Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Ignyte Awards Edition w/ Commentary [Possibly Rant]

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.  

This week the finalists for the Ignyte awards for speculative fiction were announced here. But first, for those who are still unfamiliar with this award which began in 2020 from the home page:

WELCOME TO THE IGNYTE AWARDS

The Ignyte Awards began in 2020 alongside the inaugural FIYAHCON, a virtual convention centering the contributions and experiences of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) in Speculative Fiction. Founded by L. D. Lewis and Suzan Palumbo, the awards were an attempt to correct representative gaps in traditional spec lit awards and have grown into a coveted and cherished addition to the awards landscape. The Ignytes seek to celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the current and future landscapes of science fiction, fantasy, and horror by recognizing incredible feats in storytelling and outstanding efforts toward inclusivity of the genre.

Awards are given annually in the following categories:

Best Novel – Adult

Best Novel – YA

Best in Middle Grade

Best Novella

Best Novelette

Best Short Story

Speculative Poetry

Critics Award

Best Fiction Podcast

Best Artist

Best Comics Team

Best Anthology/Collected Works

Best in Creative Nonfiction

The Ember Award for Unsung Contributions to Genre

Community Award for Outstanding Efforts in Service of Inclusion and Equitable Practice in Genre

The current list of finalists is here, and at the top of that page you have a button that links to the backlist of awards for the last four years.

Use this award as you do all others to make displays and check your collections (see the links at the top of the post for more ideas and details). This award in particular would be a great way to show your community about all the great books and authors they may have missed by just titling a display or online list "Award Worthy Speculative Fiction." And then, only include books and authors from the first 5 years of nominees. There are some big name authors and you should have plenty of titles to make a well sticked display of many subgenres of speculative fiction. Then see what you hear from your patrons.

Do any of them even notice that every item is by a person of color? If you have no mention of the award you are pulling titles from and make no mention of the fact that it is only authors of color, I am willing to bet you get very few comments. Patrons will not argue with the term  "award" that easily. 

And yet if you made this same display and said critically acclaimed or award worthy speculative fiction by authors of color....that would lead to comments, mostly negative. Same list. Same display. Different heading. Different reactions.

There is no need to tell your patrons that you are intentionally singling out an award that is for authors of color only. NO NEED. Do you give them the parameters of every display you put up? Of course not! Stop right now thinking that you do. Stop right now claiming that this is deceptive. It is not. It is standard practice NOT to make a diversity statement. When awards were all straight and white we never did a caveat of that fact. For decades most awards were only for white people and we never broadcast that.

Also, stop thinking that these are second tier titles. There are award winning, bestselling books here in places where identity was not considered. These are critically acclaimed books full stop. And you are now using awards lists as an RA Tool to help connect book with readers, as instructed by an expert in the RA Service field. Me. End of story.

By the way, this is an example of how you can be actively anti-racist. You don't apologize, you don't include caveats...you just do something. You model the behavior you want to see. 

But wait, there's more with this award that makes it an even better option for libraries: The public can vote!

This adds a whole other interactive dimension to my usual posts about using awards as a resource to help readers. You can add a QR code for patrons to vote with your displays in the building or add the link for voting online. Yes this will give away the parameters of the award, but people who care enough to vote are not going to say anything. 

Library users are hard core readers already and if you give them a chance to have their voice and opinions heard in a major award, well, they are going to be excited that they were asked. Talk about showing them that you want them to be a part of the service you provide to them with their pre-paid tax dollars.