2025 Silmaril Award Nominations for Silver Tongue

Welcome to the 10th annual Silmaril Awards, the fantasy character awards that celebrate the best characters in fantasy fiction. This year to celebrate a full decade of these awards, we’re holding not one but TWO contests! See the further down for details.

But first, a few words about the awards themselves. Unlike most awards, these do not go to books or authors, but to the actual characters in the books themselves.

All you need to do to nominate a character is post a comment on that particular site or second the nomination of a character who has already been nominated. The rules for nominating are as follows:

• You may nominate and second as many characters as you wish, but may only nominate each character once.
• The more nominations a character receives, the more likely that character will move on to the voting round, which will be the top five most nominated characters from each category.
• Nominations are allowed for fantasy book characters only! (Movie characters are not allowed, unless the book came first).
• The Silmaril Awards are “lifetime” awards. Characters who have already won a Silmaril in previous years are not eligible to win the same award again (though they may win other awards.) For a list of past winners, please visit silmarilawards.com.
• Characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy worlds are not allowed as these characters are the hosts for the awards and therefore ineligible.

There are nine awards this year. You can nominate your favorite characters for each award on the host site for that award. You’ll find links to the other award sites listed below.

This year’s awards

• Most Epic Hero
• Most Epic Heroine
• Most Faithful Friend
• Most Mischievous Imp
• Most Devoted Couple
• Most Magnificent Dragon
• Most Nefarious Villain
• Wisest Counselor
• Silver Tongue (right here)

Awards schedule

The awards this year will go by the following schedule:

Nominations week — September 1-5

Voting week — September 8-12

Awards ceremonies — September 15-25

Trivia contest — September 26

Contest Details

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Silmaril Awards, we are running not one, but TWO contests. Five winners will be chosen for each contest. You’ll have the chance to win one of many fantasy-themed prizes.

Puzzle Contest

Anyone is eligible to enter this contest by visiting the contest page at silmarilawards.com submitting the form.

Each host of the Silmaril Awards will post a line from one of Tolkien’s poems on their nomination page. Gather all of them together and enter it when you submit your entry to receive NINE extra entries for a chance to win.

The line for this site is:

We come, we come with horn and drum: ta-rūna rūna rūna rom!

NOTE: By entering you will be added to the Silmaril Awards mailing list and may receive news about the awards or the authors participating as hosts in the future. You may unsubscribe at any time.

The contest will run from September 1-5. Winners will be contacted via email after September 8th. You’ll have the chance to win one of these amazing prizes:

Voting Contest

While anyone can vote for their favorite fantasy characters, every one who also signs up to our email newsletter while voting will be entered into the contest. Once voting opens, you may cast your vote at silmarilawards.com.

2nd runners-up will be contacted via email after September 15th. However, two people will be selected to be entered into the grand prize contest. Then on September 26th, the hosts will meet online for a Lord of the Rings trivia contest, with half of the hosts competing for one entrant and half for the other. Whoever’s team wins will walk away with the grand prize and the other entrant will receive the runner-up prize.

Here are the amazing prizes you’ll have a chance to win in the two contests:

• Stained glass dragon sun catcher
• Painted gold “One Ring” bowl
• A Mines of Moria journal
• A 12×18 inch poster of the Fellowship of the Ring
• Four paperbacks by authors H.L. Burke, DJ Edwardson, J.L. Mbewe, and Jenelle Leanne Schmidt.
• Four ebooks by those same authors
• A Lord of the Rings scarf with a map of Middle-earth imprinted on it
• A sign stating “No admittance except on party business”
• A Leaf of Lorien pin
• A 3D printed Tree of Gondor bookmark
• A Gandalf quote sticker
• Door of Moria sticker

We hope you’ll join us for these awards and the contest and that it will be a celebration worthy of Bilbo’s hundred and eleventieth birthday party. May the best hobbit win!

The Silver Tongue award

If it’s not obvious from the name of the award, this page is where you’ll nominate those fantasy characters who excel in wit, charm, glibness, and poetic genius. These are the character’s who hold us enraptured with their words. We underline their speeches, put them to memory, and recall them when we need them most, whether for a good laugh or an encouraging lift.

Past winners who are no longer eligible to receive the award include:

• Artham from Wingfeather Saga
• The Florid Sword from Wingfeather Saga
• Fflewddur Flam from The Chronicles of Prydain
• Westley from The Princess Bride
• Eanrin from Tales of the Goldstone Wood
• Lady of the Green Kirtle from The Chronicles of Narnia
• Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle
• Mo from Inkheart
• The Sorting Hat from The Harry Potter Series

And now, without further delay, go forth and nominate your silveriest tongues!