To kick things off, I thought I’d post a couple of thoughts that I’ve had dealing with the Awards over the past couple of years.


Firstly, Best World Map

1. What problem to do you see with the current setup?
There has been quite a bit of confusion over whether something IS a world map or not, as we’ve had to delete quite a number of nominations where someone has chosen a Regional map in the World map category. Also, certainly last year, there weren’t all that many entries (possibly down to confusion of whether something was World or Regional!) I think there were more entries in previous years, so possibly last year was just an outlier.

2. What changes to the categories, or what new categories do you suggest?
Possibly add World Maps to Regional? But see below...

3. How will this address the problem?
The obvious solution is to merge World Maps with Regional (since people mix them up anyway), but my issue with that is that Regional maps is already so overloaded. I think – very roughly – about 75% of all maps at the Guild would qualify as regional. Obviously a regional map could also fit in other categories (eg Most Creative, Best Overall) but I’m hesitant to add even more to the general Regional category. So, I dunno…


Black & White Maps

1. What problem to do you see with the current setup?
I’ve considered nominating B&W maps a few times in the past, but, when you look at even the most beautifully drawn monochrome map… and then you look at a full colour map… the colour map is just more compelling, as I think we’re more naturally drawn to full colour art, and the B&W stuff loses out.

2. What changes to the categories, or what new categories do you suggest?
I was tentatively thinking of having a ‘Best Hand-drawn, Traditional or B&W Map’.

3. How will this address the problem?
We don’t get a massive number of nominations for Best Hand-drawn/Traditional, compared to other categories, and I feel B & W could slot in quite nicely here. Indeed, many hand-drawn maps are already B & W, so there’s a good crossover.


So, those are my initial thoughts. If you’ve got ideas, make your case!