Awarded for outstanding achievement in Robert E. Howard studies during the calendar year 2005.

The winners of the second annual Cimmerian Awards were announced on the evening of Friday, June 9th 2006, live at Robert E. Howard Days in Cross Plains.

THE WINNERS

The Atlantean — Outstanding Achievement, Book By a Single Author
DENNIS McHANEY, for Robert E. Howard: World’s Greatest Pulpster

The Valusian — Outstanding Achievement, Anthology
no award given

The Hyrkanian — Outstanding Achievement, Essay
First Place: [redacted], for “[redacted]” (from The Cimmerian V2n1)
Second Place: CHARLES HOFFMAN, for “Blood Lust” (from The Cimmerian V2n5)
Third Place: CHRIS GRUBER, for “Born to Edit Boxing Stories” (from The Cimmerian V2n3)

The Aquilonian — Outstanding Achievement, Periodical
LEO GRIN, for The Cimmerian Volume 2

The Stygian — Outstanding Achievement, Website
PAUL HERMAN, for HowardWorks

The Venarium Award — Emerging Scholar
[redacted]

The Black River Award — Special Achievement
CHRIS GRUBER, for finding and publishing a surviving typescript for Howard’s classic boxing tale “Iron Men” that was 10,000 words longer than any previously published version.

The Black Circle Award — Lifetime Achievement
no award given

Full details of this year’s Awards are available in The Cimmerian‘s annual Awards issue for 2006.

THE 2006 CIMMERIAN AWARDS — LIST OF NOMINEES

The Atlantean — Outstanding Achievement, Book by a Single Author
(for the purposes of this award, a book is any publication which is perfect-bound, over 50 pages, and has a stated intention of being a one-shot item)

WINNER: McHANEY, DENNIS: Robert E. Howard: World’s Greatest Pulpster
(vote APPROVE or DISAPPROVE)

The Valusian — Outstanding Achievement, Anthology
(for the purposes of this award, a book is any publication which is perfect-bound, over 50 pages, and has a stated intention of being a one-shot item)

no qualified nominees; no award will be given

The Hyrkanian — Outstanding Achievement, Essay
(Essays must have made their first public published appearance in the previous calender year. Short interviews, speeches, book introductions, short reviews and other minor works do not count. Remember, you need to allocate your total number of votes three times for this category: once for First Place, once for Second, and again for Third. Also remember, for each of those places you can split your total between several essays you feel are deserving of votes.)

BURKE, RUSTY
“Frontiers of Imagination” (from The Cimmerian V2n3)

[redacted]

GENTZEL, DAVE
“A Gent Up Bear Creek” (from The Cimmerian V2n2)

GRAMLICH, CHARLES
“Robert E. Howard in the Gothic Tradition” (from The Dark Man #8)

GRIN, LEO
“When You Wish Upon A (Wandering) Star” (from The Cimmerian V2n4)

GRUBER, CHRIS
THIRD PLACE WINNER: “Born to Edit Boxing Stories” (from The Cimmerian V2n3)

HAEFELE, JOHN
“Robert E. Howard in the Necronomicon Press” (from The Cimmerian V2n6)

HANKE, ERA LEE
“Old Pickets Find New Homes” (from The Cimmerian V2n2)

HARDY, DAVID A.
“Conquistadors of Doom” (from The Cimmerian V2n1)
“Trail of the Veiled Prophet” (from The Cimmerian V2n5)

HOFFMAN, CHARLES
SECOND PLACE WINNER: “Blood Lust” (from The Cimmerian V2n5)

HOLMES, MORGAN
“Restless Hercules, Wild Planet” (from REH: Two-Gun Raconteur #8)

KELSEY, RICK
“The Return of Conan” (from Fine Books & Collections July/August 2005)

LINZALONE, JOSEPH
“Bundling Inscribed” (from The Cimmerian V2n4)

LOUINET, PATRICE
“Beyond the Barbarian: History in the Works of Robert E. Howard” (from Paradox #7)
“Hyborian Genesis Part III” (from The Conquering Sword of Conan by Del Rey)

McCOLLUM, RICK
“A More Sincere Form of Flattery” (from The Cimmerian V2n2)
“At the Mammaries of Madness” (from The Cimmerian V2n6)

NIELSEN, LEON
“Asgard, Vanaheim, and Cimmeria” (from The Cimmerian V2n5)
“From Tarzan to Conan” (from The Burroughs Bulletin #63)

REASONER, JAMES
“Small World” (from The Cimmerian V2n5)

[redacted]

ROMEO, GARY
“Inspirations from Life” (from The Cimmerian V2n1)

SIDNEY-FRYER, DONALD
“In Defense of ‘Little Boys'” (from The Cimmerian V2n6)

STREET, DANNY
“A Dark Gray Heritage Part 2” (from REH: Two-Gun Raconteur #8)

SZUMSKYJ, BENJAMIN
“The Clean Shaven Barbarian: A Masculine Reading of Robert E. Howard’s ‘The Gold and the Grey'” (from the webzine Calenture #1)

TOMPKINS, STEVE
“How the West Was Wondered” (from The Cimmerian V2n2)

VAN HISE, JAMES
“Classic REH Fanzines” (from Sword & Fantasy #1)
“The Valley of the Worm(s)” (from Sword & Fantasy #1)
“A Look at ‘The Scarlet Citadel'” (from Sword & Fantasy #2)
“Shadows in the Moonlight” (from Sword & Fantasy #3)

The Aquilonian — Outstanding Achievement, Periodical
(for the purposes of this award, a periodical is any publication which has a stated intention of being a continuous series of items, even if only one issue appeared during the year in question, and even if the periodical’s length would otherwise qualify it as a book)

WINNER: GRIN, LEO: The Cimmerian Volume 2
HALL, MARK: The Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E. Howard Studies
SASSER, DAMON: REH: Two-Gun Raconteur
VAN HISE, JAMES: Sword & Fantasy

The Stygian — Outstanding Achievement, Website
(Nominees are limited to Internet sites with a main purpose of archiving REH scholarship. Chat groups and e-mail lists do not qualify. To get on the ballot, each website must have updated their content at least once in the past year.)

GRIN, LEO: The REHupa website

WINNER: HERMAN, PAUL: HowardWorks

RIPPKE, DALE: Heroes of Dark Fantasy

WATERMAN, EDWARD A.: The Barbarian Keep

The Venarium Award — Emerging Scholar
(Nominees have never won a Cimmerian Award before, and in the last year displayed the beginnings of what could be a movement into the upper echelon of Howard movers and shakers. You can only be nominated for this award once, in the year you make your first big push into the wider world of Howard publishing and scholarship.)

GRUBER, CHRIS: Chris made a big splash on Howard fandom this year via the Bison release Boxing Stories, which he assembled and edited. The crown jewel of the book is the newly-restored, 10,000 words longer version of “Iron Men,” but other treasures include two Dorgan stories converted back to Costigans for the first time. In addition, Chris wrote a lengthy essay about his editing experience for The Cimmerian, providing readers with much additional information.

HARDY, DAVID A.: Dave first caught attention of Howard fans last year with his essay “The Great Game,” which scored fifth place in last year’s Cimmerian Award voting. This year, he rocketed in Venarium contention with two new essays, the haunting, bloody “Conquistadors of Doom” and the historically rich “Trail of the Veiled Prophet,” establishing him overnight as one of the most interesting voices in Howard fandom.

[redacted]

The Black River Award — Special Achievement

(The following nominees have produced something special that doesn’t fit into any other category: scholarly art, biographical discoveries, etc.)

WINNER: GRUBER, CHRIS: For making the startling discovery that a surviving typescript for Howard’s classic boxing tale “Iron Men” was 10,000 words longer than any previously published version, something no one had ever discerned before, and for insisting as editor of Boxing Stories that this version be the one published.

KEEGAN, JIM and RUTH: for Jim and his wife Ruth’s continued writing and illustrating of “The Adventures of Two-Gun Bob,” a well-received comic strip running in Dark Horse’s Conan comic book, using real research from Howard’s letters.

MILLER, CRAIG: For his new special issue of Spectrum Magazine, the Conan Super Special #3. This issue is packed with various articles, artwork, essays and interviews about Conan, Howard, and related subjects.

[redacted]

The Black Circle Award — Lifetime Achievement
(Given only sporadically as warranted, The Black Circle of Howard Fandom constitutes entering a highly select group of luminaries. Nominee must have at least twenty documented years in Howard fandom and get at least 60% of the total votes for this category. In years where no one candidate amasses the 60% minimum, no award is given. Awards given posthumously will go to the next of kin or, if none are forthcoming, to the Robert E. Howard Museum in Cross Plains, Texas.)

no award given.

2005 Nominees

BLOSSER, FRED
BURKE, RUSTY
CAVALIER, BILL “INDY”
CERASINI, MARC
De CAMP, LYON SPRAGUE (posthumous)
HERRON, DON
HOFFMAN, CHARLES
LOVING, BILLIE RUTH (posthumous)
MAREK, JOE
McCOLLUM, RICK
McHANEY, DENNIS
PRICE, ROBERT
SASSER, DAMON
SCHWEITZER, DARRELL
SCITHERS, GEORGE
THOMAS, ROY
TROUT, STEVE
WEINBERG, ROBERT
WRIGHT, FARNSWORTH (posthumous)