Once upon a time called “four years ago,” a small group of artist and author friends in the Witchcraft community thought it might be a good idea (and a lot of fun!) to put together an annual award ceremony to honor Witchcraft and Occult creatives. We had observed that the Witchcraft and occult communities might benefit from the act of celebrating the creatives in our community, those who contribute to the advancement of our collective culture, each in their own way.
Other industries have ample opportunity to celebrate and promote new and transformative voices within their midst, but Witchcraft and occultism are rather niche, a microscopically small audience by comparison, which makes larger collective events and gatherings especially coveted. Since more mainstream spiritual and New Age authors have had the benefit of larger platforms, those of us in Witchy communities can be left feeling somewhat underrepresented. And with the general idea that Witches celebrating other Witches is a good thing, “the Witchies” were born!
Logo for the 2024 Witchcraft and Occult Media Awards [courtesy]
Each year, the hosts – Devin Hunter, Laura Tempest Zakroff, Mat Auryn, and myself – take to social media and present the occult public an opportunity to nominate their favorite Witchcraft & Occult creatives in a wide range of several different categories, from books, to blogs, to artists, to podcasts, to music, to products, and more.
Sometimes, we find a really wonderful candle crafted by a Witch online. Or an oil. Or perhaps a divination tool or oracle deck. Now, there is a way to show them some extra love, and help tell more people about them and their work. This is lifting our community up by celebrating each other. Share what you love!
This month marks four years since the debut of the Witchies (or, by its formal title, “The Witchcraft and Occult Media Awards”), which honors the talent of artists, authors, and other media creators in the world of occultism who have offered work in the preceding year. These are individuals who have provided certain insights into the current discussions of contemporary practices and represent some of the best works of the 2022-2023 season.
These creatives are nominated by the general public through the ModernWitch.com website and announced on social media. Both nominations and voting are open to the public.
When we began this project, I was admittedly a bit naive. It didn’t occur to me that my friends and I would be accused of creating the award “just so we could give each other, and our friends, awards so that we could feel important.” First, I think it would be incredibly tacky to create an award and then present it to oneself. (Do people actually do this?) So, as much as we love ourselves and each other, our team is not eligible to be nominated, let alone win. While we are certainly thankful for them, we ignore those nominations we do receive. (Fun fact, though: Mat actually won three Witchies in the first year and then joined our team afterward.)
Something else I want people to know is that we do not charge any fees for anyone, nor do we sell the awards. This is all done on our own time and at our own expense. Winners do not pay to be nominated, nor are they expected to pay for their awards to be shipped to them. The cost of the award and the shipping is part of what we offer; in exchange, we use the award as a promotional opportunity for our various projects and those of any sponsors.
A personal benefit for us is learning about authors, artists, content creators, and other voices in the Witchcraft community who were previously unknown to me. It’s exciting to discover a new perspective, a new style, a new musician, or a new voice. And then I get the honor of playing some small part in helping even more people to discover their work and magic.
Winners have traditionally been announced as part of our annual Witches’ Sabbat online event, but this year, we are offering the Witchies as a stand-alone celebration.
This year’s nominations have already been announced, and voting is now open. Vote for your favorite Witchcraft and occult creatives by visiting this link:
https://modernwitch.com/the-witchcraft-occult-media-awards/
Be a part of this community magic! Voting is open until January 26. Winners will be announced on February 3rd.
Celebrating Witchcraft and Occulture!
Editor’s note: The Wild Hunt and its contributors are nominated for several Witchies this year, including Most Outstanding Blog and Exceptional Blog Post of the Year for “Barbie is the New Innana.” Storm does not collaborate with the editors of The Wild Hunt for anything related to administering the Witches so as to prevent a conflict of interest.
The Wild Hunt is not responsible for links to external content.
To join a conversation on this post:
Visit our The Wild Hunt subreddit! Point your favorite browser to https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Wild_Hunt_News/, then click “JOIN”. Make sure to click the bell, too, to be notified of new articles posted to our subreddit.