The Swirl Awards

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Final Countdown for Loving Day Blog Hop Sign Up

Today is the last day to sign up for our inaugural Loving Day Blog Hop! We have more than two dozens authors and reviewers signed up. If you're an author and you're interested in participating, please email us at the swirl net @gmail (dot) com.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Loving Day Blog Hop Is Growing

The LOVING DAY BLOG HOP list of participants is growing with authors and review sites. If you haven't had a chance to see all the participants, click here. As of this morning, the list has been updated.

If you're an author and would like to help us celebrate Loving Day on June 12, 2013, please email us at theswirl net @gmail.com(minus the spaces) by April 30. We want to make this hop educational AND fun. So, your articles can be pretty much about anything within the theme of multicultural/interracial romance from information about your books, dating, marriage, an experience, pop culture, etc.

Want to help us promote this inaugural event, then promote us on your blog!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Loving Day Blog Hop

We know this so out of the blue, but we've decided to host a LOVING DAY BLOG HOP on June 12! This online event will join other celebrations to mark the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Loving vs.Virginia, which struck down anti-miscegenation laws in the United States.

If you're an author and would like to help us celebrate Loving Day, please email us at theswirl net @gmail.com (minus the spaces) by April 30. To participate you must be willing to post an article featuring the Loving Day theme and offer a prize/giveaway of your choosing to readers. Your articles can be centered on the history surrounding anti-miscegenation laws, or you can share your own "loving story" or talk about why you write multicultural/interracial romance.

Our event is also listed on the Loving Day official website. To check out other celebrations planned for this nationally recognized event go to: www.lovingday.org/find-a-celebration.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Judges Are Off and Reading!

We just wanted to let everyone know that all of the books and score sheets were distributed to our judges this past weekend. The deadline for all scores to be turned into us is June 7, 2013. We hope to have all scores tallied by June 13, 2103 at the latest.

Again, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank the authors, judges and category chairs. Without you all we would not be able to put this award on.

P.S. If you are a judge and did not receive your judge package, please contact us at the swirl net @gmail.com (minus the spaces).

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Polls are open!

The polls for Best IR/Multicultural Publisher, Best Series and Best Cover are now open and will remain open until June 7, 2013. You can vote multiple times, but only once a day! Good luck to everyone who was nominated!

To vote, click one or all of the links:

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Judging Process Explained...

We've had a few potential judges and authors wondering how we score the Swirl Awards. The process is pretty simply. Each story is given to two or more judges who use a category score sheet to score the entry. Each score sheet is then tabulated and the score is averaged. The highest score in the category is the winner.

Curious about the score sheet? Here's a mock score sheet for the historical category:

Judge #:

The Swirl Awards

Judges Score Sheet (Historical)

Title of Entry:

Scoring: 3= Perfect, can’t find a flaw; 2= Good effort, but not exactly perfect; 1-0= Lacking in this department

Overall Story Structure: SCORE ______/ 6 POINTS

______1. Typos or grammatical errors did not pull you out of the story.

______2. The story flowed smoothly from scene to scene without jarring me.

Style: SCORE______/ 9 POINTS

______3. The author engaged my senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste), creating a vivid experience.

______4. The author’s voice was authentic and came across with personality like the main flavor of a dish and did not sound cookie cutter/bland.

______5. The author presented the work in a distinct style/voice, which enhanced the “historical” reading experience?

Characterization: SCORE______/ 12 POINTS

______6. By the end of the story, I had a good sense of the hero/heroine. I knew their back story or at least had a good idea of their motivations.

______7. The emotional bond between the hero/heroine was believable. I actually rooted for their relationship from the beginning to the every end.

______8. The characters changed/developed over time and did not remain static.

______9. The secondary characters were used with great affect and did not distract from the main characters. I did not finish the story rooting for their story instead of the hero and heroine.

Dialogue/Narrative: SCORE______/9 POINTS

______10. Good balance between dialogue and narrative. No talking heads or too much back story.

______11. Character point of view was consistent and any changes were smooth/logical.

______12. The characters, their actions, and the dialogue seemed plausible and consistent with the time period.

Plot/Conflict: SCORE______/12 POINTS

______13. The book was a page turner in that it did not take forever to establish the plot and the storyline wasn’t redundant.

______14. The historical setting was written to great affect and well researched. It kept me grounded in the time period and enhanced the story.

______15. The conflict (internal/external) was believable enough to carry the story throughout.

______16. The conflict (internal/external) was actually resolved and to my satisfaction.

TOTAL SCORE______/48 POINTS

***

Want to judge? We can definitely use more help! Please contact us @ the swirl net@gmail.com (minus the spaces) Wednesday, March 6 @ midnight.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Finalist List for the 2013 Swirl Awards

The February 28th deadline has passed to submit nominations for the 2013 Swirl Awards, so we're ready to announce our finalists! We would like to give a huge thanks to all the authors for submitting their books. Without you, we would not be able to succeed in our mission to recognize and promote excellence in Interracial and Multicultural romance. We would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the authors who've come on board to act as category chairs. We definitely needed your help and its much appreciated.

Without further ado here are the finalists...

*Click on the hot link to read more about the author and their books!*

Contemporary

And then there was Anthony by Jaxx Steele(Secret Cravings Publishing)

BayouBabe99er by Mickie Sherwood (Bookstrand Romance)

Music by Tanya Korval (Distant Light Publishing)

My Nora, Holley Trent (Crimson Romance)

Once Burned by Dee Carney (Samhain Publishing)

Risking It All by Ambrielle Kirk (Ambrielle Kirk)

Ruthless by Shelia M Goss Kensington Publishing

See Lynn Chased by Melissa Blue (Confessions of a Romance Author)

See Megan Run by Melissa Blue (Confessions of a Romance Author)

Short Soup by Coleen Kwan (Escape Publishing-Harlequin Enterprises, Australia Pty Ltd)

Sisters of Grace by H. M. Mann (Kinfolk Books)