Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards


The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards, often called the Rondo Award, is an annual award founded in 2002 that honors journalism, scholarship and film preservation in the horror genre, particularly of classic horror film and their modern-day counterparts.
Named in honor of actor Rondo Hatton, it originated at the Classic Horror Film Board and subsequently moved to a dedicated website. Nominees are chosen by a committee that takes suggestions on the website, with the awards selected via an open vote by generally thousands of participants. The Rondo Award was created by journalist David Colton and artist/illustrator Kerry Gammill, and since its inception has been coordinated by Colton, who serves as their presenter annually at the fantasy/horror convention WonderFest.

History

The Rondo Awards began in 2002, after members of the online Classic Horror Film Board, moderated by journalist David Colton, became aware of a growing body of under-recognized journalism covering the horror genre. The awards took their name from the character actor Rondo Hatton, a cult-classic figure in low-budget horror films.
Comic book artist and illustrator Kerry Gammill designed the sculpt for the award, a bust of Hatton's character from the movie House of Horrors.
The initial year attracted 168 voters. The following year brought 600, and the third year 2,000. As of 2018, the number of voters is generally between 3,000 and 3,700. Co-founder Colton presents the awards annually at the fantasy/horror convention WonderFest.
As Colton describes, "We don't have Best Actor, we don't have Best Actress, we don't even have Best Director. It's more about the magazines and the books and the independent films and the documentaries.... It's a little highbrow in that way."

Significance

Entertainment Weekly likened The Rondo Award to a "horror Oscar". The Award is a "coveted" prize in the horror community. One PBS station wrote,
Horror magazines and websites, including Dread Central, regularly report on the nominations and awards lists.
The awards have been mentioned in such outlets as The Hollywood Reporter, The Austin Chronicle, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Movieweb, MeTV, the UK's Horror Channel, and the Tampa Bay Times, as well as scholarly journals including Psychology and Education, and textbooks including Recovering 1940s Horror Cinema: Traces of a Lost Decade.

Monster Kid Hall of Fame annual awards

In their second year, the Rondo Classic Horror Film Awards created the Monster Kid Hall of Fame, with four to nine, but generally six, living or dead inductees. Also created was another honorary award, Monster Kid of the Year, given to individuals with some important achievement in the field that year.

2003

Monster Kid of the Year: Arnold Kunert, who successfully campaigned for special effects artist Ray Harryhausen to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

2004

Monster Kid of the Year: The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra writer, director, and star Larry Blamire

2005

Monster Kid of the Year: Monster Kid Home Movies producer Joe Busam

2006

Monster Kid of the Year: Toy collector Ray Castile

2007

Monster Kid of the Year: Sony Pictures executive Michael Schlesinger

2008

Monster Kid of the Year: Producer and Forrest J Ackerman friend, adviser, and caregiver Joe Moe

2009

Monster Kid of the Year: Monsterpalooza convention organizer Eliot Brodsky

2010

Video Watchdog publisher Tim Lucas and his wife and business partner, Donna Lucas
Monster Kids of the Year: Historian and writer Gary Gerani; screenwriter, author, and The Twilight Zone archivist Marc Scott Zicree

2011

Filmfax editor Michael SteinPhoton fanzine editor Mark Frank
Monster Kid of the Year: Vincentennial fan festival organizer Tom Stockman

2012

G-Fan editor & publisher J.D. Lees
Monster Kid of the Year: Simon Rowson, for discovering lost footage cut from original release of Hammer Studios' Dracula''

2013

Monster Kid of the Year: Paul Larson, for discovering lost Vincent Price PBS footage

2014

Psychotronic editor-publisher Michael Weldon
Monster Kid of the Year: Frank J. Dello Stritto, author of memoir ''I Saw What I Saw When I Saw It''

2015

Monster Kid of the Year: Victoria Price, daughter of actor Vincent Price, "for her tireless work preserving her late father's legacy in film."

2016

  • Film preservationist Bob Furmanek
  • Writer and horror host John Stanley
  • Writer, critic, and DVD commentator Richard Harland Smith
  • Podcaster Vince Rotolo
  • Historian Mark Miller
Monster Kids of the Year: Married couple Don and Vicki Smeraldi, new publishers of ''Scary Monsters Magazine''

2017

Monster Kid of the Year: Cohen Media Group executive Tim Lanza

2018

Monster Kid of the Year: Writer, film critic, TV host and actor John Irving Bloom a.k.a. Joe Bob Briggs

2019

  • Author Robert Bloch
  • Historian Jonathan Rigby
  • Author, editor, podcaster and film commentator Kat Ellinger
  • Filmmaker/Blu-ray producer/film historian Constantine Nasr
  • Sinister Cinema founder Greg Luce
  • Writer George Chastain
  • Author Matthew Hays
  • Horror hosts Ron Sweed and Keven Scarpino
  • Gadfly David "The Rock" Nelson
Monster Kid of the Year: Filmmaker Jordan Peele

2020

  • Blogger Stacie Ponder
  • Podcaster Derek M. Koch
  • Publisher and critic Joe Kane a.k.a. the Phantom of the Movies
  • Author Michael Robert 'Bobb' Cotter
  • Horror host Rich Koz a.k.a. Svengoolie
Monster Kid of the Year: UCLA film archivist Scott MacQueen

2021

Monster Kid of the Year: Monster Channel horror host Evan Davis a.k.a. Halloween Jack

2022

Cult Movies magazine founder-publisher Buddy Barnett
  • Writer Frank J. Dello Stritto
  • TV historian Amanda Reyes
  • Writer-director-producer Dan Curtis
  • Horror host Penny Dreadful
  • Writer, film critic, TV host and actor John Irving Bloom a.k.a. Joe Bob Briggs. Honorable mention to sidekick Diana Prince a.k.a. Darcy the Mail Girl. Briggs had been named 2018 Monster Kid of the Year.
Monster Kid of the Year: Documentarian Antonia Carlotta

2023

Monster Kid of the Year: Online influencer Bobby Zier

2024

Monster Kid of the Year: Film Preservationist and Blogger Eric Grayson