Editor and writer Jeff Crook is seeking nominations of heroic fantasy and sword-and-sorcery stories for his newly launched Ham-Sized Fist Award. According to the rules:

"Only heroic fantasy or sword-and-sorcery stories published in magazines, e-zines, literary journals, anthologies or chapbooks that have an editorial process are eligible for nomination. This means that an editor must have selected the story for publication. Only English language stories, or stories translated into English for publication, will be considered. Self-published stories are not eligible, and unpublished stories will not be considered."

In addition, all nominated stories must be at least 500 words in length and must have been published between January 1 2009 and December 31 2009.

Jeff is a great writer who has also edited some wonderful projects like Postcards from Hell. He has also been a preliminary judge for the Million Writers Award. To put his money where his award-mouth is, Jeff has already ponied up $300 for the Ham-Sized Fist Award's author award, and another $300 to go to the publisher of the award-winning story. He's asking for donations to increase that amount to $500, and I intend to donate shortly.

I hope people will support this award. One of the ways new and unknown authors gain recognition is through awards. While heroic fantasy and sword-and-sorcery stories are extremely popular with readers and writers, to my knowledge there isn't an award devoted solely to this genre. Jeff is filling a needed gap in the literary award landscape.