Premio Italia 2014

A good friend of mine, almost one year ago, said to me that I have to be the voice of the STIC now that Alberto is gone. So, after much personal brooding, I decided I have to say something about Premio Italia, although this is not an official STIC announcement.
There is a deadline, on 23:59 next Friday, March 21st, and these are my thoughts, bear that in mind while reading.

Alberto cared about the Premio Italia and wanted it to reach out for more Italian science fiction and fantasy fans, bacause he knew a good slice of fans do not even know what the Premio Italia is. All those who are born and raised as media SF fans, those who watch TV series and movies and - although avid readers - are more attracted to costume contests than to literary conferences, know nothing about it. Alberto worked hard as a negotiator to open up the audience of the Premio Italia and the results are that now every single participant in the latest two editions of the Bellaria convention (STICCON, Italcon, YavinCon etc) is a voter. Writers and cosplayers alike!

I must say that I appreciate the fact that the voters are fans, readers, the general public, but as in any voting system, most of the time the works and the persons awarded ends up being friends of the voters.
There is nothing wrong in it: it is human to favour your friends when you know they have done something worthy of attention. What's wrong is when you expect others not to vote for who's not your friend.
Fair play means you support your team, but cheers when the adversary defeats you. Fair play is when you shake the hand of your opponent and pat his back for having been better than you. Fair play is expecting your rival to do the same!

So, to cut a long story short, I spent the last few days thinking about Premio Italia and wondering about whether to suggest or not some names in the first nominations stage, and to vote or not in the two stages that will name the winners. I was trying to be fair and impartial, and most of all not to fall in the pit of unfair play.
The only conclusion that allows me to have a clear conscience is that... I will not let Alberto's work go awry, I will participate, I will nominate those works and persons I personally know and appreciate.

I will be translating this in Italian for my Facebook profile, but make no mistakes: this is not something you have to read or agree with - this is just my personal votes.

ARTISTA
Giacomo Pueroni
Luca Pavan
Luca Oleastri

CURATORE
Filippo Rossi
Francesco Miranda

TRADUTTORE
Stefania Bronzoni
Jessica Farella
Paola Cartoceti

COLLANA
Collana Ragazzi, Fanucci Editore

RIVISTA PROFESSIONALE
Fantasy & Science Fiction, Elara

RIVISTA NON PROFESSIONALE
Fondazione
Colony Post

SITO WEB AMATORIALE O RIVISTA ONLINE AMATORIALE
IKS, http://www.klinzha.it/
Yavin 4 Fan Club, http://www.yavinquattro.net
WSFI, http://www.worldsf.it/

OPERATORE ARTISTICO (NON IN ALTRE CATEGORIE)
Marcello Rossi, organizzatore STICCON e Reunion
Massimo Romani, organizzatore STICCON e Reunion
Marco Pesaresi, organizzatore STICCON e Reunion

ARTICOLO SU PUBBLICAZIONE PROFESSIONALE
Le prime immagini di Into Darkness, Alberto Lisiero e Gabriella Cordone, Ultimo Avamposto Editore
Doppiaggio nell'oscurità, Gabriella Cordone Lisiero, (Ultimo Avamposto Editore)
Facebook, ultima frontiera, Massimiliano Martini, (Ultimo Avamposto Editore)

ARTICOLO SU PUBBLICAZIONE AMATORIALE
The Day of the Doctor, Massimo Luciani, http://netmassimo.com/2013/11/24/doctor-who-the-day-of-the-doctor/

ROMANZO O ANTOLOGIA PERSONALE INTERNAZIONALE
Star Trek Into Darkness, Alan Dean Foster, Ultimo Avamposto Editore
Doctor Who Shada, Douglas Adams, Mondadori
Doctor Who Toccato da un angelo, Jonathan Morris, Asengard