Eagle Awards, Hugo Awards, and dinosaurs, O My!

The Eagle Awards are a bit like the Eisners, BAFTAs, and the Oscars all rolled into one for UK comics. They are named for The Eagle comics magazine, which I grew up hearing about from my dad, who read Dan Dare in The Eagle as a kid (this, by the way, explains a great deal about me right there). You can learn more about them at EagleAwards.co.uk.

Now, a lot a very nice people whom I have consumed vast quantities of alcoholic beverages with at conventions are elligible for nominations for Eagle Awards right now. For example, IDW's Doctor Who writer Tony Lee, editor Denton Tipton, artists like Matthew Dow Smith, Ben Templesmith, Pia Guerra, Al Davison, Kelly Yates, Paul Grist, Adrian Salmon, or Captain Britain and MI-13's Leonard Kirk. And colourist Lovern Kindzierski who in addition to colouring Doctor Who also did the gorgeous, gorgeous colours on half of IDW's Crew, which I adore for being the only tie-in in the history of Star Trek actually devoted entirely to Majel Barrett's character Number One from "The Cage", who you may have noticed is my FAVOURITE. And in addition to the IDW ongoing Doctor Who comic, The Forgotten is also eligible, as is Harker.

So I think you should all go over there and nominate people, based on the strength of their work, and also the part where they are nice people. And then when they get on the ballot, I think you should vote for them for the exact same reason.

And speaking of awards, the Hugo Nominations are up! And I am very pleased to see Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk's Captain Britain & MI-13: Vampire State is on the ballot. Why does this please me? Well, for one thing, it's a very good story. For another, Paul's a mate of mine, and I'm really pleased for him. And lastly, Pete Wisdon's girlfriend and I share a given name, and that never stops being awesome.

Also, if you are a WorldCon attendee, Seanan McGuire is on this year's Hugo Ballot for the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. You can view the full ballot for this year's awards at the Aussiecon 4 website.

Now, what's important to note here is that the Campbell Award comes with a tiara.

If you have ever wanted to see Seanan McGuire in a pretty dress, with a chainsaw and a velociraptor and a tiara, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE. She already has a) the dress b) the chainsaw, and c) the velociraptor. So really, it's up to you to make sure she gets the tiara.

Trust me: you want Seanan to get a tiara.