There are some wonderful authors writing fan fiction and slash on the net, many of whom will never be known to the general public, despite their talent, because of the copyright restictions that make it impossible to publish their work in any other medium. In my opinion, fan fiction in general and slash in particular has developed and evolved greatly in the last couple of years and I believe that it should now be considered as legitimate a genre as any other type of literature. With this in mind, I have created the Golden Labyrys Awards to honour my fellow slash authors and give them a small part of the recognition they deserve. I realise that ultimately this is only a gesture, but any kind of recognition is a confidence booster and I hope that mine will encourage all the authors that recieve a GLA to keep up the good work. ' 'Tis a poor thing, but mine own'!

I will be giving these awards as and when I happen to come across stories or series that I consider outstanding in the world of femslash (well, I never said the judging would be a democratic process, now did I?). Any works from the Xena, Voyager or X-Files fandoms will be elligable and I will consider any nominations that I may recieve. I have many criteria for judging works, including style, originality, 'atmosphere', continuity, grammar, characterization etc. (although I may be willing to overlook some technicalities if the work is outstanding in other ways) and, before anyone asks whether I am qualified to make these judgements, I believe that nearly ten years as an adult EFL teacher has given me quite a lot of insight into and knowledge of the English language.

For now I will be awarding GLAs in the following categories (although I may add more categories as I go along):
Angst	For insightful and sensitive portrayal of emotional crisis.
BDSM	For inventive, sensitive and atmospheric presentation of Bondage, Discipline and/or Sadomasochism.
Crossover	For creative and original solutions to the problems of bridging the gap between fandoms
Erotica	This category was originally going to be for pure PWPs but I've decided to broaden it to include plotted stories that include excellent portrayals of erotic situations, hence the rename.
Humour	For original and genuinely funny stories concerning our heroines.
Music Video	For expertise and sensitivity in creating f/f themed music vids. (I admit I don't know anything about making vids but I know what works for me. Besides these are my awards so I'll give them for whatever I like, okay?)
Original Fic	For fiction with original charcters, not based on any fandom
Special Award	If I find myself unable to pick out one particular story or series from an author's work, I may give them a Special Award for over all excellence in their chosen genres.
Uber	For finding imaginative and original ways to lift the characters out of their world or time and place them in others, whilst maintaining the continuity of their personalities. I also consider authenticity of time and place important in good uber. (NB. Voyager holo-fantasies will also be considered under this category)
Voyager	For outstanding Voyager f/f slash (any pairing or group)
Xena WP	For outstanding Xena f/f (any pairing or group)
X-Files	For outstanding XF f/f slash (any pairing or group)

To nominate a story or series please contact me at:
sapphic_warrior@hotmail.com