Frequently Asked Questions « Lois & Clark Kerth Awards

Frequently Asked Questions

(New and—hopefully—improved version for 2024! A huge thanks to Bek for helping to revise and edit this with KSaraSara!! And thank you to Queen of the Capes for making the fancy TOC navigation work!)

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The Kerth Quizzes

(We’ve left this here in the FAQ from the original, since the quizzes are back this year!)

What are Kerth quizzes?
How does the quiz team pick what stories to feature on the quizzes?
When do the quizzes start?
Where can I find them?
The quiz team forgot to include a story that really fits well in this category!
I don’t remember all the stories, and I only recognize a couple of them. Is it worth my while entering?
Some people are using Google to find what story the quotes are from! That’s unfair!

Okay, I think that’s everything . . . But what if I think of something else?

General Questions

What are the Kerths?

They’re awards for great content creation given to fanfic stories and fanart in various categories. Stories and fanart win Kerth Awards based on fan voting; stories and fanart get on the ballot based on fan nominations.

Who runs it?

The event is coordinated and directed by the Kerth Committee (K-Com), and the current K-Com can always be found on the Kerth History page. The award ceremony itself wouldn’t be possible without all the FoLCs who contribute entertainment and/or volunteer to present awards. Thanks, FoLCs!

Who dreamed up this idea, and when?

The original Kerths, in 1998, were the brainchild of Leanne Shawler, who had seen a similar set of awards in another fandom. Many, many fans contributed ideas to the project, coming up with the idea for an online ceremony to mimic the Oscars, complete with commercial breaks. And generally, whoever had the bright idea ended up in charge of doing it.

Where can I check out previous years’ Kerth Awards?

The Lois & Clark Fanfic Archive has a page dedicated to Kerth Award Winners with links to ballots and winners from 1998—2016. You can also check out a list of past winners (by year) as well as fun ceremony transcripts for some years here on the Kerth site.

How do you decide on how to do things?

Within the K-Com, we usually reach consensus fairly easily. There’s also been a lot of public discussion over the years covering all sorts of aspects of the awards, and we’ve cheerfully adopted lots of good ideas.

The K-Com may not end up agreeing with every suggestion made, but we do promise to discuss and consider each idea. However, we’ve found that it can be impossible to please everyone. So, in the end, we make the decisions based on our best judgment.

Are the Kerths officially affiliated with any other FoLC sites or lists?

Darth Michael, Sara/KSaraSara, and Annette maintain the official Kerth website, and although there’s no official affiliation, the K-Com uses the L&C Fanfic Message Boards to post information about the Kerths.

So where should I go to keep up with all the Kerth announcements?

All updates regarding the schedule, eligible stories, nomination/voting, and ceremony will be posted on the official Kerth website. Activities, including discussions and Kerth quizzes, will be hosted on the L&C Fanfic Message Boards.

The Process

When do things happen?

Behind the scenes planning starts in December.

The eligibility list is compiled, activities (like quizzes) are planned, and category lists are finalized. The list of eligible stories and the category list are posted in early January, and Kerth activities generally span the time between mid-January up until the ceremony. All activities will take place on the L&C Fanfic Message Boards.

From the time the eligible list is posted until nominations open is when FoLCs need to be reading stories and preparing their lists for what and whom they’d like to nominate. Nominations are collected over a two- or three-week period, generally in March, and two weeks after the nomination period closes, the K-Com announces the official ballot. There is a week or two for voting in late March/early April, and then the polls are closed. One or two weeks later, the awards are announced in a ceremony (traditionally held in IRC, but now will be moving to Discord as of 2024).

Are all the rules included in this FAQ?

For the most part, they’re guidelines rather than rules, but yes, we’ve tried to include everything. There are always going to be situations that aren’t specifically covered anywhere. We’ll just have to consider what might be consistent with the rules we have and use our common sense.

If I have other questions, where can I ask them?

You can contact any member of the K-Com (via PM on the boards or in Discord) or post a question or comment to the Fanfic Related section of the L&C Fanfic Message Boards.

Kerth Categories

What general kinds of categories are there?

Some are size-related; all stories of the same approximate length are compared, no matter what the topic. Others are topic-related; all stories on the same topic are compared, no matter what the size. Some are combinations of the two, or have other unique requirements.

What are the categories?

Check out the Categories page of this website for a complete and detailed list of categories.

How are story sizes calculated?

That’s shorthand for kilobytes of information in the story file when it’s stored as ASCII text. It’s the lowest common denominator that almost all word processors can read and create. Often, the file extension will be .txt but that’s not a requirement.

Don’t worry! This is automatically calculated as the eligible stories list is being generated (you can check out Michael’s cool tech stuff on GitHub if you’re into it). And since many of us are now used to assessing story length by word count, we’ve added in that number as well.

These length categories will be officially counted by kB. But since we know that a lot of people have a better understanding of word count these days, we’ve provided the approximate range for each category. Please note that these are approximate based on the average of 5.5 bytes per word (and rounded), and because they are averages, they won’t always correspond directly with the actual word count of the stories.

Why do the categories change from year to year?

Trends come and go in fanfic, so we try to adjust the categories to match the sorts of stories released in that particular year. Also, some category definitions have been confusing, so we might rename them in an attempt to clarify things. We generally try not to have a lot of changes from year to year, so for the most part, the list stays the same.

How did you come up with these categories, anyway?

This list has been evolving since the first awards in 1998. In December/January, the K-Com examines each category and sees if there are enough stories to justify it or not. Sometimes we will split a category if there are really a lot of contenders (for example, micro-short and super-short stories) or combine categories if there are too few.

I think I’ve got a great idea for a new category. Is there any chance you’ll adopt it?

Sure! We’re always interested in new suggestions. If it’s early enough for it to work (December or January at the latest), we might add it into the current cycle. More likely, we’ll discuss the idea for the following year. If we don’t decide to go with it, we’ll at least try to explain why not. In any case, if you have a great idea for a new category, feel free to suggest it to us any time of the year.

Story and Fanart Eligibility

What makes a story or work of fanart eligible?

Any story or work of fanart that’s finished and posted by the end of a calendar year is eligible for awards, which are held in the following year (i.e., all of the finished works posted in 2023 are eligible for the 2024 Kerth Awards). Stories and fanart posted on the L&C Fanfic Message Boards or submitted to the Lois & Clark Fanfic Archive are automatically included. Stories and fanart posted elsewhere can be added to the list if the author/creator lets us know what and where it is.

But I just found out about the Kerth Awards, can my stuff be eligible?

Ah, we do have a guideline we follow for this! For stories, it’s always been the case that stories can be eligible once in their existence. So if you have an older story, please contact the K-Com to inquire about its potential for eligibility.

Since fanart is a newer category (circa 2023, though it existed as part of the altKerth Awards previously), all new artists may submit work that has been previously posted publicly online (e.g. Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Tumblr) from 2022 and through to the current eligibility year. After this first year, an artist’s work will only be eligible under regular eligibility guidelines.

Can a story or work of fanart be eligible twice?

No, it can be eligible only one year.

How do I know what stories and fanart are eligible?

The official Kerth Awards page includes a list of eligible stories and fanart (and authors eligible for the Best New Author award, when there are enough to justify having the category) and is updated in January.

What if I don’t want to participate at all?

If you don’t want your story or work of fanart to be included, for whatever reason, just notify any of the K-Com members, and it will be removed from the list.

How many stories and fanart are eligible in a typical year, anyway?

It varies from year to year. In recent years, we’ve seen an uptick in eligible stories and art, with more than one hundred eligible works each of the last two years.

And there are how many ballot slots?

The default is five slots per category. With 15-20 categories (depending on the year), that makes room for up to one hundred stories, though very popular stories tend to fill multiple slots, which brings the total down somewhat.

How come some categories have more or less than five slots?

We adjust this, when necessary, to reflect the nominations. If six stories all have close to the same number of nominations, we may add them all to the ballot. If a category has four strong contenders, with other stories coming in significantly lower, we’ll restrict it to four.

Nominating

So what happens at this stage?

We collect as many nominations as we can get and tally them up (well, the fancy technology tallies them for us). The stories and fanart with the highest amount of nominations per category then become the official nominees on the ballot.

When does this happen?

We designate a two-week period, generally in March, for people to send in their nominations. These dates can be found on the Kerth website and the L&C Fanfic Message Boards.

Who can nominate stories?

You can! Just make sure you give a name (your real one or a screen name, whichever) and a valid e-mail address.

How do I nominate stories?

It’s easy! Just go to the automated nomination form and type in which stories you think should appear in each category.

A few important notes about nominations:

Be sure to include the title of the fic and the author, as titles can be the same or similar. We highly recommend just copying and pasting it from the eligibles list to save yourself time and effort (and to avoid typos).
You do NOT need to fill out every category to submit a ballot, but you should try and be sure that your ballot is complete for all the categories you do want to nominate in before submitting your form.
This is an open submission form, meaning that you write in the box rather than choose from a list. We recommend trying to nominate no more than five stories per category. List each story on its own line within the form field, like so:
- Title of Story by Awesome FoLC
- Title of Different Story by Super FoLC
- Yet Another Story by Fabulous FoLC
- Story Story: About Superman by SuperDuperFoLC
- Clever Story Title by Clever FoLC
Please remember that nominating and voting can only be done by FoLCs. Family, friends, and work colleagues cannot nominate or vote (unless, of course, they are also FoLCs!).

If you’re still feeling overwhelmed and aren’t sure where to start, here are a few suggestions:

Go in order down the list of categories, and just check things off as you go! And better still—it’s handily starting with the really short stories, so that can make it feel a bit like you’re making progress faster.
Try out KSaraSara’s unofficial Kerth Award Nominations Organizer, which she posts every year on the L&C Fanfic Message Boards.
Print out a list of all the stories and highlight and/or make notes on stories that you have read and know you want to nominate. Then start reading more and making notes as you go.
Make a list of all the stories you already know you want to nominate and for which category(ies). That way, if it’s down to crunch time and you haven’t read as much as you wanted to get read, you at least have your favorites ready to submit.

What if I think the story’s so great it should go into a couple of categories?

That’s fine. When you get to each category you’re thinking of, list the story title and author again.

How do I know what fits into what category?

There are some categories that will be obvious—the length ones, of course! A few other categories also have objectively definable criteria that must be met for a story to qualify (for example, Best Challenge Response or Best Nfic).

For the other categories, however, take a careful look at the category definitions. Some are fairly straight forward (Best Revelation, anyone?), and some others might be a bit trickier or more subjective. If you’re unsure, you can always ask around, see if the story’s been on any of the Kerth quizzes, see if anyone’s mentioned or recommended it in the Year In Review posts, or just take your best guess. Even if you guess “wrong,” your nomination won’t be wasted, as we do our very best to take into consideration the total number of people nominating a story when sorting out the ballot slots.

Our best advice with this is to not stress about it or overthink it. The nomination process itself will self-sort stuff like this!

How do I know what counts as a challenge story?

Since this is one of those objectively definable categories, the K-Com will make a list each year and post it to the L&C Fanfic Message Boards.

I’m not sure what to do for Best Supporting/Original Character—how do I list that?

Please list the specific character’s name that you think was awesome and well-written, then list the title and the author of the story from which they came. What if you want to nominate five different characters from ONE story? Awesome! Just list each one on a separate line, like so:

Henderson, Title of Story by Awesome FoLC
Mayson Drake, Title of Story by Awesome FoLC
Detective Original Character, Title of Story by Awesome FoLC
Henderson, Title of Different Story by Super FoLC
Henderson, Yet Another Story by Fabulous FoLC

They’re all so good, and it’s so hard to choose. Can I nominate more than one story per category?

Of course! But try to keep it within reason. If you can, try not to nominate more than ten stories per category.

Okay, I know what stories I want to nominate in some categories, but some other categories don’t interest me in the slightest. Do I have to nominate in all categories?

Nope. Just write in the ones you know you want to nominate, and don’t worry about the rest. Leave them blank in the form.

Can I nominate my own story?

Yes, that’s allowed! Some people do, some don’t, for various reasons.

Shoot! I made a mistake on my nomination form! What do I do?

Hit submit when you weren’t quite done, submitted your nominations but then thought of more, or made some other mistake? Have no fear! It’ll be okay!

While we do encourage you to have your nominations as complete as possible before submitting them the first time, the system DOES allow for you to submit again. But here’s the very important caveat: Only the most recent form submission will count and the earlier one(s) will be discarded! So if you submit nominations with only the first two categories filled out—then submit another form with the rest of the categories filled out—we will ONLY count the second, most recent submission.

So, if you plan to resubmit your form, it MUST have ALL your nominations on the most recent form. You can just copy and paste from your last confirmation email for the ones you’d already submitted, and then fill out the rest.

Don’t worry—we’ll work with you if you make a mistake! We’re just trying to make sure our automated process works efficiently and fairly.

How do I make nominations for the new fanart category?

This is a new category (added just in 2023!), and there are bound to be some kinks as we work out the best process. The eligible works of fanart are listed on the L&C Fanfic Message Boards, as they are to be nominated. Some might be a body of work (for example, a set of graphic banners or a podcast), while others might be individual works. When making your nominations for this category, list the fanart as well as the name of the creator as the information appears on the official list of eligible fanart on the L&C Fanfic Message Boards.

As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the K-Com members for help.

Who sees my nominations?

The K-Com sees the nominations. The information they see is confidential, and it’s not shared with anyone else.

Voting

What do I need to do to be a qualified Kerth voter?

All you have to do is read Lois and Clark fanfic and have opinions. Even if you’ve never delurked to say anything, we would encourage you to participate. You will have to give us a name—it can be your real name or an online nick, whichever—and a working e-mail address. We send confirmation notices for each vote, and fake addresses bounce back, which can result in your vote being discarded if we can’t get in touch with you any other way.

Where do I vote?

There will be an automated vote form posted on the official Kerth website. A link to this form will also be posted on the Lois & Clark Fanfic Message Boards.

Okay, I’m at the form. Now what?

Each category is listed with a drop-down menu. Click on the box to open up the menu, and click on the one you want to vote for. When you’ve gone through all the categories, click the button that says “submit.”

They’re all so good, and it’s so hard to choose! Can I vote for more than one story per category?

Sadly, no. One way or another, you have to pick one.

Don’t tell the authors, but there are whole categories that really don’t interest me at all. How am I supposed to vote in those?

You do not need to vote in every category! It’s completely fine to skip the categories that don’t interest you.

Can I vote for my own story?

Yep! Just like with nominations, it’s definitely allowed. Some people do and some don’t!

Can I vote more than once?

No. Voting more than once is against the rules. If you accidentally vote more than once, please contact one of the K-Com members right away so the extra votes can be disregarded.

Although rare, there have been some instances of voting fraud in the past, and we have software and processes in place that help us keep an eye on patterns, e-mail addresses, IP numbers, etc., to detect and eliminate voting fraud and other instances of inappropriate voting.

Who sees my votes?

The votes as they come in will only be seen by Darth Michael, Annette, and our neutral third-party verifier, TriciaW, who was Kerth Coordinator for many years. No one except for them will know the winners until they are announced at the Kerth ceremony. Even the rest of K-Com doesn’t know until the night of the ceremony.

What information is released about the results?

We announce the winner of each category; all other information remains confidential.

Why don’t you identify the runner-up?

We believe that, on balance, it’s better to let all the other stories in a category be considered equally. For every one author who’s pleased to hear that they came in second, there are three others disappointed that they didn’t even rank that high.

Well, what about releasing vote counts?

See above. In a survey we carried out a few years ago, the majority of fanfic-reading FoLC have said they prefer that this information be kept secret. It’s a rare author who wants to know that his/her story came in dead last. If an author writes to request it, though, we will tell her/him—privately—the vote count for their own story. We won’t say how many votes any of the other stories got.

Awards Ceremony

What do you mean by “ceremony”?

Historically, the awards have been announced in a live chat on IRC. This year, however, we are moving the ceremony to Discord. The date, time, and server information, as well as information on how to access and participate in the awards ceremony, will be posted on the official Kerth website and on the L&C Fanfic Message Boards.

During the ceremony, volunteers will present the awards by making a speech, listing off the nominees, and then announcing the winner. If the winner’s there, they get to come up on “stage” to say a few words.

What would I need to do to be a volunteer or presenter?

Contact any of the K-Com members to let them know you’re interested! If you don’t know anything about Discord, just ask around; there are a lot of people who will be happy to help you get started. Better yet, join the FoLCs on the L&C Discord and get your questions answered there!

If I’m not able to get online or attend the ceremony, how will I know what won?

As soon as the ceremony is over, the list of winners will be posted to the L&C Fanfic Message Boards.

Is there any real prize attached to these awards?

Other than the esteem of your peers? Not much. However, your story will have a “winner” graphic next to its description on the Lois & Clark Fanfic Archive, and you’ll get a very cool graphic banner with your name on it and the award you’ve won.

The Kerth Quizzes

(We’ve left this here in the FAQ from the original, since the quizzes are back this year!)

What are Kerth quizzes?

For each category, the quiz team compiles a list of 10-15 quotes, then excerpts from stories that would fit in said category, and FoLCs get to try and guess what fanfic each quote is from.

The purpose of the quizzes is to jog everyone’s memories of stories written in the past year that would qualify for a particular category and elicit recommendations of other stories that would also fit the category.

How does the quiz team pick what stories to feature on the quizzes?

Our dedicated quiz team makes every effort to include as many authors and stories as possible. Inclusion in a quiz has nothing to do with a story’s perceived quality, however, as that’s left for the fans to decide.

When do the quizzes start?

Early January, and they run for a few weeks. Usually, one quiz is posted every three days.

Where can I find them?

Quizzes will be posted to the L&C Fanfic Message Boards.

The quiz team forgot to include a story that really fits well in this category!

They probably didn’t “forget” the story in question, but since they’re trying to make room for as many stories as possible, they can’t have a story appear in the quizzes five or six times. They also try to include as many authors as possible, and so they may have to adhere to a “one story per author” rule in each quiz.

I don’t remember all the stories, and I only recognize a couple of them. Is it worth my while entering?

Absolutely! The more people enter their guesses the merrier! Sometimes there’s even a competition for getting the lowest score. 😉

Some people are using Google to find what story the quotes are from! That’s unfair!

Naah. This is just a game, and it’s always been an open-book competition. You can check the Archive or Google if you wish, or you can do it without looking up anything if you prefer.

Okay, I think that’s everything . . . But what if I think of something else?

Just contact the members of the K-Com or post a message to the L&C Fanfic Message Boards. We’ll be happy to help!

Regards,
The K-Com (Sara/KSaraSara, Darth Michael, JadedEvie, lovetvfan, and Annette)

Originally written by Pam Jernigan, with great assistance from Kathy Brown, Erin Klingler, Annette Ciotola, and all the helpful FoLCs on the list and boards.

Updated by Sara/KSaraSara (with editing help from Bek and formatting help from Queen of the Capes) in January 2024.

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