The judges included two Bilerico contributors, Brent Hartinger and Jesse Monteagudo (Bilerico Florida), and the finalists included Bilerico contributor Nancy Polikoff in the LGBT Nonfiction category for her book Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage.

Bilerico's own Kate Clinton was a presenter, and delivered the best line of the evening with "I know the economy is bad because yesterday when I bought a toaster, they gave me a bank."

Christopher Rice, Lambda Literary Foundation Board President, unveiled the Foundation's brand new website, built by a group called Bilerico Media, LLC....

Given all the Bilerico impact on the evening, one might expect a future expansion of categories to include online writing of the sort that one might find on a certain group blog.

I had a wonderful time at the 21st Annual Lambda Literary Awards, where I ended the evening reminiscing about roses with the poet Mark Doty who had lived a few houses down the street from me in Provincetown.

And for the record, the winner in the gay fiction category for his book We Disappear, Scott Heim, is hot.

In addition to this slideshow, I snagged video interviews with Edmund White, Felice Picano, Kate Clinton and Michaelangelo Signorile. Look for them throughout the week.

21st LAMBDA LITERARY
AWARD WINNERS
BOOKS PUBLISHED IN 2008

BISEXUAL
Open, Jenny Block, Seal Press

TRANSGENDER
Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word), Thea Hillman, Manic D Press

LGBT ANTHOLOGIES
Our Caribbean, edited by Thomas Glave, Duke University Press

LGBT CHILDRENS/YOUNG ADULT
Out of the Pocket, Bill Konigsberg, Dutton

LGBT DRAMA
The Second Coming of Joan of Arc, Carolyn Gage, Outskirts Press

LGBT NONFICTION
Loving The Difficult, Jane Rule, Hedgerow Press

LGBT SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR
Turnskin, Nicole Kimberling, Blind Eye Books

LGBT STUDIES
Criminal Intimacy: Prison and the Uneven History of Modern American Sexuality, Regina Kunzel, The University of Chicago Press

LESBIAN DEBUT FICTION
The Bruise, Magdalena Zurawski, Fiction Collective Two/University of Alabama Press

LESBIAN EROTICA
In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip, Radclyffe and Karen Kallmaker, Bold Strokes Books

LESBIAN FICTION (a tie!)
The Sealed Letter, Emma Donoghue, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
All the Pretty Girls, Chandra Mayor, Conundrum Press

LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
Sex Talks to Girls, Maureen Seaton, University of
Arkansas Press

LESBIAN MYSTERY
Whacked, Josie Gordon, Bella Books

LESBIAN POETRY
love belongs to those who do the feeling, Judy Grahn, Red Hen Press

LESBIAN ROMANCE
The Kiss That Counted, Karin Kallmaker, Bella Books

GAY DEBUT FICTION
Finlater, Shawn Ruff, Quote Editions

GAY EROTICA
Best Gay Erotica 2009, Richard Labonte & James Lear, Cleis Press

GAY FICTION
We Disappear, Scott Heim, HarperCollins

GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty and Love, Sheila Rowbotham, Verso Books

GAY MYSTERY
First You Fall, Scott Sherman, Alyson Books

GAY POETRY (a tie!)
Fire to Fire, Mark Doty, HarperCollins
Now You're the Enemy, James Allen Hall, University of Arkansas Press

GAY ROMANCE
Got 'til it's Gone, Larry Duplechan, Arsenal Pulp Press