Help:Contents

Award Annals uses the same software as Wikipedia; consequently, Wikipedia Help will answer many of your questions, especially those regarding the following topics

• Editing a wiki on Wikipedia is virtually identical to editing Award Annals. Not all of the bells and whistles of Wikipedia are available here, and vice versa. Notable differences are outlined in sections below.
• Linking is identical except that Award Annals has one extra interwiki link: [[wikipedia:Name of article]] links to Wikipedia.
• Your account settings are changed on Award Annals just as they are on Wikipedia.

Browsing Award Annals

This site can be used for many purposes, but it is intended to recommend encounter with a work of art. (Okay, it's really to recommend your next book, but has expanded to other creative works.) There are three ways to begin browsing

A good book

Have you a favorite book, film or other work? Type the title into the search box and see if it has been given an award. This is an excellent start, because the page describing your favorite book will lead you to pages filled with similar books.

• You can click on the author’s name to see his or her other works. If you haven’t tried another work by the same person, you should.
• Click on some of the awards listed in the book’s honors list. The people who judged your favorite book as worthy of recognition may have done so for the same reasons you liked it, so perhaps you should try some of the other books they recommend. If you manage to find an award that perfectly fits your tastes, then you’ve hit the jackpot!
• Click on some of the genre categories at the bottom of the page. From there you can find an honor roll that will show you the most honored works in that genre.

An award just for you

If you have managed to identify an award or two that seems to share your tastes, then you really have something worth exploring! You can find your award in the awards list and work your way through their recommendations chronologically, or view an honor roll that lists only works that have received one of your awards.

This is by far the most rewarding way to find works you can appreciate, but finding your award isn't easy. Peruse the works you love and see if a particular award keeps popping up.

Your genre of choice

Everyone has a favorite, and you know what yours is. Find your “works by genre” category in the creative works list and look for the genre’s honor roll. You simply must experience the top ten most honored books in your genre.

Searching Award Annals

It’s as easy as typing some words into the search box and clicking “Go”. If you typed in an article’s title, it will display. If you want to search the text of all articles rather than display the article with the matching title, then click “Search” instead of “Go”.

The search results will show a bunch of articles, but you may be hard pressed to separate the creative works from the awards or other articles. Perhaps someday the search results will be refined a bit.

Contributing

To contribute, simply log in and click the “edit” button. Before you get too ambitious, have a look at the Policies and guidelines and How to document an award. The editing of any article in the Annal namespace (a title beginning with “Annal:”) is restricted to those who have demonstrated a knowledge of the site and a certain level of restraint. Except for these pages, most articles are open to editing by any registered user.