It seems that the off season for the awards goes by faster and faster. It is once again time to start up the biggest project on the site, the Drunk Duck Awards!

So I guess it is time to start getting things in order. The Awards celebrate the comics, authors, and users that make this site great. For a faster paced discussion (and frequently off topic), we do have a Discord
here.

Please look at this year's schedule and tell me what you think. I also would like to go back to having a theme for the For Your Consideration pages. Also if you feel like we need to change up the categories. The ones from last year are below.


Planning ~ Now - June

FYC Pages Accepted ~ TBA - June 8th

Red Carpet Submissions ~ TBA

The Drunk Duck Award Design Contest

Submissions ~ May 26th - June 4th

Voting ~ June 5th - June 8th

Drunk Duck Awards Voting Opens ~ June 9th - July 6th

Tie Breakers (as needed) ~ July 7th - July 14th

Finalists Announced/Volunteers assigned ~ July 15th - July 20th

Judging ~ July 21st - September 7th

Presentations Due ~ September 7th

Emergency Wrap Up ~ September 8th - September 21st

The Ceremony Begins ~ September 23rd



Here are the categories from last year.

GENRE AWARDS


Best Adventure Comic:
Quests, missions, explorations, and/or other dangerous or exciting ventures.

Best Adult-oriented Comic:
A-rated comics. XXX No one under 18 admitted! Live nudes! Or excessive violence. Or both!

Best All Ages Comic:
Child-friendly comics that the whole family can enjoy.

Best Anthropomorphic Comic:
They act like people and think like people, but they look like foxes or dolphins or toasters.

Best Community Project:
Comics and projects that bring together a variety of DD members for
massive synergy! (DD Awards are not eligible, for giving ourselves an
award would create a paradox vortex from which there is no escape.)

Best Drama:
A story focused on a real world setting and is character-driven with a focus on emotions. Courtroom dramas, medical dramas, crime dramas, romantic dramas, high school dramas (but when is high school not dramatic?), etc.


Best Fantasy Comic:
Magical, mythical, mystical, marvelous. Comics set in fantastical
settings, involving magic or mythical creatures, abilities, or beings.

Best Horror Comic:
The dark, scary, and twisted. Monsters, psychological thrillers, and
ax-wielding psychos all have their place among these wonderfully
horrific comics.

Best Humor Comic:
Gags, jokes, lols, roflmaos, and such. Format and subject matter aren't important. It just has to make you laugh.

Best Mystery/Crime/Noir:
Crime drama, police, mobsters, mysteries, hard-boiled detectives, and/or meddling kids.

Best Parody/Tribute:
Comics that use the characters, worlds, or creations of other creators. It's not copyright infringement! It's an homage!

Best Philosophical/Political Comic:
Make-you-think comics that address deep topics from the spiritual and philosophical to the cultural or political.

Best Sci-fi Comic:
A form of speculative fiction so named because the fantastical
elements are rooted in or explained by actual or fictional scientific
theory.


Best Superhero Comic:
Too super for other categories.


~~~~~


STYLE AWARDS

Best Action Within A Comic :
Chase scenes, fights, big explosions; CRASH POW ZOOM – you know the stuff

Best Atypical Art:
Comics that use 3D rendering, Photography, Sprites, or Macaroni Art or anything use that breaks the mold.

Most Deliciously Offensive:
These f&%#@ comics might p^@(# you the f*^^@* off.

~~~~~

TECHNICAL AWARDS

Best Background Art:
The background, setting, environment, and surroundings. Including architecture, scenery, furniture, vehicles, etc.

Best Character Design:
The artistic design of the characters. This includes anatomy, facial
expressions, and clothing (but not speech, mannerisms, or
personality/actions).

Best Comic Layouts:
The components of visual storytelling that harmonize the artwork
into a page and direct flow and pacing. Includes panel shape and
position, placement of speech balloons, lettering, and general
readability.

Best Dialogue:
It's all about what they say and how they say it.

Best Plot Development:
The overall story composition and pacing, and the use of storytelling elements.

Most Improved Art:
The comic that shows the most artistic improvement between July 2020 and now.

~~~~~

CHARACTER AWARDS

Best Protagonist:
Contrary to popular belief, the protagonist is the main character of the story whether they are good or evil.

Best Antagonist:
Opposes the protagonist. Doesn't necessarily have to be evil
incarnate, it could be Superman in a comic about Lex Luthor for example.



~~~~~

USER AWARDS
Outstanding Achievement Within the Community:
The
user that will win this award is always there to participate in the
community no matter what. These people show their support for the site
within the forums and by participating in community projects.


Most Dedicated Creator:
That creator who seems to be a page-making machine, every day on
time – or maybe the one who has been at it forever and has a thousand
pages of the most amazing quality – or the one who is updating five
different regular comics on a schedule. Whatever they are doing, they
sure are DEDICATED.

Most Supportive Reader:
Maybe they leave the most comments or the most insightful ones, or
they draw wonderful fanart, or they are always available to discuss your script ideas or send you cards when you're on hiatus.


Best Newcomer Award
Awarded to a newcomer who has come to the site who has really stood out. They could be creators or dedicated readers

~~~~~

THE BIG ONES

Best Completed Comic:
Comics that were concluded sometime between July 2020 and now. (Indefinite hiatus doesn't count.)

Best Overall Comic Strip:
Best webcomic with stand-alone updates or short, unrelated story arcs, usually in a horizontal or vertical strip format.

Best Overall Story Comic:
Best webcomic that tells a continuous story, usually in full page format.

~~~~~

Create Your Own Award
Didn't see the proper award for the comic/person you were thinking of on this
list? Make one up. Create your own award and give it a winner. Best
awards will be chosen by a dedicated team of judges.


~~~~~

OTHER AWARDS

Readers' Choice Award: Presented to the comic that received the most votes overall.

Best Presenter Award: Presented after the regular awards. Readers vote for their favorite presenter

A Brief (And Possibly Inaccurate) History of the Awards
The first Drunk Duck Awards was in 2007. It was hosted entirely within the forums of the website, and did not have an attendant comic to go with. The second awards was the first awards to be hosted within comic format. The Master of Ceremonies was amanda. The comic for the awards was very different than its current form today. It was only an opening page, presentation pages, and a credits page. amanda ran the awards again with help from JustNoPoint in 2009. JustNoPoint took over the awards in 2010. He has been an important part of the puzzle for quote some time. JustNoPoint hosted a forum site away from drunkduck.com that gave a separate place for the judging of the awards that allowed the judges to convene easily, keep an archive of the judgements, and, finally, keep the winners under wraps until the presentations. In 2011, the fifth annual awards was just in the beginning of its planning phase when tragedy struck. The Drunk Duck website crashed and was down for a period of time. When the site was back up, the planning for the awards had essentially ground to a halt and the awards did not have an MC at the helm. At the time, I was the appointed mod of the Networking and Community Projects forum. I had only helped out with the awards for my first time the previous year, but I didn’t want to see the awards disappear. I took up the MC job only planning to do it for that year. JustNoPoint was able to communicate with me on how some things were done and gave me an admin role on the forum that he had made for judging so I could continue the awards.

The 2011 awards brought forth changes to the format of the awards comic. Based on suggestions in the planning thread of the awards, I introduced the For Your Consideration (FYC) section of the comic for the first time. During the 2012 Awards, the Design the Awards Contest, which was previously contained to threads on the forum, was added to the comic. 2013 was the first time that a theme was used for the FYC section of the awards. From 2013, the format of the Awards was largely unchanged up until 2018. I was the main MC for most of the time with an exception in 2017. I had started getting the awards together, but I had some personal issues come up. Banes was able to step up, take what I had together, and wrap up the awards. 2018 was the first year that Tantz_Aerine hosted the Red Carpet event, and the event was integrated into the comic the next season in 2020.

Including the addition of the Red Carpet Event, 2020 saw several large changes. First of all, there were no awards hosted in 2019, so for many users that joined during that year, this was their first time seeing the Drunk Duck Awards. Also, in 2020 the beloved Judges Forum crashed. It was not able to be recovered. The Awards Discord server was made to be a stand in for the judging forum and it worked fairly well. Judging will be held on the server later this year, but the planning channel has been really active with good discourse regarding the awards.

And that is my best nutshell of the history of the awards.

The Awards Cycle

Since I took over the awards in 2011, the awards have followed the same cycle regardless of the actual events. There is a planning phase, pre-awards phase, voting phase, volunteer phase, and, finally, the presentation phase. The next year we do it all over again. For the next couple of posts I’m going to talk about what happens during these stages. Some are self-explanatory and to the point, but others are a little more involved.

Planning Phase

The planning phase is between the previous years presentation and the pre-awards for the following year. There isn’t much to explain about it. Feed back is provided about the previous year and plans are made for the following. Sometime categories are added/cut/modified. The FYC theme is discussed and there is a lot of Q and A about the awards.

Pre-Awards Phase

Going back a step now. I have covered what the rules are for comics to secure a nomination. But how do you get people to vote for your comic? That is where the pre-awards stage comes in. Before voting opens, there are plenty of opportunities to get your name out there and start to bring attention to your comic. Why only try to promote yourself to you current followers in hopes that they will vote when you can participate in the pre-awards and possible secure new readers along with votes?

At this time there are three events that either begin or occur during this part of the awards season. All three can be used to show case your talent, and two of them can be used to bring direct attention to your comic.

For Your Consideration Pages are a very easy way to introduce your comic and what awards you would like to see it nominated for. Submitted pages will appear in the awards comic, and you can also show them on your own comic, of course. Anything that is submitted for the awards comic must be appropriate for all audiences. I usually say keep it G or PG. No nudity, violence, or swears, but tasteful implications of the three are generally ok. The only other rule for submitting an FYC page is to keep with the theme. The FYC pages usually have a loose theme to tie everything together. Some pages follow the theme super strictly, while others give it a passing nod. Because the FYCs are designed to showcase comics in hopes of being nominated for the awards, pages that do not follow the theme will still be shown, but they will not appear until the very end of the FYC period which usually end after voting has already been open for a week.
FYC page submission is not required in order to be elegible for award nomination. It merely serves as a way to advertise your comic.

Design the Awards Contest is a contest to design the trophy for the awards. The trophy design is used to create banners for the nominees and winners. Anyone can submit a design for this contest. Though it doesn’t showcase your comic, it can show off your art style and get your name out there. This contest is usually run in the weeks leading up the ballots for the awards opening. Anyone can vote for the winning design. The winning design is the trophy used for the awards winners. The runner up design is used for the awards finalists. And the other designs are incorporated as part the design for the awards comic.

The Red Carpet Event has run by Tantz_Aerine since its creation. Anyone can submit to Tantz images of their comic characters in casual dress and in gala dress on transparent background. The casual images are public posted on the Red Carpet thread in the forms. The formal dress pictures are sent to Tantz privately. She uses the images to make composite wallpaper of all the participants. This even has a little longer scope and the due date is after the nominees for the awards are announced. Once again, this serves as a great way to introduce yourself and your art style prior to the awards.


Once again, participation in these events is not required to be eligible for the awards. However, it does help keep interest up throughout the awards season and hopefully bring more readers for your comics.


Voting Phase

I get a lot of questions about how a comic is nominated for the awards, so I’m going to go ahead and discuss this piece of the awards first. Any comic that is actively updating on the website or has finished within the last year (two years in the event of a skip year) is eligible to be nominated for the awards.

Each year for the awards I create a ballot using Google Forms for people to nominate comics for the awards. I go over the ballots, throw out the invalid votes, and tabulate the final numbers to come to the nominees. Invalid votes are votes that break the rules. These are the rules for voting on the awards:

~One ballot per person. (Must have a valid Drunk Duck Account)
~No voting for yourself. (That means comics you work on)
~Drunk Duck hosted (or mirrored) comics only.
~Comics must be actively updating or completed within the last year.
~You may enter a comic in more than one category (however, don't enter it for all categories.)

The top 3-5 voted eligible comics in each category with more than one vote become the nominees. If there are more than 5 comics nominated, a tie-breaker vote is hosted for the comics with the lowest votes to fill the spots. However, if there is a large amount of comics that would have to be put into a tie-breaker round, amount of nominees for the comic is reduced to 3 or 4. In rare cases if only one comic receives more than one vote or there is a large tie breaker for slot 2 on, the comic with the most votes is declared the winner of the category. This category will not go into judgement, but the winner will be announced the awards presentation.


Volunteer Phase

This the most important phase of the Drunk Duck Awards, and it is also the longest, with exception to the planning phase which is spread out. Without the help of awards volunteers, the awards would not make it. The main volunteer roles are outlined below, but there are many “see a need, fill a need,” items that may crop up and anyone that wishes to help is welcome.


Presenter Do you like being in the spotlight? Do you want the everyone to see your art? If so, being a presenter is right for you. The presentation pages need to have the nominees for the award, and leave a space for the name of the winner to be placed on the page. Some people leave a white space at the bottom and others leave speech bubbles. Either way it is up to you. The only rule regarding the presentation pages is that they have to be viewable by everyone. So, keep the pages PG at the worst and no slanderous/insulting remarks against other users/comics.


In addition to presentations, extras for the awards comic can be submitted to keep the momentum going and show what is going on behind the scenes of the awards.


Judge Do you like telling other people what you think? Do you quietly observe comics like a stalker in the corner? Consider judging. The judges are the heart and soul of the awards. It is up to them to decide the winners from each category. Judges, though they are not expected to be professional art critics, are required to put some thought behind their decision. The best way for judges to show this is to do a pro and con comparison of the nominees. Though anything is all right as long as it is easy to see that some thought went into picking the winner. Judges are only responsible for reading a year or two worth of pages depending on when the last awards were. The only exception to this is the Best Completed Comic where the judges are encouraged to read the entire comic.

Judging takes place on the Discord server for the awards. Each category is assigned 2 to 3 judges to read the comics and debate on the winner. Usually, a third judges is only brought in if the original two judges cannot come to consensus. The judges have private threads for each category on the Discord server that only the assigned volunteers can view. There are also Judge Wranglers on the Discord server to help keep the judges in line. Sometimes, the help mediate disputes between the judges or even ask the judges neutral questions that help them during the process. Other times a Judge Wrangler has to track down the judges and bring them back to the server to finish their category.



Presentation Phase
You would think that this would be pretty self-explanatory and straight forward phase, however there is more than simply showing the comic. The presentation phase actually begins in the background of the volunteer phase, and is here that everything begins to come together. Once a winner is declared by the judges, I create a trophy for the winner. Hopefully, by this time, the presentation for the category is also completed and I can add the winner’s name to the presentation page. If the presentation page is not ready yet, I notate to go back to it.

By the time of the presentation, ideally, a lot of the work is already completed and all that is left to assemble the comic. Each presentation page in the comic will have the winner’s name. Also, in the author’s notes, links to winner comic, a winning banner, credits for the presenter, and statements from the judges. After a page is posted, I go back and make sure that all the links work, and that the image for the trophy shows up.

Interspersed before, during, and after the presentation pages are extras pages that include behind the scenes moments, acceptance speeches, and concession speeches. Once again, these pages help keep the momentum of the presentation phase going and allows the winners to give their thanks.

At the end of the awards presentation credits are usually released to notes who the judges and presenters were as well as shout out to other roles such as the brave people that provided input in the planning phase and the participants of the award design contest. I was unable to make one in 2020 because of personal issues and a comedy of errors.

And, hopefully that sums up all the end and outs of the awards.

FYC Theme Suggestions:

Drunk Duck Awards - The Musical

Alternate Universe

Pulling in theme ideas from Discord.

Tantz_Aerine: DD Musical. XD Everyone needs to present like their comic is being produced for a musical. XDXD

Ironhorse Comics; We could do something like “mirror universe” where all of our characters are presented as their mirror universe counterparts

I've said in the DIscord im down to Present Best All Ages comic, Most supportive reader and best completed comic.

I also plan on doing some commercials if i'm able to get chance!

Let's make this a party to remember <3

FYCs as musical numbers would be neat. Drunk Duck Awards: the musical.

But musicals can't be heard in comics?

Either way, I'd be happy to vote and/or nominate comics to be voted for, but since I lost my Adobe Fireworks, and can't install any of the latest Adobe programs onto my outdated computer, I can't really contribute in any way this year like I did last year.

My tux doesn't fit anymore.

Is it that time of year again?

I'm happy to judge and present a few. Maybe a little more than last year, I'll have the time to read, since the two or three comics I'll be working on will switch to a weekly update schedule from May.

I'll present one or two. I'll know how many later in the year.

I think I could also do a bit of judging.

DD - the Musical: sounds like fun. The alternate universe idea might get a bit confusing. I'm not really into musicals but I'm leaning towards that idea.

J_Scarbrough wrote:
But musicals can't be heard in comics?

Just you wait, ‘enry ’iggins, just you wait!

J_Scarbrough wrote:
But musicals can't be heard in comics?

Can music be heard in comix?

Here's something I did as part of VinoMas' Pageant 2 backin 2018




( https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Pageant/ )

It can as simple as putting “sung to the tune of” or you could put in full music like plymayer has.
Mad magazine used to do it all the time.

Or no musical prowess required, have characters try to reinact iconic scenes from famous musicals.





Seems like a panoramic spin is all you need. XD

You could even just have characters reacting to a musical number that is going on either off-screen or in the background.

Alfred: Ok, we got it. Let's go… Slam the door?! What door? There ain't no door!

Bertha: Ah, so the cold doesn't bother you? Wait and see young lady, running around in a light dress in that weather. You're gonna catch your death!

A bit like that, but done well. 😅 Think Statler & Waldorf.

Found some potentially useful inspiration here, too. It's a short article with examples: https://comicsalliance.com/give-em-elle-visualizing-music-for-comics/

I think I'm already done with one of the FYC pages. Even if it's not yet final, the musical idea seems to be popular enough and if for some reason we'd end up going with something else, I'll have an extra to share in my own comic. lol. It's too good of an idea to pass up on making some content for either way.

Niccea wrote:
Or no musical prowess required, have characters try to reinact iconic scenes from famous musicals

Seems like a panoramic spin is all you need. XD

Lol I did this in a concession page a few years ago when the character turned into Ephaba from Wicked and did “Defying Gravity”

Oh what musical to crib from? Camelot? Spamalot?

Fiddler on the Roof?
“If I had a winning comic,
Yub a dee be dubba dubba dubba dee be did a deed a boo…”

if WM would participate this year (it won't! GASP! VOL 1 is done and VOL2 isn't started yet!!) this would be what I'd have Martha sing about her sniping:



As for Verdant, maybe something like this:



(we should be thereabouts when it's time for FYC's going live, I hope!)

So unless the theme idea of “potato” gains traction. I believe it is safe to say that the Musical theme is a go. Anyone want make up the first couple of pages of the comic for me?

I just need my usual page that looks like an invitation. “You're invited to the 16th Annual Drunk Duck Awards.” Last years page:
https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Drunk_Duck_Awards_2023/5738024/

The only other page I would need is to introduce the theme. I will give creative license to whomever wants to do me the solid. So it can be a simple one panel/cover page or a whole detailed page.

Thanks in advance. If I have no takers I'll get to work Saturday at the latest.

Regarding the topic of musicals fortunately my sister is a real sucker for them and I ask for any good ones, so here's some good ones you guys could base the FYCs on, unfortunately most recordings of musicals tend to low quality as the musical tend not to record their shows sadly so mostly fan are recording on their phone but I also added public rendition of plays I couldn't find at all (also alot of the titles are related to slime I think it's was for copyright prevention and something like an inside joke)

Falsettos (2016) - this musical is about marvin dealing with his wife, kid and secret male lover in 1979 new York it's a comedic drama but Act 1 is alot more silly and Act 2 is more serious and pretty depressing near the end it's my personal favorite of the list I might do a song from it (probably thrill of first love or march of the falsettos)
Falsettos musical

Dear Evan Hansen - a boy named evan with extreme anxiety through a series of consequences is thought to be a friend of a Connor who had committed suicide
To be honest this musical isn't really for me I just wanna scream when I watch it and I can't tell if it's out of fear or frustration

part 1 dear Evan Hansen part 1

Part 2 dear Evan Hansen part 2

Heathers - Veronica havening to deal with the absurd school higharcy but some how manages to reach the top
Heathers Musical

Be more chill - Jeremy a self proclaimed “loser” gets his hands on “the squip” a tiny supercomputer pill that promises to get him the girl he wants
Be More Chill Musical

And here's the playlist I pulled from, feel free to browse through and use any of the musicals here for inspiration
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLspLDEFoH0dgJefA89ah-bOShRA9in18U&si=kj5cboQ33SSt338q

I used to have a pile of musical soundtracks but they were on vinyl (and one was on bakalyte 78 rpm. Original cast South Pacific). My mother threw them all out when she moved in with my sister. I grew up listening to my sister play Pippin, A Chorus Line, Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof.
I know Carnival and Finian's Rainbow because I was in them. My sister goes to Broadway regularly and I've seen a few shows.
And who from my generation doesn't know Abba? Could always do Momma Mia!

But I doubt most creator's comic casts have the vocal range to do Andrew Lloyd Webber maybe Lerner and Lowe or Rogers and Hammerstein? Set your fyc to Oklahoma?

Let's go with some classics that are in cultural memory just to be truly annoying.

And avenue Q. Could start with “the Internet is made for comics” (to the tune of “the Internet is made for Porn”) and “Everyone really like Bravo's comics” (to the tune of “everyone's just a little racist”.

I think I'm gonna just do original song lyrics and have the themes go with the characters and theme of the comic. Sure, there's plenty of big ones out there to reference, but hopefully they won't be necessary for ppl to tell it's a musical number.

XD. When are ready to make presentations can someone make it look like the awards are in a school cafeteria/theater instead of an auditorium.

Niccea wrote:
XD. When are ready to make presentations can someone make it look like the awards are in a school cafeteria/theater instead of an auditorium.

Drunk Duck awards presents “High School Musical: the web comic”

I'll have to talk with my attorney.

The restraining order prevents me from singing, dancing or taking my shoes off in public.

As this webcast will be international, it might bring the FBI and interpol knocking.

Also, my voice might have gone out.

The comic has been made. CLICK HERE

I am also open to getting FYC pages. I still don't have an intro page together for it, so I might not be posting until I get something together. I was finally able to retire my old dinosaur of a computer, but I don't have all my stuff ported to the new computer yet. Some things in the comic are going to be a little “rough and ready” as I continue to get things set up on my end.

Well, we'd like to throw the hat (and the plume if you don't mind) in and volunteer to present an award… Just let us know which one you need covered and we'll get on it!
Now… we need to ‘head shed’ and figure out a FYC page (or two… or more… You know how we get sometimes…)

I'm up for any presentations.

Oh yeah! I wanna do a Fyc and present if that's okay, I wanna be productive this year!

I'll be around to help as always, hopefully I'll have the anthology project wrapped before it begins in earnest.