According to a press release issued by the Horror Writers Association and the administrators of this year’s World Horror Convention, the Stoker Awards ceremony will be broadcast live on the Web a week from Saturday. This means that should I have a reason to take to the stage, you’ll be able to see and hear me from the comfort of your home, without the need to wend your way to Salt Lake City or eat rubber chicken.

Here are the details from the joint press release:

The Horror Writers Association (HWA), World Horror Convention, and iSCIFI.tv announce that the 2007 Bram Stoker Awards ceremony will be broadcast live on the Internet on Saturday, March 29, 2008.

This is the first time that the Stokers have been broadcast as they happen.

The awards ceremony is being held at the 2008 World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City. Following a banquet, the awards ceremony will begin at approximately 9:00 p.m. local time (11:00 p.m. eastern time).

To watch the awards, please click to http://www.iscifi.tv/live/ where the podcast will be displayed in the center of your screen.

The Master of Ceremonies this year is Jeff Strand, and a series of esteemed horror authors will present the Stokers in the categories of:

Novel
First Novel
Long Fiction
Short Fiction
Collection
Anthology
Nonfiction
Poetry

As well, several non-Stoker awards will be presented:

The 2008 Grandmaster Award (presented by the World Horror Society)

The co-winners of the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award

The Richard Laymon Award (HWA President’s Award)

This is the 21st annual Stoker ceremony. The HWA is pleased to be working with the World Horror Conference and iSCIFI.tv to broadcast the event.

To view the live video, you will need to have Flash installed for your web browser and your Internet speed needs to be at least 300 kbps (downstream / download). If your stream is slower, you may have pausing in the video, or the audio will be out of sync. iSCIFI.tv will be offering audio only and still images that are captured during the podcast. Please visit the live stream page at http://www.iscifi.tv/live for further information, troubleshooting, and links to the audio and/or image captures.

Maybe I’ll see you there! Or should I say—maybe you’ll see me there!