The Dragon Awards Removes Conservative Artist's Work From Nomination Without Rules Being Violated

The Dragon Awards is threatening to go the way of The Hugo Awards if it can't hold all books to the same standards.

The Dragon Awards started as a Dragon*Con alternative to the publishing industry's controlled Hugo Awards after the latter was mired in controversy so much that it became irrelevant. Now, The Dragon Awards has removed a book from consideration under nebulous circumstances because of AI tools used on the cover, creating an uproar as these rules were never listed as a condition of the nomination.

The Dragon Awards were started as a response to the Hugo Awards controversy, where woke activists among publisher insiders co-opted the award to promote dubious works that made the award irrelevant. The Dragon Awards were done through Dragon*Con, which allowed open voting to try to paint a more accurate picture of what fans enjoyed.

The first few years of the award went well, with independent books by incredible talents like Brian Niemeier and Richard Fox and popular works by people like Larry Correia and Jim Butcher dominating the categories. After those who worked hard to make the awards an alternative checked out upon winning their own awards, the Dragon Awards soon fell to corporate influence, though with a few fan-loved books getting nominated here and there.

This year, a couple of fan-favorite authors are sprinkled into the mix, like John Ringo and Tom Kratman. Still, the Dragon Awards mired itself in another controversy in the Best Illustrative Book Cover category, where it originally had a book from Raconteur Press called Goblin Market listed as a nominee. The cover was designed by conservative author and artist Cedar Sanderson but was soon removed without saying why.

The publisher posted to their Substack, "We were surprised by this removal—there has been no explanation, no replacement name added to the list, and no comment of any kind from the Dragon Awards as to the reason behind it. Cedar has not been contacted, and multiple emails from many, many fans have gone unanswered."

Raconteur Press contacted the Dragon Awards to ask the question, and they found out it was because of the use of AI tools in the cover design. Artists and fans are mixed on the use of AI tools, as the idea has sparked controversy among mostly mediocre to subpar artists who are afraid of their jobs being usurped. Shad M. Brooks, weapon's expert, and pop culture analyst, has championed their use, while many in the mainstream comic industry have decried it. 

Dragon*Con's reply was posted again by Raconteur Press:

After posting the nominee list for the 2024 Dragon Awards on the Dragon Awards website, we were alerted to the fact that Cedar Sanderson's entry in the Best Illustrative Cover category had been created in part using Artificial Intelligence tools. As a consequence, we removed her cover for The Goblin Market from consideration because we don't allow AI in our Art Show, Comic and Pop Artist Alley, Vendor Halls, or the Awards. 

Though Sanderson's nomination was included on the website for a short time, none of the ballots emailed to prospective voters included it.

Our intent with Dragon Awards is to provide a great list of books to read across eight categories, television shows and movies to watch, comic books to read and both tabletop and video games to play. And, in a category we added last year, admire the best artist work on book covers.

We recognize the AI is a new tool with enormous potential and society will eventually come to a consensus about how it should be used and how much content can be can be created using AI while still crediting a human for the work, at which time, we will consider changing our policy. Until then, however, we want the Dragon Awards to offer a fans an opportunity to recognize the humans who create the works that fans love best.

We apologize for the disruption this has caused and it was completely our fault for not catching that The Goblin Market cover was created with AI tools. We will be implementing process changes so that this does not happen again in the future.

Sincerely,

Dave Cody

Co-chair Dragon Con

The problem is nowhere in the rules does it say that AI tools were not allowed, and not only did Dragon*Con never state this, but they also simply took the word of bad actor detractors that AI tools were indeed used before contacting the publisher and confirming. While AI tools were used, at the very least, the organization should have talked with the publisher and done its due diligence before removing the book from the awards category. As it stands, it appears politically motivated in the removal of this book from the awards.

Raconteur Press also pointed out on their blog that AI tools appear to have been used on several of the other books nominated. It appears Dragon*Con has not pre-emptively removed these books in question before doing any analysis, and Dave Cody has not made any announcement to investigate these other covers as of this writing.

It appears that some cover designers are more equal than others in regards to their treatment by Dragon*Con, which makes many wonder what the point is of these awards at all, if it's going to be the same moving of the goalposts without transparency as other awards and organizations have had. If they are going to have rules for a category it needs to be clearly stated before a work gets nominated.

The Dragon Awards needs to make a statement regarding these other covers that may have AI tools involved or reinstate Golbin Market and Cedar Sanderson's work. They can revise the rules next year before nominations come in to create a fair situation for all artists. 

What do you think of The Dragon Awards removing Goblin Market from consideration because of AI art tools? Leave a comment and let us know.

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