Not yet. Buy us another drink.)

5. Readers and authors are in the running for fabulous prizes, bondage not included. The reader whose bracket is the best match to the end result of the tournament will win:

– A 6-month subscription to PaperSpine, courtesy of the fine folks at PaperSpine.
– A selection of the books that make the Elite 8 of our DA BWAHATournament
– Mad Props
– Big Ups
– A graphic for your personal site proclaiming to all and Sundry (Sundry, I know for a fact, is SUCH a silly cow so you totally want to rub it in her face) that you are The Winnah.
– A $50 gift certificate for irreverently awesome style from Lochers.com

6. Authors whose books make it to the Final Four will win:

– A hot pink bad ass ostrich feather quill pen
– A graphic for your personal site proclaiming to all and that wanker Sundry that you are Hella Good

7. The author whose book is proclaimed Book of the Year, aka the ONE BOOK THAT WILL RULE THEM ALL (now we’re ready for the bondage; pass the marabou wrist cuffs!) will receive:

– Aforementioned feather quill pen
– The graphic proclaiming your book the winner
– A $50 gift certificate for irreverently awesome style from Lochers.com
– A free one-month ad space on both Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and Dear Author, month and content to be determined.

Plus, you’ll experience pimpage like nothing else, guaranteed.

Any questions? Email sarah @ smartbitchestrashybooks.com or jane @ dearauthor.com, or leave a comment here or at DA.

Please feel free to diss our selections, bemoan our picks, and excoriate us for not including certain books.  It’s no fun without dissent.  Get your pencils – or mouse buttons – ready.  The DA BWAHA Tournament goes live on Sunday to determine the 2007 Book of the Year – or the ONE BOOK THAT WILL RULE THEM ALL (Ow! Do it again!). 

Categorized:

DA BWAHA Award

Comments are Closed

  1. dangrgirl says:

    Just wanted to say that this is an awesome, awesome idea!!

    It really is. I wasn’t sure if I made that clear earlier.

  2. ~Also, what category does Romantic Suspense fit into? “Novel With Romantic Elements?”~

    RS could be thrown in with Contemporary, but I think it needs its own category.  RS could replace Novel with Romantic Elements.  If the book is contemporary, paranormal, GBLT or whatever, it should be able to compete within that category.

  3. Marianne McA says:

    Thanks. Sometimes I am sooooo stupid.

  4. RandomRanter says:

    Excellent – a March pool I care about.  (Sorry NCAA fans, didn’t go to a college with a Bball team…)

  5. Awesome contest!  I can hardly wait to play!

  6. kim h says:

    sounds good and i love baskeball and all sports. go Dukies!!!

  7. sara says:

    This is awesome. I’m really looking forward to all the suggestions of things to read once I turn in my thesis (APRIL 18 OMG HOLY FUCKMONKEYS), especially since my alma mater is already out of the tourney and I owe my dad five bucks (his school beat mine on Monday). Of course, I live with a Dukie and work at a sports magazine, so this will not be the only bracket I endure before that fateful day in April.

    Sorry. Punchy. Really looking forward tot he bracketomologizing.

  8. sara says:

    Oh, and Teddy Pig, that would a frigging amazing sandwich. I want to make one now, on toast.

  9. Sunita says:

    Also, since DA and SBTB were the selection committee we can’t also serve as bracketologists.  That has to be someone else’s role so the streaming video has to be done by someone else.

    —————-

    Oh, of course you’re right.  Someone needs to step up and play the media.  But you could be interviewed afterwards, to explain the “controversial” selections, and discuss how painful it was to have to eliminate some extremely worthy contestants.

    Also, I especially encourage everyone who has NOT read very many of the books to submit brackets.  This would honor the tradition of picking teams about which you know nothing and then obsessively tracking them until they fall out of contention.  And don’t forget the plucky underdog choices!

    I’m too excited, aren’t I …

  10. Tae says:

    Dude, if you can tell me where to buy some Dark Huntery Jedi Vampire fiction, I am so all over that.

    Yes, but will you be there in costume? smile

    okay where do I sign up for this?

    Also check out Lynn Viehl, though she writes her science fiction books under S.L. Viehl and her vampire romance books under Lynn Viehl.

  11. Denni says:

    Squeeee…this looks like fun!

    Sarah & Candy, your mad word skills crack me up, again…when’s the book out?

    As a bonus, undoubtedly new books for our TBR piles!

    Hey, quit with the insect comments, you’re makin’ me itcy.

  12. Rebecca says:

    Joanna Bourne needs to be included in historicals list. Her book The Spymaster’s Lady is good on all levels.

    I’m in.

    R

  13. Erin says:

    GLBT is too simple. At my very liberal women’s college, we had to deal with GLBTTQQA (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, transexual, queer, questioning, and allied).

    That has nothing to do with books, but you just had to go and mention bacon. If you can make a sandwich out of that one…

    And I have to say that I’ve read very, very few of these books (though with my brand, spaking new library card, I hope to rectify that), so I volunteer to be one of the people who decides her bracket based on characteristics like “How Many Times the Letter ‘S’ Appears In the Title,” and, “Would My Grandmother Blush If She Knew I Had Read it?”

  14. SB Sarah says:

    Erin: I fill out my tourney bracket based on which city I’d rather visit more, which one I know someone who may be from or at one point drove through there… so “Would my Grandmother blush?” sounds like a perfectly reasonable method to me.

  15. Erin says:

    h00t! It is done. My trusty d20 and I have vanguished the bracket.

    So nothing fancy is supposed to happen when I submit? My name doesn’t automatically show up on the lists? I just want to make sure I did this correctly.

  16. Erin says:

    Vanguished…vanquished…

    Either way I’m still a huge nerd.

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