For anyone wondering how The Headline Awards work…
Every year, around the beginning of December, the call is sent out for volunteers to judge the awards. And the call is answered. These are dedicated fans who spend all year creating and enjoying fandom work new and old. We are grateful to everyone who gives their time and effort in order to make the awards happen year after year. If you think you’d like to help us as a judge, be sure to contact us and let us know.
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On January 1st we open the awards for nominations. This is a twenty day period in which everyone in any Anthony Head fandom is encouraged to share their favorite and most engaging finds with us. Our moderators gather these nominations and, as long as our rules are followed, add them all to the nominee list. During the same time, our judges are put into teams for every category and given their assignments. It is their responsibility to read and/or view every entry to make sure all nominees are given equal consideration.
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On January 21st the judging and voting period begins. Each category has a team of judges who read and view all of the entries, deliberate and discuss. All of the wonderful works that get submitted deserve to be recognized and praised. For this reason, we see Headline not as an opportunity to declare which works are the 'best' in each category, but as a celebration of all the amazing and varied talents across this fandom. We realize that the word 'awards' can imply competition, but we also believe fandom should be fun and inclusive for all. In 2025, we have made a few slight changes to the judging process to reflect this ethos. Many of the categories from past years have been consolidated and judges will be awarding a number of theme-based accolades in each category (e.g. romance, dark, etc.) to works which particularly impressed them. There is no official, exhaustive list of themes, and they may differ between categories. Instead, it will be left to the judges to decide which themes to apply to their chosen works, as there can be many reasons why a work has resonated with a particular person. We hope that this approach will allow for a greater number of entries to be acknowledged based on their individual merits, rather than how well they may fit into a certain category.​
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After the judges have made their choices, they are asked to write a comment on their selected work. This is because, as we all know, the one thing authors and artists covet above all else is feedback. They are our gift to the creators. We hope that our comments might give you a hint as to why your work stood out for us.
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The judging and voting ends on February 18th. The list of works being honored and accompanying comments are sorted and prepared. Then our artist has the task of making all of the award banners, always ensuring each one gets the attention they deserve. Every year they are beautiful.
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The big day is February 20th, when we post the winners, banners, and comments in honor of Tony’s birthday. This is a very exhausting day for our moderates. But then everyone takes a breath and takes a well-earned rest for next year.
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We hope this gives you a small glimpse into how the Headline Awards happen every year. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. As always, thank you for your interest and participation.