The Triumphant Return of...The Shippy Awards!

It's that time of year again! When we, the bookish community, vote in various places for the Best Science Fiction and Best Young Adult Romance and Best Cover and all other types of best bookish things as the year winds down and we all scramble to remember the what the actual hell we read this year.

If you've hung around my corner of the blogosphere for longer than, I don't know, the last paragraph, you know that I'm not the kind of blogger who's going to try to add any seriousosity to the Best in Show-ness that sweeps the interwebs every November through January. So here at Casa Gillian, we're not voting on Best Plot or Best Postmodern Deconstruction of Things and Stuff.

Nah, we're voting on kissing, and who does it best. (Seriously, it'll be nice to vote on something that doesn't end with the world falling apart. So here are some ships, to make us all a bit happier)

You may think it's all hearts and OTPs, but oh, the Shippies are the bloodiest awards in the blosophere. There are WINNERS and LOSERS and DEATH AT THE CORNUCOPIA and tears for days. Here, if you want, you can vote on your favorite ships of 2016, and the winning ships will get crowns and capes and romantic honeymoons to private islands off the coast of Brazil where they can snorkel and sparkle and procreate if they want, idk, to each their shippy own.

RULES!!! READ THEM, PLEASE. FOLLOW THEM. ABSORB THEM. LOVE THEM. MAKE MY LIFE EASIER.

****Only books published within the 2016 calendar year count. Also, you're allowed to nominate as many ships as you like, but you're only allowed to nominate each one once PER CATEGORY. I can't verify this (though I can tell), but pleeeeeease. Honor system! It makes it a lot harder for me to tally up the results accurately. Don't spam my form with nonstop voting for one ship, please!*****

The books don't HAVE to be YA, though bear in mind, this is a YA blog, so my readership reads YA, and therefore most if not all of the winners will end up YA.

The top five ish (#bookmath) ships in each category will then move onto the VOTING ROUND two or so weeks from now (I am very professional, aka too lazy to check a calendar, but I will update this when I set a date). SO YES, then we move onto the Voting Round, aka the round of bloodshed, where good ships die and the strongest ships rise triumphant. The winning ships will earn one of THESE:

*heavenly chorus sings*

A SHIPPY! Why yes, that is a drawing of a trophy that does not exist. IT IS THE MOST COVETED MADE UP TROPHY IN THE UNIVERSE. All the ships are ready to do battle over it.

Without further ado, the categories:




Ultimate Ship Honors

Best Ship of the Year
Which 2016 ship was the KING OF SHIPS? The shippiest of ships? The ship that makes all the other ships look like pieces of ship?

Shippiest Book
Which book made your toes curl tightest and your knees buckle and your SWOONS SWOONIEST?

Best Author of Ships
This author knows their ships like no other. Who’s the one author you can turn to when you KNOW you need a good dose of shippy perfection?

Best Debut Ship
Which ship conquered the seas most effectively on its maiden voyage? To clarify, I mean a ship from a DEBUT NOVEL, not just a ship that debuted this year.

Best QUILTBAG+ Ship
Which glittery gorgeous rainbow ship stole your heart in 2016?

What Makes a Ship

Hottest Hook Up
Hotchacha *swoons* *fans self*

Best Kiss
Which pucker up pleased you most perfectly?

Tropes

Best “I Hate Your Face But Also I Want to Smash It Against Mine”
Which transition from hate you love did you hatelove best?

Best “Friends to Lovers”
And at laaaast I seeee the liiiiiight and it’s like the foooog has lifteddddd

Best “JUST KISS ALREADY”
Omg seriously her lips are RIGHT THERE just EAT THEM OMG DO IT how have they not done it arghhhhhhh


Genres

If you can’t figure out which genre your ship belongs in, just guess which one fits best! I killed off a few categories this year because they just didn't get very many votes last year (sorry, Historical! and I would have killed Paranormal too if there hadn't been The Raven King this year, because let's be real).

Best Fantasy Ship
Which magically marvelous ship cast the strongest spell on you this year?

Best Contemporary Ship
These ships keep it real.

Best Paranormal Ship
This ship is my life now.

Best Science Fiction Ship
I SPACE SHIP IT

Fun With Ships

Most Un-Ship
Can we control-Z that ship?

Best Crackship
0% chance of occurring but 100% want it to

Best Friendship
This ship may not kiss, but they’re still platonic soul mates

Best Adaptation Ship
Any movie or TV show or webseries version of your fave ships COME TO LIFE

**Make sure when you nominate a ship to leave the character names AND the book title AND the author!!!**



Now remember, this is clearly a VERY IMPORTANT award, right up there with all the fancy national medal-y sticker-on-cover awards, so vote responsibly, kiddos. Because the winners get both a lifetime of bragging rights and THIS MADE UP TROPHY* TO DISPLAY WITH PRIDE:

*picture of a made up trophy

Happy voting and have a shipperful day!