The Emma Awards
Named after the co-founder of the Romance Slam Jam, the Emma Awards is the premier awards event for readers and authors of Black romance.
We need your assistance in choosing who the 2010 Emma Award honorees will be. This year as you are reading, if a particular heroine really grabs you, take note. Perhaps you’d like to nominate the heroine (and novel) for the Favorite Heroine category. Same goes for the other categories. Read for pleasure, but don’t forget to make your votes count. We suggest creating a “Read List” where you list your reads for the year and jot down a few notes for each novel.
Congratulations 2010 Emma Finalists
Below is the list of the Black romance categories for the Emma Awards:
*Author of the Year
Favorite Anthology
*Favorite Book Cover
Favorite Book of the Year
Favorite Hero
Favorite Heroine
Favorite Inspirational Romance
*Favorite New Author
Favorite Novella
Favorite Romantic Suspense
Favorite Sequel in a Romance Series
Favorite Steamy Romance
You must have been registered for the 2008 RSJ or be registered for the 2010 RSJ Cruise to make nominations.
Please Note: Beverly Jenkins, Brenda Jackson and Rochelle Alers have received the RSJ Lifetime Achievement Award and have chosen to no longer participate in the Emma Awards.
How the Emma Awards work
During the months of November and December, nominations for Black Romance novels published between January 2008 thru October 2009 will be accepted from people who are registered for the current and previous Romance Slam Jam Conference. If by chance, any category has less than three titles nominated, that category will not be included in the competition. Sorry, but e-books are not eligible. We know that some e-books later come out in print. Once they are released in print, the print version is eligible and the publishing date is the date it was released in print.
The highest vote getters for each category will be passed along to a panel of judges for that category
- The authors nominated in each category will be informed
the first week of January.
- Nominated authors will need to provide five copies of the nominated book for the judges and $20 for shipping cost by January 20.
- Categories with an asterisk
- The four authors/cover designers with the most votes are notified
- Winner of each category (whoever has the most votes) is announced at the Emma Awards Ceremony.
- Copies of the novel will not be required.
- Each judging panel will be
comprised of individuals registered for the current and/or previous Romance Slam Jam
Conference.
- The judges will receive their category novels the last week of January 2010.
- Each judge on a particular panel will read each of the books in the category and fill out a category judge sheet for each novel.
- Judges will turn in their scores by March 12, 2010.
- The winner of each category is announced at the Emma Awards Ceremony.
Please note:
- Nominated authors are not eligible to be judges in categories they were nominated in.
- Host book club members and host authors are not allowed to be judges.
- An outside accountant is responsible for the tallies.
Who is qualified to become a judge
You are eligible to be a judge if you meet the below qualifications
1.
You were registered for RSJ 2008 or are registered for RSJ 2010.2.
You love to read Black romance novels.3.
You commit to reading the category nominated books in four weeks and will score fairly.How to become a judge
We need 45 judges and 5 alternate judges. If you are interested in being a judge, after you have registered, please email the following information to:
1.
The name you are registered under (RSJ 2008 or RSJ 2010)2.
If you are a reader, published author, editor, aspiring writer, agent (list all that apply)3.
Who your two favorite authors of Black romance are4.
If you want to be a judge or an alternate judge. Note: alternate judges may have less time to read all four novels.In the subject line put Emma Awards Judge Candidate.