Well, it’s mid-afternoon in Cross Plains and the REH Foundation Awards have already been presented to the winners. Originally the awards were known as The Cimmerian Awards and the black skulls on marble bases were handed out at the Pavilion after the Friday night banquet. When the awards became the REH Foundation Awards, the wooden plaques were given out at the Community Center immediately after the banquet and it was a somewhat rushed affair, with Howard fans wanting to go to the Pavilion and the locals bolting for the door, not having much interest in the awards. So it was decided to make the awards a bigger deal by having a less rushed and more formal ceremony on Friday afternoon at 2:30.
So without further waiting, here are the winners:
The Hyrkanian—Outstanding Achievement Print Essay:
Jeffrey Shanks – “History, Horror, and Heroic Fantasy: Robert E. Howard and the Creation of the Sword and Sorcery Subgenre,” Critical Insights: Pulp Fiction of the 1920s and 1930s.
The Aquilonian—Outstanding Achievement, Periodical:
The REH Foundation Newsletter – Bill Cavalier, Rob Roehm, Paul Herman.
The Stygian—Outstanding Achievement, Website:
Brian Leno, Patrice Louinet, Rob Roehm, Damon Sasser, Keith Taylor– REH: Two-Gun Raconteur (Website and Blog).
The Cimmerian—Outstanding Achievement for Online Essay:
Rob Roehm – “The Business” REH: Two-Gun Raconteur (13 parts).
The Venarium Award—Emerging Scholar:
Patrick Burger
The Black River Award—Special Achievement (The following nominees have produced something special that doesn’t fit into any other category: scholarly presentations, biographical discoveries, etc.):
Ben Friberg for filming the panels at Howard Days, editing them, and making them available on YouTube.
The Rankin Award—Artistic achievement in the depiction of REH’s life and/or work (Art must have made its first public published appearance in the previous calendar year.):
Tom Gianni for cover art for Pirate Adventures (REHFP), cover art for Fists of Iron, Round 1 (REHFP), cover art for Robert E. Howard’s Western Tales.
The Black Circle Award—Lifetime Achievement:
Patrice Louinet
The Crom Award—Board of Directors Choice:
Paul Herman for scanning the Howard typescripts in the Glenn Lord collection and facillitating their transfer to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin.
Next Year’s Black Circle Award Nominee:
Karl Edward Wagner
Congratulations to the winners and remember, it is not too late for you to step up and find your name on the list next year!
