This weekend,
Romance Writers Of America
awarded a Best Of prize
to a romance novel
featuring a hero who willingly
participated in genocide.
It might have been a well written book.
I don’t know.
I didn’t read it.
But the issue is…
this book is representing
ALL of Romance.
It will be held up
as the best Romance
has to offer.
And it is extremely offensive.
(It is also poorly researched
but that is an entirely different
discussion.)
If you’re hosting
Best Of… awards,
ensure the winners
represent your industry/niche.
If they don’t,
change the entry requirements
or, at the very least,
look at the winners
before announcing them.