Rules and requirements

Nominees are to be suggested for a specific prize, or several, according to the categories defined for the year in question, but can only receive one of them. The categories may be changed every year, at the discretion of the HROARR management.
Each nominee must have published material, either in printed or digital form during the preceding year.
An awardee may not be nominated for the year following receiving an award and may only be awarded three times in total in a lifetime, but Lifetime Achievement and Rookie are exempt from this rule. These two can be awarded once each per nominee, in addition to the in total of three other awards.
The material must be relevant to HEMA, for example, but not limited to topics like fencing treatises, fencing culture, interpretations, training or teaching methods, history&culture, arms&armour.
The material must be in English, or for transcriptions; in the original language.
The material does not need to follow formal academic standards, but good research and writing practices and standards are to be considered during the evaluation process.
The material needs to be made available to the jury at least in digital form.

All award winners are automatically invited into the jury of the following year and are the primary choice.
A jury member may not serve more than five times in a lifetime.
There may not be two jury members from the same club or group of clubs serving at the same time. National and international federations of clubs and organizations like e.g. SvHEMAF, HEMAC and the HEMAA are exempt from this rule, but not the individual clubs that have members in such organizations. Consequently two members from the same federation can serve in the jury, but not if they come from the same club. If there are two winners from the same club in a year, both will be invited but only one can join the jury. Which one will be primarily decided by the two candidates, and if that fails through drawing lots.
If the above results in a lack of jury members, the HROARR management will announce the open position to the HEMA community and decide on a a new jury member to complete the jury.
Jury members are allowed to nominate researchers, but may not vote on a nominee who comes from his/her own club or who is a relative.
A jury member cannot be nominated for awards the year he/she serves in the jury.

The jury is expected to act with utmost professionalism, only considering the work or body of work and not the creator of it, thus acting completely unbiased and non-partisan.
If a jury member feels that he or she can’t look past personal issues, be they positive or negative, with a nominee, then he or she must refrain from voting on that particular nominee.
Differing views on the source material between a jury member and a nominee may naturally influence a jury member’s vote, but should be considered wisely as differing views are also vital for the advancement of research in HEMA.
The jury is required to study the material that the nominees are nominated for. This doesn’t mean in-depth study though, but a cursory overview of the content, structure and research & writing practice is necessary.
For the judging of nominees, considerations about who would make an interesting or good member of the Kernoozer’s Club is not permitted. For the Awards, the Kernoozer’s Club doesn’t “exist”.
If a jury member behaves in a way that is deemed inappropriate by the other jury members and the HROARR management, then he/she can be relieved from duty and replaced, by the HROARR management.
The jury may consult with the Kernoozer’s Club and even ask for their votes, if needed.

These rules are still subject to change as they are continuously refined.