1) Based on the published guidelines for the Nebula Awards, the Hugo Awards & others, we have set the word counts for our categories as follows:

Novel – 40,000 words or more
Novella – 7,500 words to 39,999 words
Short Story – 1,500 words to 7,500 words

Please note: we have a minimum word count for a story to be considered for the Darrell Awards.

2) In order to qualify, the work must be science fiction or fantasy prose, with horror included as a type of fantasy. Alternate history is included as either fantasy or science fiction, depending on story elements. Movies and comics are included in the Other Media category. Poetry, religious fiction, general fiction, and non-fiction are not currently eligible.

3) In order to qualify, the work must either be written by an author who is living in the greater Memphis area (as defined below) when the work is published OR have at least one significant scene set within that area. Broadly defined, the area is west Tennessee, north Mississippi and east Arkansas. Specifically, the counties involved are:
 

State of Arkansas: Arkansas County, Craighead County, Crittenden County, Cross County, Desha County, Greene County, Independence County, Jackson County, Lawrence County, Lee County, Mississippi County, Monroe County, Phillips County, Poinsett County, Prairie County, Saint Francis County, White County, and Woodruff County;

State of Mississippi: Benton County, Bolivar County, Calhoun County, Coahoma County, DeSoto County, Lafayette County, Lee County, Marshall County, Panola County, Pontotoc County, Prentiss County, Quitman County, Sunflower County, Tallahatchie County, Tate County, Tippah County, Tunica County, Union County, and Yalobusha County;

State of Tennessee: Chester County, Crockett County, Dyer County, Fayette County, Haywood County, Hardeman County, Lake County, Lauderdale County, Madison County, McNairy County, Obion County, Shelby County, and Tipton County.

4) We have adopted a policy on dealing with authors whose works were nominated and who later commit bad acts. In brief, we will not provide any further publicity for such authors, they will be deemed ineligible for any future consideration, and they will not be included in any anthology or other materials which we may produce or license or otherwise authorize. What constitutes a bad act sufficient to fall within this policy will be determined on a case-by-case basis by the Jury.

5) Anyone may nominate a qualified work for consideration. This includes the author, publisher, or friend. We do not release lists of works that have been merely nominated, as being nominated is just the first step in the judging process.

6) For the Darrell Awards in the Novel, Novella, Short Story and Other Media categories, the work should have been published (or, in the case of a movie or play, shown or performed) during the preceding “year.” We currently define the year as November 1 through October 31, with the deadline for nominations as January 1. So, for the 2011 Darrell Awards, the work should have been published between November 1, 2009 and October 31, 2010, with the nomination deadline of January 1, 2011. Works published after the cut-off can be considered next time.

7) The Dal Coger Memorial Hall of Fame Award was established to consider authors who have a body of work (that is otherwise eligible for the Darrell Awards) that was not nominated during its year of eligibility and/or that is too extensive to be properly considered in one category in one year. An author may be nominated more than once for the Hall of Fame Award, but may only win it one time in his or her life.

8) Please note that we do not accept Religious Fiction for these Awards. This is out of respect for the sincere religious beliefs of the authors as reflected in their works, which we believe takes them out of the realm of make-believe that is our genre. This is not to say that an SF/F/H work can not have religious elements; rather, it is to say that if the only thing fantastical or supernatural or futuristic or horrific about the work is the religious element, it would not be appropriate for us to judge that in the same fashion as works that are generally understood to be based on sheer imagination, not faith. 

9) In a similar fashion, while we recognize that paranormal romance is a very active sub-genre of SF/F/H and there has long been an element of implied sex within much of the overall genre, we do not accept works of a primarily sexually-explicit nature. If, in the judgment of the Jury, the story is about sex, with the SF/F/H elements there only to connect the sex scenes, we will reject the work as not appropriate for these Awards. On the other hand, if the story is not about sex but merely contains some small amount of it, we will consider it for these Awards. As with all matters concerning these Awards, the judgment of the Jury is final. 

10) The purpose of these Awards is to recognise the best in the genre each year. In keeping with that purpose, we will not give an Award to any story that we find to have elements that are disgusting and/or unnecessarily disturbing. If a work submitted is found to have these elements, the author will be notified. Any further submissions of works by that author that are found to have these elements will disqualify that author for two (2) years and require them to certify that any future submissions are PG-13 or PG rated in content at the time they are submitted. 

In order to qualify in the short story, novel, novella or other works categories, the work should have been published during the preceeding "year." Starting in 2008, we have revised our year under consideration to be November 1st through October 31st, rather than the calendar year. So, for 2011 Darrell Awards, the work should have been published between November 1, 2009, and October 31, 2010 -- and the deadline for nominating works published during that time period is January 1, 2011.

For the Dal Coger Memorial Hall of Fame Award, the year of publication does not matter, as long as the author has a body of eligible work as defined above and the work being considered has not previously been nominated for the Darrell Awards. The same deadline for nominations still applies - January 1 of each year.