Nine Worlds has rapidly become one of the most talked-about genre-conventions in the United Kingdom. Similarly, the David Gemmell Legend Awards has taken just a few short years to become the most anticipated awards ceremony for the Epic Fantasy genre. The success of each is simple: they’ve been formed by genre fans for genre fans.
Today’s announcement, therefore, that Nine Worlds will this year host the Gemmell Awards makes perfect sense! Nine World’s gets to add another awesome piece of programming to their schedule and the Gemmell Awards gets more exposure to readers – whereas traditionally their ceremonies have been rather small and attended by authors and industry professionals.
For those unfamiliar with the Gemmell awards, they began in 2009, with the aim of celebrating the best in fantasy fiction and commemorating one of its most legendary authors. Since its inaugural year, the awards have been won by authors including Andrezj Sapowski, Graham McNeill, Brandon Sanderson, Pierre Pevel, Patrick Rothfuss, Helen Lowe, Brent Weeks, John Gwynne, Brian McLellan and Mark Lawrence. Just like Fantasy-Faction (and this is why we adore them so much), they aim to: raise public awareness of the Fantasy genre, celebrate the history and cultural importance of Fantasy literature, and appreciate and reward excellence in the field.
The three categories awards are presented in are the Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel; Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Debut; and Ravenheart Award for Best Fantasy Cover Art. Stan Nicholls, Chair for the Gemmell Awards, said: “I couldn’t think of a better event for us to partner with than Nine Worlds, and we look forward to bringing another superb awards ceremony not only to our regular attendees, but also a whole new audience on August 8th.”
“Nine Worlds is immensely proud to be hosting the 2015 Gemmell Awards,” said Erich Schultz, co-founder of Nine Worlds Geekfest. “The Gemmells play a terrific and important role in the fantasy literary scene, and the Nine Worlds team and attendees are hugely excited to be a part of this wonderful institution.”
Members of the public will be able to do so for free even if they are not attending Nine Worlds. However, who isn’t going to be attending Nine Worlds, right? So you can add it to your diary, The awards ceremony will take place at 8pm on Saturday 8th August at the Radisson, Heathrow. You can find out more about Nine Worlds and book your tickets here.
Geoff Matthews
Julia Kitvaria Sarene