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- The Chesley Awards year shall be the preceding calendar year‚ Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.
- Awards will be made in the following categories (this is the official order):
- Best Cover Illustration – Hardback Book
- Best Cover Illustration – Paperback Book
- Best Cover Illustration – Magazine
- Best Interior Illustration
- Best Gaming Related Illustration
- Best Product Illustration
- Best Color Work – Unpublished
- Best Monochrome – Unpublished
- Best Three Dimensional Art
- Best Art Director
- Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award
- In categories (1) through (4)‚ works are eligible if they were published for the first time in the United States of America in a periodical dated in the award year or in a volume published in the award year.
- Works in categories (7) through (9) are eligible if publicly displayed for the first time during the award year. Works in category (9) may include jewelry or fabric as well as any other three dimensional media.
- Works in category (5) must have appeared in games released during the award year.
- Works in category (6) must have appeared as product illustrations for the first time during the award year.
- Nominees for category (10) shall be based upon art direction performed on material published during the award year.
- Works are eligible whether or not their authors are members of ASFA‚ and previous publication or display in another country does not make the work ineligible.
- All Members (hereinafter “Voting Members”) of ASFA in good standing are entitled to nominate and vote and award ballots.
- Works may not be nominated by their authors or by their author’s editor‚ agents‚ or publishers.
- The ASFA President shall appoint a Chesley Awards Nominating Committee of three (3) people whose responsibility it shall be to review the artwork in the genre of science fiction and fantasy during the award year and prepare a List of Recommended Works in the various award year categories‚ which‚ in judgment‚ reflects the high quality of achievement which ASFA seeks to promote through the giving of the Chesley Awards. The committee’s list shall be completed and delivered to the Chairman of the Chesley Awards Committee no later than January 31st of the year following the Chesley Awards year. Inclusion of a work in the List shall count as one nominating vote for that work.
- The ASFA President shall appoint a Chesley Awards Committee whose duty it shall be to receive the List of Recommended Works from the Nominating Committee and publish it to all Regular‚ Life and Associate Members by February 15th together with the Nominating Ballot returnable to the Awards Committee Chairman (or his designee) no later than April 1st; to receive‚ record‚ and tabulate all nominations for awards; to determine‚ prepare‚ and publish (to all Regular‚ Life and Associate Members) by June 15th a Final Ballot which will be returnable no later than July 15th; to tabulate the vote from the final ballot to determine the winner of each category; and to report the final results to the ASFA President no later than August 1st. These dates are subject to adjustment depending on the date of the awards ceremony.
- On the Nominating Ballot‚ space shall be provided for each Voting Member to nominate up to five (5) works‚ or in the case of categories (j) and (k)‚ persons. A member may not nominate the same work or person more than once per category. A work does not have to appear on the List of Recommended Works in order to be eligible for the Nominating Ballot.
- On the Final Ballot‚ there may not be more than five (5) nominated works or nominees per category. To be eligible for the Final Ballot‚ a work or person must receive at least two nominations. Those receiving the most nominations will be placed upon the Final Ballot‚ up to the limit of five (5) per category. In case of a tie‚ the Awards Committee shall have the discretion to either extend the number of nominees in a given category past the limit of five (5) or to act as a jury to break the tie.
- If the ASFA Treasurer agrees that the ASFA Budget will allow it‚ it shall be the duty of the Awards Committee to publish with the Final Ballot reproductions of as many of the works on the ballot as they are able to obtain permission to reproduce within the time frame allowed.
- On the Final Ballot‚ Voting Members shall cast numerically ranked votes for the nominees in each category‚ writing “1” for the first choice‚ “2” for the second‚ and so on. Members may leave any category completely unmarked. Their ballot will only be counted in categories in which they have cast ranked votes.
- The ranked votes for the nominees shall be counted by the method described in this paragraph. First determine the total number of votes cast for each nominee in each of the ranked categories‚ first through fifth. Then‚ for each nominee‚ add the total votes per category together to determine the grand total number of votes cast overall for that nominee. Next‚ go back to the totals per ranked category for each nominee and multiply total fist place votes by “1”; second place votes by “2”; third place votes by “3”; and so on. Then add those totals together to determine the total number of “points” for each nominee. Finally‚ divide the total number of points for each nominee by the grand total of votes cast for that nominee. This will assign each nominee a numerical value. The nominee with the lowest numerical value shall be awarded first place; second lowest‚ second place; and so on.
- In tabulating the Final Ballot‚ the Awards Committee Chairman shall conduct the first tabulation and then shall have another member of the Committee conduct and independent tabulation.
- The Chesley Awards Rules may be amended by a majority of the Voting Members of ASFA or by a majority vote of the ASFA Board‚ subject to the approval vote of a majority of members present at the next meeting of the members.
