Congratulations to the Winners of the Rondo Hatton Awards!

Monday night was a big night for fans of horror, and a night when a whole bunch of people involved in the genre in various capacities had their eyes on the Classic Horror Film Board. That's because, for the eighth year running, the CHFB was announcing the winners of the venerable Rondo Hatton Awards. These awards have grown to be among the most anticipated and respected in the world of genre entertainment/studies, endorsed by the likes of Ain't It Cool News and Guillermo del Toro.

For the second year running, the Rondos included an award for Best Horror Blog, and I'm humbled and thrilled to say that The Vault of Horror has been given an Honorable Mention both times. So I thank anyone who voted VoH this year, it is greatly appreciated. It's an honor to be in the company of fellow Honorable Mentions Final Girl and The Good, the Bad and Godzilla, as well as Runners-Up Frankensteinia and Video Watchblog, all sites that were inspirations to me to begin with.

And of course, mondo congratulations go out to the winner, another blog that helped inspire the Vault, the one and only Drunken Severed Head--the bridesmaid is now a bride! Of Frankenstein, that is...*honk honk*

But the whole blog thing is just a drop in the bucket in all the horror goodness doled out Monday night. I'm also pleased as punch to see that Jovanka Vuckovic and Jason Lapeyre's amazing piece in Rue Morgue #93, "Bad Moon Rising", won for Best Article. Dread Central took the Best Website award, and Friends of the Vault such as Horror Society and Nate Yapp's Classic-Horror were among the Honorable Mentions. Yet another League of Tana Tea-Drinkers colleague, Dr. Gangrene, was an Honorable Mention for Best Horror Host--won by Count Gore de Vol. And past VoH Visceral Visionary Joel Robinson was named Runner-Up for Artist of the Year, which is extremely cool.

Among the other winners:

• Best Classic DVD: An American Werewolf in London: Full Moon Edition
• Best Classic Horror Collection: William Castle Collection
• Best Restoration: F.W. Murnau's Faust
• Best DVD Commentary: Fred Dekker on Night of the Creeps
• Best Magazine: Rue Morgue
• Best Fan Event: Tribute to Forrest J. Ackerman
• Best Horror Comic Book: Batman: Gotham After Midnight, by Steve Niles & Kelley Jones
• DVD Reviewer of the Year: Kim Newman

For a full list of this year's Rondo winners, check out the official site. The Rondo Awards ceremony itself, in which those outstanding Rondo Hatton busts will be handed out, takes place next month at the WonderFest convention in Louisville, Kentucky.

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Interested in an autograph from Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson? Well, you're in luck, because that's exactly the prize being given away right now over at Mermaid Heather. Shoot Heather an email at mermaidheathertx @ aim.com to be entered into the random drawing. A winner will be chosen within a matter of days--check out FoV Mermaid Heather for more info.