As part of our ongoing effort to restore Special Projects on our site, we are spotlighting projects that are fully back up and running so that the fanworks created for them can be enjoyed again, in many cases by fans who weren't involved in the fanfiction community when the works debuted. Akallabêth in August was published in August 2009, with at least one new fanwork appearing daily throughout the month and into the first week of September 2009. The goal of the project was to retell the Akallabêth in fanworks—creators signed up for a specific event from the Akallabêth—and the final project included forty-three stories, poems, and works of art. The fanworks were presented in what, looking back, was an online zine with a customized site layout designed to look like an illuminated manuscript.

Akallabêth in August had been an annual challenge since 2006, so what made us, in the challenge's fourth year, want to do a much bigger project? At the time, Silmarillion fanworks tended to be much more First Age-focused—and specifically First Age Noldor. Creators who focused on the Second Age often described feeling much as Silmarillion creators had a few years prior, in general Tolkien fanfic spaces, which focused heavily on Lord of the Rings in the wake of the films' popularity. This sense of wanting to create something for Silmarillion fans (rather than simply grumbling about the number of Legomances and Tenth Walkers and other LotR-focused fics) was a big part of what inspired the SWG, and the same philosophy underlies Akallabêth in August. The goal is not to have less First Age Noldorin fanworks but to spotlight, celebrate, and encourage works about the dramas of the Second Age!

If you've never checked out the Akallabêth in August fanworks (or if it's been awhile), there are many wonderful works from creators who were among the most respected Second Age writers and artists of the mid-late 2000s. You can find the fanworks here.