My thoughts on the 2009 Rondo Award winners

The 2009 Rondo Award winners were announced last night and there were some surprising results in some categories.

A few random thoughts on the awards...

Glad to see District 9 win best film. That rocks. It was such a creative and stylistic movie. And Avatar lost. Nuff said.

The William Castle Collection looks great. I gotta pick up that set.

Glad to see the extensive horror host documentary American Scary get the recognition it deserves. Very cool!

Best Magazine/Podcast/Artist of the Year/Best Article - Rue Morgue won all of these categories. Shows they have a huge fan base. I have to say though, no one does a more rockin' podcast. Great interviews and kick ass music. Glad to see them win that one, and Gary Pullin is an amazing artist, too.

Max the Drunken Severed Head wins Best Blog - Bravo! Max rocks. His website is updated daily, packed with fun stuff, and is always an interesting read. Plus he's a great guy.

Favorite Horror Host - this category is called "Favorite Horror Host" because some of the hosts got their nose bent out of shape the first year at the term "best" - whatever you bunch of big babies - haha (I can say that cause I'm a host too). I was very happy to see Count Gore DeVol win this one. Well deserved!! Congrats Count!

LINDA MILLER AWARD FOR FAN ARTIST OF THE YEAR - a fan artist named Linda Miller passed away this year, and Dave Colton named this award, a new category added this year, after her. I thought that was a nice gesture. The winner was Robert A. Scott. Not familiar with him, but congratulations Robert. This was one category I didn't vote in, as I really find it a bit strange... what is the definition of "fan" and "pro"? Unpublished? Interesting - But nonetheless there are many talented folks out there, and this is a way to recognize more of them.

Hall of Fame - I was very disappointed that Morgus the Magnificent wasn't added to the Hall of Fame. This was his 50th anniversary as a host last year. The timing was too perfect. This was his year. The host they added to the HOF was Sammy Terry, another fine addition and a host who definitely should be in there, too. But I'm sorry, this year should have been Morgus. I don't think this category is a numbers game, like the other ones. I think this one they hand select from among those nominated. Really have to wonder why they chose Sammy instead of Morgus...

Dennis Druktenis was added to the HOF, and I am VERY glad he was added. His magazine, Scary Monsters, has the monster kid spirit more than any other magazine. Plus Dennis is a really cool guy.



Congratulations to all who won - Here's the full list of winners below:



2009 Rondo Award Winners


BEST FILM OF 2009

DISTRICT 9



BEST TV PRESENTATION

DOCTOR WHO: End of Time



BEST CLASSIC DVD

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON:

FULL MOON EDITION





BEST CLASSIC HORROR COLLECTION

WILLIAM CASTLE COLLECTION





BEST CLASSIC TV COLLECTION

ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS

(SEASON FOUR)





BEST RESTORATION

FAUST (1926) Restoration by Murnau Foundation





BEST DVD EXTRA

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON: 'Beware the Moon' documentary





BEST DVD COMMENTARY

Director Fred Dekker: NIGHT OF THE CREEPS





BEST INDEPENDENT FILM OR DOCUMENTARY

AMERICAN SCARY (John Hudgens, Sandy Clark





BEST BOOK OF 2009

BELA LUGOSI AND BORIS KARLOFF: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration, by Gregory William Mank





BEST MAGAZINE

RUE MORGUE





BEST ARTICLE

'Bad Moon Rising,' by Jovanka Vuckovic (with Bruce McVicar), RUE MORGUE #93





BEST COVER

MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #26 by Daniel Horne





BEST WEBSITE

DREAD CENTRAL





BEST BLOG

THE DRUNKEN SEVERED HEAD





BEST CONVENTION

MONSTER BASH





BEST FAN EVENT

TRIBUTE TO FORREST J ACKERMAN, Hollywood, organized by Joe Moe





FAVORITE HORROR HOST

Count Gore De Vol





BEST HORROR AUDIO SITE

RUE MORGUE RADIO





BEST CD

STAR TREK II: WRATH OF KHAN (James Horner; Film Score Monthly/Retrograde)





BEST HORROR COMIC BOOK

BATMAN: GOTHAM AFTER MIDNIGHT, by Steve Niles and Kelley Jones





BEST TOY, MODEL OR COLLECTIBLE

Twilight Zone Talking Tina (BifBamPow)





COUNT ALUCARD'S

CONTROVERSY OF THE YEAR

Studios offer some classics on DVD-Rs





FILM MOST IN NEED OF DVD RELEASE OR RESTORATION

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932)





WRITER OF THE YEAR

GREGORY WILLIAM MANK





ARTIST OF THE YEAR

GARY PULLIN





LINDA MILLER AWARD FOR

FAN ARTIST OF THE YEAR

(In memory of the late Linda Miller)

ROBERT A. SCOTT





DVD REVIEWER OF THE YEAR

KIM NEWMAN





MONSTER KID OF THE YEAR

Eliot Brodsky

Monsterpalooza convention organizer





MONSTER KID HALL OF FAME:



BILL LEMON and RAY MEYERS

Makers of Aurora monsters



DENNIS DRUKTENIS

A 'Real' Monster Kid



SAMMY TERRY

A Midwest horror legend



BILL WARREN

Chronicler of the sci-fi era



FREDERICK S. CLARKE

Cinefantastique publisher