Awards Changes

Eligibility for Awards
(Effective for 2025 Awards)

Audiobooks, books, and covers created by generative aritifical intelligence (AI) are ineligible for a Goldie Award. AI-assisted books and covers are eligible. Nominators must certify agreement with these requirements:

Audiobooks: Nominated audiobooks must be narrated by humans to be eligible for an Audiobook Narrator Award. Audiobooks voiced by AI technologies are not eligible.
Books: Nominated books must be written by humans to be eligible for the genre category, Debut Novel, and Ann Bannon awards. AI-assisted books are eligible, by AI-generated books (including those translated into English by AI-driven tools) are not eligible. For submission purposes:
- AI-generated content is defined as text created entirely or in part by AI technologies (e.g., ChatGPT, Jasper, Sudowrite), even if the machine-generated text is later edited, enhanced, or otherwise revised by humans.
- AI-assisted content is defined as text created by humans who use AI technologies collaboratively as aids in the creative process (to check grammar and spelling, suggest synonyms and alternative phrasing, etc).
Covers: Nominated covers must be designed and crafted by humans to be eligible for the Tee Corrine Award. Covers crafted exclusively by humans or human collaboration with AI-assisted design tools (to remove a background, cut and paste objects from a photo, etc.) are elgible. Covers crafted by generative AI are not eligible.

The required publication date for Lee Lynch Classic Award entries is at least 20 years prior to the year the award is presented- 2005 for 2025, 2006 for 2026, etc. Older works still qualify for the awards.

During their tenure, awards administrators and award liaisons cannot submit their work for a Goldie.

Awards Categories and Judging Guidelines
(Effective for 2025 Awards)

Due to the large number of entries, Science Fiction and Fantasy are split into two separate categories.

Due to a low number of entries, formerly separate categories are merged:

Fiction Anthologies/Collections (combining Fiction Anthologies and Fiction Collections)
Nonfiction (combining General Nonfiction and Nonfiction Anthologies/Collections)
Poetry (combining Poetry Anthologies and Poetry Poems/Collections)

Due to longer books, word counts for the three Contemporary Romance categories are now:

Contemporary Romance: Short Novels- between 40,000 and 74,999 words
Contemporary Romance: Mid-Length Novels- between 75,000 and 89,999 words
Contemporary Romance: Long Novels- 90,000 words or more

Actual word count should be provided rather than rounded word count when submitting entries.

Actual word count should be based on the body of the work- namely Chapter 1 through the final chapter, plus the prologue and epilogue (for fiction) or the preface/introduction (for anthologies and nonfiction).
All other Front Matter (title page, table of contents, dedication/acknowledgement pages, etc) and Back Matter (afterword, appendix, addendum, endnotes, bibliography, author bio, coming soon/read more, aslo by, etc.) should be excluded.

Nomination Fees and Voting Process
(Effective for 2025 Awards)

Ann Bannon entry fees will increase from $20 to $30, due to potential cash prizes from Aronson-Besthoff grant
Tee Corrine entry fees will increase from $20 to $25, due to time needed to process and evaluate cover entries
Debut Novel entry fee of $20 will be eliminated, reflecting support for first-time authors
Judged genre-category and Audiobook Narrator entry fees will increase from $35 to $45, due to potential cash prizes
Publishers, authors, and other nominators will receive a discount based on their total entries the prior year (i.e. 2023):
- 20% discount for 30 or more total entries
- 15% discount for 20-29 total entries
- 10% discount for 10-19 total entries
Ann Bannon Award finalists for ranked-choice voting will number 15 maximum rather than 25, to make voting easier

Previous changes to the awards program can be found HERE.