The first Parsec Awards honoring excellence in Science-Fiction and Fantasy Podcasting, will be given this September at the DragonCon Convention held in Atlanta, Georgia. Our little group — pioneers in internet audio — will be hosting the awards as part of a new track of coordinated events at the convention specifically geared to the exploding phenomenon of podcasting.

Podcasting is a method of distributing media files — audio or video — via the internet, usually for playback on portable media devices such as Apple’s iPod. Typically, podcasts use a syndication format known as RSS which allows a subscriber to recieve new editions of programming as they become available and then experience the program at their convenience. With over 140 million mp3 players sold in 2005 and an estimated 286 million by the end of the decade, many believe podcasting to be the new preferred media of the decade.

The Parsec Award will recognize and pay tribute to those people and podcasts that have done an outstanding job bringing the literature of “speculative fiction” to the podcast medium. Speculative Fiction is considered to generally encompass tales in the spectrum from realistic science-fiction to fantastic and magical fantasy. Current award categories include:

• Best Speculative Fiction Story (Short Form)
• Best Speculative Fiction Story (Long Form)
• Best Audio Drama (Short Form including Independents)
• Best Audio Drama (Long Form including Independents)
• Best Audio Production
• Best Non-Speculative Fiction
• Best Writing-related Podcast
• Best Fan Podcast
• Best Speculative Fiction News Podcast

Details and rules can be found at the Parsec Award website. Nominations in the ten categories will be opened June 1st, and closed July 31st,, with final judging conducted in August.

“Podcasting: Now and Beyond” is the title of the new series of panels, seminars, workshops and performances that will be presented at the convention in conjunction with the Parsec Awards. A discussion forum is open to all podcasters and their audience alike who wish to add panel ideas and discuss events for the track. A link to the official message forum can be found at www.parsecawards.com.

Michael R. Mennenga (Dragon Page, Slice of SciFi, Wingin’ It!), Mur Lafferty (Geek Fu Action Grip, I Should be Writing), and New York Times Best Selling author Tracy Hickman (Dragonhearth) will be helming the track of programming, events and panels. Derek Colanduno and Swoopy (Skepticality) have been designated the Liaison Directors to the convention in Atlanta.

DragonCon, the largest science fiction, fantasy, pop culture convention in North America is being held September 1st-4th of 2006.

If you are interested in submitting your podcast — or someone elses’ podcast — for consideration for one of these awards, we encourage you to visit the “Podcasting: Now and Beyond” Message Board Forums for details on the awards process, submission for consideration and rules.