Members of the public can now nominate candidates for the 2016 UK Live Action RolePlay Awards. The awards are designed to raise public awareness of the hobby, which allows people to immerse themselves fully in fictional realities. The 2016 awards reflect the growing interest in these sort of games by introducing two new categories; Best Mainstream Event – for things that aren’t actually LARPs but have a lot of LARP crossovers, like horror events or Secret Cinema – and Best Escape Room, for escape room style events.

The winners will be announced at LARPCON at the Hermitage Leisure Centre, Whitwick on the February 26th – 28th. You can nominate candidates by filling in this survey, and you find out more about LARPCON here.

The full list of categories are:

Best Small LARP of the Year (less than 30 players)
Best Medium LARP of the Year (30-100 players)
Best Large LARP of the Year (over 100 players)
Best Family Event of the Year (involves under 16s)
Best Club system (for LARP groups and clubs that meet regularly)
Best Grass Roots System of the Year (bringing new players into the hobby)
Best New LARP of the Year (debut event run after the February 1st, 2014)
Best Bard
Best LARP Producer (three sub-categories: Foam/Latex, Leather, and Costume)
Best LARP Caterer
Best Creature Costume of the Year
Online Retailer of the Year
In-field Retailer of the Year
NPC of the Year
Event Crew Member of the Year
Life Time Achievement
Event Crew Member of the Year
Best Mainstream
Best Escape Room
Unsung Hero Award (for someone who does lots without mention. If you’ve nominated that person elsewhere, this ISN’T the place to nominate them again)
Life Time Achievement
Best LARP Photograph
Best Character costume (these will both have a ‘People’s Choice’ and ‘Judges’ Choice’ award)

Nominations will close on the February 15th, with shortlists will be published on February 17th.