Why do we have an award named for Paula Wilshe?
Paula was a fan who loved to encourage new writers and loved awards. To keep her memory alive and celebrate writers as she did, we started the Paula Wilshe (PW) in 2003. Check out her fanlore page.
Since 2023 is the 20th anniversary of her passing and the award in her honor, we thought this would be the best year to bring the awards to a close.
Why are we closing the PW award? What happened to all the other awards?
Participation in the SHareCon awards, which include the Paula Wilshe Award for New Writers in SH and the Marian Kelly Hall of Fame awards, has been diminishing every year. The awards require a lot of work with surveys, multiple reminders and announcements, tallying all of the surveys, weeding out ineligible nominations, updating the website, etc.
In the last few years participation has been minimal, with the same loyal fans doing the bulk of nominating and voting. The participation level in the fandom was a clear message that most of the fandom is indifferent to awards. Since it requires a daunting amount of work for those of us running it, we made a collective decision to discontinue the awards.
Who’s eligible for the final Paula Wilshe Award:
Any writer who first published any Starsky & Hutch writing in any format or genre between January 2015 and December 31, 2022. Writers can only win the award once. Check out previous winners (who are no longer eligible) here.
How can I know if my fav writer is eligible for the PW?
Ask them! Or ask other fans. Or ask us. And don’t forget to nominate yourself.
I want to participate. How?
Go to our survey for the PW at https://sharecon.net/lime/index.php/522331
a) Nominate as many writers as you want, but only nominate each writer once.
b) List author names, email address (if you know it), and where we can find their work (if you know), either with a link or your best guess (AO3, FF.net, etc.). If you’re not sure about those details, nominate them anyway.
c) Send any questions about the PW award to award@sharecon.net.
The person I wanted to nominate was already nominated by someone else. So, I don’t need to nominate them, do I?
Actually, you do. The finalists are nominees who received the most nominations. So, the additional nominations help them become finalists.
I sent in nominations already, but want to add more.
Add more nominations by filling out the survey again with new choices, but don’t repeat your previous nominations.
Then what happens?
Writers with the most nominations become finalists. We’ll announce finalists one week after nominations close on July 31, 2023. Finalist voting will begin on August 7, 2023, and close on September 18, 2023.
We’ll announce the winners at SHareCon and post it on line afterwards.
Thank you for helping us make the last Paula Wilshe award possible,
Keri T, Cyanne, and Flamingo
Award Admins