Saboteur Awards 2014

Nominations for the 2014 Saboteur Awards are now open!

Tickets can be bought here.

Like the literature and performances they celebrate, the Saboteur Awards are ephemeral and ever-changing. But some things stay the same: we’re always looking to reward work that has, since our last awards, really made us and/or our readers sit up and take notice – especially work that has done so on a tight budget with a small-scale distribution. Sabotage Reviews focuses on the indie side of literature and performance, and our awards celebrate the best of that.

Last year we held our first ever birthday party (we were turning three back then) at the Book Club in London (read more about that here), and we enjoyed it so much we thought we’d do it again. So, to mark our fourth birthday, we have another first: our first birthday party in Oxford! We’ll be holding a day of (free!) performances alongside a book fair, and then announcing the awards themselves at the evening event. It’ll be a blast; you should totally come.

We’ll be at the Jericho Tavern on Walton Street, Oxford, OX2 6AE, from 1:30pm on May 31st. The performances and book fair are free: you can buy tickets for the awards evening event (6:30pm) here. If you fancy performing or hosting a book fair stall, details are here.

Saboteur Awards 2014 flyer
Many thanks to Christopher O’Grady for our flyers

The Saboteur Awards are open to any publication/performance that has been produced or substantially changed since 30th April 2013. We totally reserve the right to give out special awards for things that catch our eye but don’t fit into an easy category.

Unfortunately, the Saboteur Awards don’t confer on the winner anything more tangible than a badge and some kudos – but who doesn’t enjoy getting a bit of kudos, right? We hope that, in our own small way, a Saboteur Award shows the people behind publications that their hard work has been noticed and appreciated. It’s a small way of celebrating achievement in the literary world.

For the Saboteur Awards 2014 we’ve tweaked the categories a bit, but the voting process remains the same. So the public can nominate publications/performers/events etc., and will then have the chance to vote on the shortlist in the month leading up to the Awards night. For eligibility purposes, we regard ‘self-published’ and ‘published’ to be essentially the same.

Here are the categories:

Best One-Off Event
A performance poetry or written literature event organised as a one-off spectacular, which must have taken place after 30th April 2013.
Best Short Story Collection
A single-author collection of short fiction. One author: multiple stories. Must have been published after 30th April 2013.
Best Magazine
A regular publication which can feature a range of content, including literature reviews, but mainly aimed at fiction or poetry. Must have had at least one issue published after 30th April 2013.
Best Poetry Pamphlet
A single-poet collection of poems, which can be a variety of formats (‘pamphlet’ being a bit of a catch-all term). No more than 40 pages long. Must have been published after 30th April 2013.
Best Spoken Word Performer
A performer who has either appeared at open mic nights, slots in spoken words events, or who has their own spoken word show (or a combination of the above, of course). We might even consider double acts. Must have performed at least once since 30th April 2013.
Best Spoken Word Regular Night
An event celebrating and promoting spoken word, organised on a regular – if not frequent – basis, open mic or programmed or a mixture. Must have held at least three events since 30th April 2013.
Best Spoken Word Show
A performance of a set work which has multiple performance dates, probably in multiple locations and over a period of time. Not limited to solo shows. Shows first performed before 30th April 2013 are permitted, but there must have been a significant outing since that date (eg. a short run somewhere or a tour).
Best Novella
A short form piece of extended fiction – too broad or complete for a short story but too short or limited in scope for a novel. There’s no set word/page range and we may use some discretion – our rule of thumb is that if the author/publisher considers the work to be a novella, so do we, but we do also take other factors into account. Must have been published after 30th April 2013.
Most Innovative Publisher
A publisher who has, well, innovated, which is a pretty broad term. Someone who has impressed you probably publishing something interesting in an unusual way. Surprise us. Must have published at least two titles since 30th April 2013.
Best Reviewer Of Literature
Someone who has made significant contribution to the review of literature since 30th April 2013, in reviews of poetry, fiction or spoken word.
Best Anthology
A collection of works by more than one author, not restricted by genre, theme or form. This could be a combination of fiction and poetry, or even a combination with another art form, like visual art. Multiple authors: multiple texts. Must have been published after 30th April 2013.
Best Collaborative Work
A literary work or project that has been created as a collaboration between two or more people, perhaps in multiple forms or genres. Must have been created after or substantially changed since 30th April 2013.

 

Saboteur 2014 flyer printer-page-002You can nominate and cast your votes here!
[NB: You need to nominate in at least 3 categories for your nomination to count. It shouldn’t be too tricky!]

Buy tickets here.
Book fair and performance info here.

Key Dates

Nominations are open 1st-30th April 2014
Shortlist announced 1st May 2014
Voting open 1st-25th May 2014
Winners announced and Awards presented on May 31st 2014.