Not sure what to do with "Richard J. Durand". I gave his site a look, but I can't tell what was released in 2010, or simply remastered. There's also a bunch of stuff on his site, but mostly in small snippets. If you've been following his work, Maven, let me know if there is anything that has particularly caught your fancy. I could only think of two "Break-Out" artists. Dunno if that's enough to justify the category, especially since they are both my nominations. I'll let FLE make the call on that. How are we going to pare down the categories for which we have numerous nominations? General acclaim, of does FLE handle that?

FLE usually has a plan.

FLE? Friggin Lord Elrond? Oh, ehm, that'd be me then? I think we should have at least four nominees to vote on, otherwise it's feels a little bit silly

RE: "I think we should have at least four nominees to vote on". Then we need 1 more Fantasy Album and 2 more Break Out Artists. Probably need another Fantasy Artist, since the 4 nominations we have include 2 for Tinc. Any suggestions? Our community has been strangely subdued on this topic.

Okay, then we need to scrape the net for some more nominees. Yeah, the response isn't that great. I hope we can boost it somehow, at least when it comes to the voting Some day all participation will earn experience points that can be used to level up and get cool stuff

As for Fantasy Album of the Year, personally my favorite albums in 2010 were: 1. Loreena McKennitt's The Wind that Shakes the Barley. 2. Medieval Baebes' Temptation (double live album) While some might saythese are not strictly "fantasy" albums, these artists always includes fantasy elements in their music. We might also consider: 1. Derelict World,a dark ambient album by False Mirror 2. We Bring You a King with a Head of Gold, by Various Artists on the Cold Spring label (click album title to hear soundclips)

Hmmmm. Loreena McKennitt, Medieval Baebes, & the Cold Spring's compilation all sound like Folk to me. "Derelict World" sounds like Fantasy, but it's so ambient, I can't imagine it being something we'd ever play on RR. That said, your nominations are as good as mine. Do you want to nominate any or all of those, or were they just tossed up for consideration?

Well, I thought Derelict World was pretty cool, so let's nominate that. For Artist of the Year, or Breakout Artist, or whatever we're calling it:

*Cris Velasco- God of War III & Darksiders *Danny Elfman - Alice in Wonderland & The Wolfman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack *Two Steps From Hell (Nick Phoenix & Thomas J.Bergersen) - Invincible, Power of Darkness, All Drones Go To Hell, Illumina

Alrighty, then. With Maven's picks (excellent finds on those break-outs!) and with another art piece I was able to scare up on Deviant art, I do believe we have a full roster. Back to you, FLE!

Hey - can we have one of our artistic members come up with some kind of logo that winners could display? e.g. this

Yeah, I really love the idea of a banner they could use! That way we can boost ourselves and our site as well as make it worthwhile trying to get into our nominations I love that banner! Looks big and fantasy and cool

Yeah I like thebanner idea. Wish I was more artsy.

Do we want to do something like this, or hold out for a real artist? http://c0c0c0.net/files/rraward.png If the latter, do we have anyone in mind?

I can announce something on the front and in out Twitter feed to try to get someone to do it

Hmmm. The artists do not appear to be beating down our door. I say we need to continue with the poll rollout and hope an image appears. If it doesn't, we'll just have to start asking earlier for next year.

Yeah, sounds like a plan. I'll see what I can whop up during the voting

I've updated my scripts a little and I'm ready to start entering the data. You are all free to pick and choose four nominees if you like It would be most appreciated if you help out and do this

My Picks: 2010 Best Fantasy Game Soundtracks: Gerard Marino, Ron Fish, Cris Velasco, Mike Reagan, and Jeff Rona - God of War III Knute Avenstroup Haugun - AoC: Hyborian Adventures - The Rise of the Godslayer Steve Jablonsky & Penka Kouneva - Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands Dynamedion - Anno 1404 2010 Best Fantasy Film or TV Soundtracks: John Powell - How to Train your Dragon James Newton Howard - The Last Airbender Christophe Beck - Percy Jackson And The Olympians: The Lightning Thief Harry Gregson-Williams - Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time 2010 Best Fantasy Albums: Erdenstern - Into the White Two Steps From Hell - Invincible Lost Kingdom - Meant for Great Things Laura Olson- Mossflower Country 2010 Best Independent Fantasy Artist: Autumn Peacock by Tincolindo AKA Elfdaughter The Waiting Game by Anna M. Strube A Fantasy by DusterAmaranth Salt sea by ForestGirl 2010 Best Song by Independent Composer: Scourge of Amon - Sean Beeson The Secret of Ayers Rock - Denny Schneidemesser The End of All Things - Ralf KurtsieferOrkpack I Move On (Sintel's Song) - Jan Morgenstern 2010 Break-Out Artist: The composer and/or musician/group that had the most outstanding year

* Dynamedion * Erdenstern * Two Steps From Hell * Cris Velasco

Dynamedion and Tinc both had multiple nominations. If someone else liked the ones I didn't pick better, I'll change my vote on those. I liked both nomination in both cases, and don't want the artist penalized because they were prolific.

We often have multiple nominations for artists who had a particularly good year. No problems. Grey, I think you've done a fabulous job of picking nominees. Where I differ from you, my picks: 2010 Best Fantasy Game Soundtracks:

*Dragon Age: Origins - Leliana's Song by Inon Zur *Fable III Original Soundtrack by Russell Shaw *Assassin's Creed Brotherhood by Jesper Kyd *Darksiders: Original Soundtrack by Chris Velasco;Mike Reagan;Scott Morton

2010 Best Fantasy Film or TV Soundtracks:

*Alice in Wonderland by Danny Elfman *The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by David Arnold *Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows Part One by Alexandre Desplat *How to Train your Dragon by John Powell

2010 Best Song by Independent Composer: "Gothenburg Aero Show 2010 - Main Theme" by Pontus Rufelt "Remembrance Hall Honor Guard" from Mossflower Coutnry by Laura Olson

Ouch, can you battle it out? I cannot pick and choose, they're all very good