Dragon Con 2023 Photo Gallery
Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 9/21/23
Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 9/21/23
Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 8/13/23
Eight Annual Awards Include 11 Categories, Reduced from Fifteen, To Better Reflect Fans’ Interests and Better Recognize the Best in Literature, Comics, Gaming and Filmed Entertainment.
Award Winners Will Be Announced at Dragon Con over Labor Day Weekend.
Dragon Con’s Dragon Awards, a fan’s choice awards program to recognize the very best in science fiction and fantasy literature, comics, gaming, and filmed entertainment, has published its 2023 ballot.
Winners of the Dragon Awards are selected by fans – not just Dragon Con members or convention attendees – and voting is free. You can view the ballot here.
Reflecting changes in past years’ voting patterns, the Dragon Awards has made several changes to the assortment of voting categories, reducing the number of categories from 15 to 11. Specifically:
· “Best Media Tie-In Novel” and “Best Military Science Fiction/Fantasy Novel” categories have been eliminated. Books in these former categories may be entered in one of the five remaining novel-focused categories.
· “Best Comic Book” and “Best Graphic Novel” have been combined into a single category, “Best Comic Book or Graphic Novel.”
· “Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC / Console Game” and “Best Science Fiction of Fantasy Mobile Game” have been combined into a single category, “Best Digital Game.”
· “Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game” and “Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures / Collectable Card / Role-Playing Game” have been combined into one category, “Best Tabletop Game.”
· Finally, the “Best Illustrative Book Cover” category has been added to more accurately reflect our roots and fandom in the Art community.
“From the start, we said we would be flexible and make changes that would help make the Dragon Awards a true accounting of the best in science fiction and fantasy, whether fans read it, watch it, or play it,” said convention co-chair David Cody.
In 2022, more than 7,000 fans cast ballots for Dragon Award winners, selected from among 93 properties in 15 categories covering the full range of fiction, comics, television, movies, video gaming, and tabletop gaming.
All voting is done electronically and only via a ballot emailed to each confirmed voter. To vote, fans must first register on the Dragon Awards website: Register Here. Ballots are then emailed in batches every few days through August.
Fans have until Friday, Sept. 1 at 11:59 p.m., Eastern, to register. Voting ends 24-hours later on Saturday, Sept. 2 at 11:59 p.m., also Eastern.
Winners will be announced on Sunday, Sept. 3 at Dragon Con in downtown Atlanta. The annual Labor Day convention is scheduled this year from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4.
The ballot was selected in an open nomination process, in which more than 4,000 fans participated. Using the dedicated Dragon Awards website, fans were invited to nominate one (and only one) of their favorite properties in any or all the award categories. Nominations ran from November 2022 until July 19, 2023. The best and most popular of the nominated properties were elevated to the ballot.
Further details are available on the awards website: www.dragoncon.org/awards/.
Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 9/14/22
Every year, DragonCon takes on a life of its own. This year was no different with fun new trends like The Loyal Order of the Ribbon, cults going strong, or massive groups like the T-Rex Horde. That’s all on top of the fantastic cosplay, Mardi Gras atmosphere, star-studded panels, meet and greets with celebrities, and nighttime parties and live performances!
The Loyal Order of the Ribbon
A fascination for some, a necessity for others, the Loyal order of the Ribbon has taken the badge ribbon trend to a whole new level. Found in the DragonCon app, meet ups to swap ribbons happens daily, where you can find your new favorite. We found that there are a few reasons that people create ribbons like the love of a show, fandom, or favorite quotes, books, or simply to share information on a brand! At DragonCon you can grow your badge ribbons as long as you want or just wear your favorites. We saw several people roll theirs up because they would hit the floor or stand on the second floor of the Hilton and drop the ribbons into the lobby. Yes, they’re that long! Our favorite ribbons were the classic Marriott Carpet and 24601 from Les Mis. We even made a ribbon for our Instagram page so people could watch our Danny goes to DragonCon stories. What ribbon would you want if you could have anything?
T-Rex Horde
Speaking of Danny, another trend in the DragonCon universe is the blow-up T-Rex horde. There has to be at least 100 or more people that gather almost every night to go through each hotel as a T-Rex Horde! T-Rexes from the Marriott Carpetasaur, Darth Vader, Velociraptors, Unicorns all joined in on the fun. The best part is John and I both have blow-up outfits and this year we featured on our stories, Danny, a dinosaur that goes to DragonCon for the first time. He went to a panel (and the actors waved at him), the parade, met his Idol, the Marriott Carpetasaur, got a bucket of rum, went to Trader Vics, got his first Monks Mead, and so many other firsts. Then, on Sunday, we did the T-Rex running and it was a blast. You get to see the joy on people’s faces to watch a parade of T-Rexes and they take photos and videos of the entire thing!
The Cult of Jon
Don’t be fooled, the Cult of Jon is going strong since 2019. Started out as a humble FedEx cut-out, DragonCon fans adorned him with stickers and put candles around him to transform him into a cult-like leader everyone could enjoy. It is all in good fun, as this year, the Scofflaw Beer folks stationed their own cut outs around and people too out google eyes on them and stickers, some even blasted them as “false prophets.” It’s pretty entertaining to watch. What will be the next cult?
Eddie Munson
The “new Deadpool” was Eddie Munson, the loveable Hellfire Club leader from Stranger Things latest season. There were men, women and mash-ups of Eddie all over the place and they even had a huge photo meet up. There HAD to be 30,000 of them! Our favorite Eddies were the two that had a guitar and amps and we watched them have a “Master of Puppets” guitar off. It was funny. What will be the next most popular costume?
Panels
We went to two panels, Gotham with Ben McKenzie and then a Walking Dead Panel with several actors including Chandler Riggs. The highlights from Gotham included learning that Ben (Gordon) didn’t even have to audition as he was approached by the show runner, how him and Monica Baccarin (Leslie) met on the set and eventually got married, and how he never wanted to wear the Gordon mustache! Then, the highlights from The Walking Dead panel were learning how much Riggs (Carl) loved growing up on the set of the Walking Dead and how it shaped him, listening to fun blooper moments, hearing which death was the hardest, and how Katelyn (Enid) loves potatoes. You always find something fun in these panels. I will never forget the Smallville one last year where they sang their theme song.
Cosplay You have to check out our photo journal of all our favorite cosplays, bots, costumes, and moments!
Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 8/9/22
WILLIAM SHATNER, WALTER KOENIG, MORENA BACCARIN, TOM CAVANAGH,
DAVID RAMSEY AND DANIELLE PANABAKER BRING OUT THE STARS AT DRAGON CON
Thursday, 9/1 to Monday, 9/5
Cavanagh, Ramsey, Panabaker Lead a Large Cast of Arrowverse Stars; Flanigan and Luttrell Will Lead a Meet Up of Stargate Atlantis Fans; And Encanto Castmates Will Charm Con-goers
Two living members of the original Star Trek television series, William Shatner and Walter Koenig, lead a long list of celebrity guests headed to Dragon Con, Atlanta’s internationally known pop culture, fantasy, science fiction, and gaming convention, for Labor Day weekend.
Emmy-nominated actors Morena Baccarin and Tom Cavanagh, along with David Ramsey and Danielle Panabaker, will join Shatner and Koenig to meet fans, lead panel discussions and sign autographs.
Other top guests from television and movies including Charmed’s Holly Marie Combs; Stargate Atlantis’ Joe Flanigan and Rachel Luttrell; Encanto’s Diane Guerrero, Mauro Castillo, and Adassa; Stargirl’s Brec Bassinger, Yvette Monreal, Trae Romano, and Anjelika Washington; and Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD’s Brett Dalton, Jason O’Mara, and Briana Venskus; as well as voice actors Kaitlyn Robrock (Disney’s Minnie Mouse), Jim Cummings (Disney’s Winnie the Pooh), and Nolan North (Superman).
Several television shows filmed in Georgia will be represented including Doom Patrol, Stargirl, The Walking Dead, and Fear the Walking Dead, which recently moved production to Georgia after several seasons in Texas. Other media guests will represent Titans, Supernatural, Star Trek Picard, Star Trek Discovery, Stargate SG-1, The Magicians, Locke & Key, and The Expanse, as well as video game Red Dead Redemption.
An estimated 60,000 people are expected to attend Dragon Con over the five-day Labor Day Weekend – Sept. 1 to Sept. 5 – with events and activities across AmericasMart Buildings Two and Three and five host hotels – Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Marriott Marquis, Hilton Atlanta, Westin Peachtree, and Sheraton Atlanta.
Literary Guest of Honor Nnedi Okorafor, an award-winning science fiction novelist best known for Who Fears Death and the Binti trilogy, and Artist Guest of Honor Stephanie Law, a fantasy fine artist whose work explores mythology in next contexts, especially into the natural world.
For an older generation of fans, the convention also welcomes Sam J. Jones and Melody Anderson from the 1980 cult classic film, Flash Gordon.
Shatner is a cultural icon and best remembered as Capt. James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise in the Star Trek television series, the animated series, and seven motion pictures. He will be at the convention on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only.
He will be joined Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov, who brought teen idol good looks to the bridge of the USS Enterprise. Koenig also appeared all seven motion pictures featuring the original cast. Later in his career, Koenig had a featured role in the science fiction television series Babylon 5.
Baccarin has a wide following in pop culture, having had lead roles in television’s Gotham and The Flash, two Deadpool movies, television’s Firefly and its follow up film Serenity, and the 2009 television reboot of V. Baccarin will be joined by Gotham castmate (and spouse) Ben McKenzie.
Cavanagh leads a strong showing of castmates from the Arrowverse, the CW franchise that includes several DC Comics-based shows including Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and several others. Cavanagh is an original cast member of The Flash, appearing as Dr. Harrison Wells and Reverse Flash, with appearances in Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Supergirl, and Batwoman. Cavanagh is also well known to television audiences from the shows Ed and Scrubs.
Ramsey plays the role of John Diggle (also known as Spartan or Green Arrow), initially on Arrow, which ran from 2012 to 2020, and continues in that role across the so-called Arrowverse programs, including The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Superman and Lois, and Supergirl.
Panabaker, another The Flash original actor, played Caitlyn Snow (also known as Killer Frost) across the Arrowverse, also appearing in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and Arrow.
Cavanagh, Ramsey and Panabaker will be joined by Danielle Nicolet (The Flash), Olivia Swann (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow), and Arthur Darvill (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow). Darvill is also well known in fandom as companion Rory Williams from the Doctor Who franchise.
Website: Dragon Con – Largest Multi-genre and Pop Culture Convention