Awards and criteria
The Kitschies were administered by a non-profit association with the stated mission of "encouraging and elevating the tone of the discussion of genre literature in its many forms". The founders, Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin, said that they sought to bring attention to works with a fantastic or speculative element that were progressive in terms of content and composition. The award was a juried prize that selected the books which "best elevate the tone of genre literature." Qualifying books needed to contain "an element of the fantastic or speculative" and have been published in the UK. Winners received prize money and a textile tentacle trophy. The Kitschies were initially established in 2009 by the website pornokitsch.com. The Kraken Rum was the sponsor between 2010 and 2013. For 2014 and 2015, Fallen London (a creation of UK game developer Failbetter Games) was the sponsor. The award did not run in 2016. From 2017 the sponsor was Blackwell's Bookshop. For the last ten or eleven years of operation, the Kitschies were awarded in five categories: *Red Tentacle for the best novel (£1,000, since 2009) *Golden Tentacle for the best debut novel (£500, since 2010) *Inky Tentacle for the best cover art (£500, since 2011) *Invisible Tentacle for the best natively digital fiction (since 2014) *Glentacle, awarded at the judges' discretion (since 2010, called "Black Tentacle" until 2020)Organisation
The judging panel changes annually and the unpaid directors have changed due to workload or illness. The number of submissions increased from 70 in 2009 to 234 in 2013. For each year, the judges, directors, and the number of submissions for each year were as follows:Recipients
All award information, unless otherwise referenced, is from the Kitschies Award'Red Tentacle (best novel)
Golden Tentacle (best debut novel)
Inky Tentacle (best cover art)
Invisible Tentacle (best natively digital fiction)
Glentacle (Discretionary award previously called the Black Tentacle)
This award was called "Black Tentacle" until 2020, when it was renamed in memory of Kitschies co-founder Glen Mehn.References
External links