Help:Screen:AddAward

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This page is a help or manual page for the ISFDB database. It describes standards or methods for entering or maintaining data in the ISFDB database, or otherwise working with the database. Other help pages may be found via the category below. To discuss what should go on this page, use the talk page.

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Important note about award types supported by ISFDB:

ISFDB supports two different types of awards. Although they are entered and modified using the same Web pages, they are quite different and it's important to understand the difference before you start entering or editing awards. The two award types are as follows:

  • Title-based Awards (including Cover Art): Most awards are given to individual ISFDB titles, e.g. novels, non-fiction, short stories, cover art and so on. Note that these titles MUST already exist in ISFDB before you can add awards to them. If you want to add an award to a title that is not in ISFDB, then you have to enter that title first, wait for the submission to be approved and then enter the title's award(s).
  • Other awards: ISFDB also supports awards given to individuals beyond their specific works, e.g. Lifetime Achievement awards. In addition, it supports awards given to publishers, editors, title series, and non-ISFDB items such as web sites, movies, graphic novels, and never-published stories (such as runner-ups in various "new story" awards). These awards are referred to as "Untitled Awards" because they are not associated with ISFDB title records.


There are three ways to enter a new award record in the database:

  • Follow the "Add an Award to This Title" link on the Title page. This will allow you to create an award record associated with the currently displayed title.
  • Follow the "Add Untitled Award of This Type" link on the Award overview page or on a year-specific page for an award. This will allow you to create an award record not associated with an ISFDB title. The page will default the value of the "Award Name" field to the name of the previously displayed award, although the editor will be able to select a different award name if desired.
  • Follow the "Add Untitled Award" link at the bottom of the "Add New Data" section of the navigation bar on the left. This will allow you to create an award record not associated with an ISFDB title. The value of the "Award Name" field will default to the first award name on file.


When you access the "Award Editor" page, you will see the following fields:

  • Title: This field will be pre-filled by the application if you selected "Add Award Information to This Title". If you selected "Add Untitled Award" then you are adding an award for something other than a bibliographic title. See the notes at the bottom for more details on entering this type of award. The "Title" field for such awards should be filled out as:
    • If the item has a title, but the title refers to an object which is not a standard kind of ISFDB title (for instance, the name of a magazine or a nongenre reference book, etc), then you can add the title to this field. When the award is displayed during normal use, the ISFDB will NOT generate a link to a title record.
    • If the item has no possible title (e.g.: Best Artist, Best Editor, Best Book Publisher, categories), then place the word "untitled" in this field. When the award is displayed, a "----" will be displayed in the title column.
  • Author: This field will be pre-filled by the application if you selected "Add Award Information to This Title". If you selected "Add Untitled Award" it is up to the editor to find the canonical name in the database and enter it here.
  • Year: This should contain the year (as YYYY-00-00) of the award, not the year of the title's original publication. The award year can be somewhat contentious; sometimes the year of eligibility is used, and in other cases the year the award is handed out is used. If you are pulling in awards information from an external source, sync on a year that the ISFDB already has data for and make the year for the new data consistent with the current year usage.
  • Award Name: This is a pull-down menu which lists all awards known to ISFDB. If you accessed this Web page via the "Add Untitled Award of This Type" link, the value of this field will be defaulted. If you want to enter an award that is currently not supported by the ISFDB software, post a request on the Community Portal and it will be considered. (Please note that ISFDB supports the John W. Campbell Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, which are two separate awards).
  • Category: The category is the title of the award, such as "Best Novel", or "Best SF Novel", or "Best Novelette". When the awards are displayed for a particular year (say 1993 Hugo Award), they will be grouped according to categories. Note the categories within a particular award (like the Hugos) may officially differ from year to year. One should defer to the official titles as found in the press release for the award. This category must be filled in, even for awards where there is no "name" other than the name of the award itself. If you are unsure what to use for a "Category", look at the name(s) used in previous years.
  • Award Level: ISFDB supports two types of awards: those with winners and nominees (such as the Hugo awards) and those with enumerated poll numbers (such as the Locus Poll). For nominee-type awards, data can be entered when the nominees are first announced (that is, there are no winners yet), and changed when the winner is announced at a later date. In these cases, select the radio button for either Nomination or Win. For poll-type awards, choose the Poll place radio button and enter the award ranking (1-70). For withdrawn, preliminary and other types of special nominees, choose the "Special" radio button and select the appropriate choice form the drop-down list.
  • IMDB title: When entering an award given to a movie or a TV show, enter its title as it appears in IMDB, e.g. "Star Trek (2009)". Note that this field is only displayed if you are adding or editing a non-title based award.
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