The Pegasus Award is the premier award for

filk music Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to Science fiction fandom, science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-197 ...

and is annually hosted at the Ohio Valley Filk Fest (OVFF).

Awards

The Pegasus Awards were founded to recognize and honor excellence in filking. As

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

(sci-fi) became better known and widespread within society in the 20th century as a distinct literary genre, many fans expressed themselves through works of music and art, including filking. The Pegasus Awards formally recognise filking or fan music as a fine lens that the sci-fi community shares with particular fiction-based cultural ideas. Anyone with an interest in filk can nominate songs or individuals for the awards, and anyone can vote. It is not necessary to be a member of the convention to be involved in the nomination and voting process. Currently awards are given in six categories: Best Song, Best Performer, Best Writer/Composer, Best Classic Song and two topical categories that vary from year to year. Some examples of past categories include: Best Love Song, Best Literature Song, Best Techie Song, Best Sing Along, etc. The OVFF convention committee solicits nominations for finalists for the Pegasus Awards (the Nominating Ballot) during the late spring and summer. There is an opinion poll that runs during the year as well to help interested folk brainstorm ideas for the nominating ballot. The finalist ballot is distributed in the early fall, and must be returned by the opening night of OVFF. Voting can be done online—either to nominate finalists, or to vote for the finalists themselves. The final round of voting happens at OVFF itself, where handwritten ballots are collected after the annual Pegasus concert. The entire process is administered by the OVFF convention committee.

Ohio Valley Filk Fest

The Ohio Valley Filk Fest, (OVFF) is one of the largest

conventions. It is held annually in October in the

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

area, and the culmination of the event is the presentation of the Pegasus Award.Lucas, Barbara Lynn. "Music: Twentieth Century" in ''Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume 1, Overviews'' ( Robin Anne Reid, ed.) Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing, 2009; p. 156 The first OVFF was held in 1984 in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

and was attended by about 80 people; it included the presentation of the first Pegasus Awards. After skipping 1985, it moved to the Columbus area but retained "Ohio Valley" in its name. The convention has been held every year since then, in various locations in Columbus. Recent conventions had been held in

Dublin, Ohio Dublin is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. A suburb of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, it falls within the jurisdictions of Franklin County, Ohio, Franklin, Delaware County, Ohio, Delaware, Union County, Ohio, Union, and Madison County, Ohio, Madison ...

, but as of 2010 the convention has moved to Worthington.

Lists of award winners

* Ties and joint winners

Best Performer

Best Writer/Composer

Song awards

Best Filk Song

Best Classic Filk Song

Topical categories

References

External links

The Pegasus Award Winners

Ohio Valley Filk Fest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pegasus Award Filk music American music awards Music of Ohio