The Golden Cauldron Awards Results

Leaky recently hosted The Golden Cauldron Awards, a new annual online interactive tradition helping us decide some fan favorite moments from the previous year. Voting closed yesterday, and we have our winners!

Best Screen Project

The Best Screen Project category celebrates on-screen projects starring Wizarding World actors. Nominations included Little Women (Emma Watson), Miracle Workers (Daniel Radcliffe), The Aeronauts (Eddie Redmayne), The Crown (Helena Bonham Carter), Late Night (Emma Thompson), The Downton Abbey Movie (Maggie Smith / Imelda Staunton), The Lighthouse (Robert Pattinson), Good Omens (David Tennant), Killing Eve (Fiona Shaw) and Servant (Rupert Grint).

Fans also submitted the answers Hotel Mumbai (Jason Isaacs), The Capture (Calum Turner), Six Days of Sistine (Jamie Campbell Bower) and Cadia (James Phelps).

WINNER:  Little Women – Emma Watson (32.9% of the vote)

Little Women was only just released, but it was one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year! What did you think of the movie, or are you yet to see it?

Runner Ups:

1. Good Omens – David Tennant (17.2%)
2. Downton Abbey Movie – Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton (15.8%)

Best Toy / Merch:

This category celebrated some of the best merch and toys over the past year. Nominations included the Invisibility Cloak by WOW! Stuff, Wizarding World LEGO, Funko POP! Figures, Jim Kay’s illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: The Journey, and Wizarding World Gold.

Fans also submitted the answers Harry Potter dolls by Mattel, the Niffler (we assume that’s the plush Niffler?), the Harry Potter Infinity Box, McFarlane Toys’ Buckbeak, Jackson Bird’s trans Deathly Hallows lapel pin, Harry Potter Clue and the LEGO Advent Calendar.

WINNER: Illustrated Edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (23.8%)

We should have known! These illustrated editions are truly a masterpiece, so it’s no wonder they’re our winner!

Runner Ups:

1. Wizarding World Funko POP! Figures (21.5%)
2. Wizarding World LEGO (17.2%)

Best Fan-Created Content:

We LOVE reporting on fan projects, and there were so many in 2019 — they’re truly ALL winners in our eyes. Nominations included Lumos by Harry and the Potters, the Sisters of House Black fan film, Team Starkid’s Homecoming reunion, Sorted by Jackson Bird, Jaremi Carey / Phi Phi O’Hara’s 31 Days of Wizardry series, Puffs the play, and Wizards in Space Literary Magazine.

Fans also submitted the answers Fantastic Geeks and Where to Find Them, Voldemort and the Teenage Hogwarts Musical Parody, Binge Mode Harry Potter, Potterless Podcast, Potter Puppet Pals, PotterCast, Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, Coldmirror’s parodies and fan fiction.

WINNER: Sisters Of House Black (32.5%)

Congratulations to the winner in this category! Read our interview with creator Kelsey Ellison here.

Watch the film here:

Runner Ups:

1.  Jaremi Carey’s ’31 Days of Wizardry’ Series (21.2%)
2. Lumos – Harry and the Potters (20.2%)

Best Non-Acting Projects:

This category celebrates the projects of Wizarding World actors outside of their acting professions. A large part of Leaky’s work is reporting on the works of these actors, and this is our way of showing and acknowledging their other talents!

Nominations included Alison Sudol’s music, Dan Fogler’s 4D Xperience podcast, Ezra Miller’s band, Sons of an Illustrious Father, Jamie Campbell Bower’s band, Counterfeit, Evanna Lynch’s Kinder Beauty Box and podcast The Chickpeeps, Tom Felton’s music and Jessie Cave’s comedy (Sunrise / Cave Women).

Fans also submitted Emma Watson’s book club, Our Shared Shelf as an answer.

WINNER: Tom Felton’s Music (38.2%)

Tom Felton held a concert at LeakyCon Dallas this year, and posts clips of his music regularly on Instagram – we hope this win keeps him going! Congratulations, Tom!

Runner Ups:

1. Evanna Lynch’s Kinder Beauty Box & The Chickpeeps (27.9%)
2. Ezra Miller – Sons of an Illustrious Father (12.4%)

Best Theater Project:

This category celebrates the onstage achievements of Wizarding World actors in 2019. We originally didn’t include Cursed Child, but decided to add it on request of voters!

Nominations included A German Life (Maggie Smith), Games For Lovers (Evanna Lynch), Rosmersholm (Tom Burke), Lifespan of a Fact (Daniel Radcliffe), Europe (Natalia Tena), Cursed Child, and Wizard of Oz Pantomime (Chris Rankin).

Fans also suggested The Greater Game (James Phelps).

JOINT WINNERS: A German Life (Maggie Smith) & Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (both 27.4%)

We had TWO winners in this category, both A German Life and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Runner up: Games For Lovers (Evanna Lynch) (20%)

Best Wizarding World Activism:

This category celebrates the activism of Wizarding World actors, and the causes they fight for — again, these are all winners in our eyes, and we’re all for celebrating every effort made to make the world a fairer, more equal, safer place for everybody and every being.

Nominations included Evanna Lynch’s vegan activism, Bonnie Wright’s environmental activism, Emma Thompson’s climate change activism, Emma Watson’s gender equality activism, Chris Rankin’s work with Transfiguring Adoption, Warwick Davis’s work as Founder of Little People UK, and the Lumos Christmas album, A Magical Time of Year.

Fans also submitted Sons of an Illustrious Father’s response to J.K. Rowling’s tweet, Emma Watson’s transgender activism, James and Oliver Phelps’s work with Help Harry Help Others and Jason Isaacs’s work with Great Ormond Street Hospital.

WINNER: Emma Watson’s Gender Equality Activism (52.2%)

Emma Watson has been advocating for inclusive, intersectional gender equality for years now, and is the UN Goodwill Ambassador for women. She has started a feminist book club (Our Shared Shelf) and interviewed countless inspiring peoples on their contributions to gender equality — all whilst holding up some great roles in feature films such as Perks of Being a Wallflower, Beauty and the Beast and the recent Little Women, and still keeping up with the Harry Potter cast and visiting Noma Dumezweni as Hermione in Cursed Child. Congratulations, Emma — keep inspiring others with your work!

Runner Up: Bonnie Wright’s Environmental Activism (13.1%)

Best on Social Media:

This category celebrates Wizarding World actors on social media, and sought to find out who fans would vote as their favorite. We love seeing all actors posting on social, especially when we get reunion photos like we did in Christmas 2019!

Nominations included Chris Rankin, Evanna Lynch, Tom Felton, Jason Isaacs, Afshan Azad and James Snyder.
Fans also submitted James and Oliver Phelps, Nicholas Podany, Jamie Campbell Bower, James Payton, Alison Sudol, Bonnie Wright, Matthew Davis, Natalia Tena, Jonno Roberts, Louis Cordice and Stan Yanevski.

WINNER: Tom Felton (45.%)

Congratulations on another win, Tom – you’re truly a fan favorite!

Runner Ups:

1. Evanna Lynch (21.7%)
2. Chris Rankin (12.4%)

Best Wizarding World Event:

2019 brought plenty of exciting events celebrating all things Wizarding World!

Nominations included the opening of Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure at Universal Orlando, LeakyCon (Boston, Dallas and Rose City), San Diego Comic Con, Cursed Child premieres, the Gringotts opening at Warner Bros. Studio Tour, the Wizarding World Gold Christmas event and Harry Potter in Concert.

Fans also submitted Potterverse Con, Literary Ink, Wizards Unite Fan Festival, Harry and the Potters / Kimya Dawson, Elbenwald Festival, the Yule Ball, DraigCon, For the Love of Fantastic and Wizardfest Ironton (Ohio).

WINNER: Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure Opening (Universal Orlando) (25.6%)

We were blown away by the grand opening of Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. We attended the event, and got to be one of the first to review the ride and interview its makers, and see a full Harry Potter cast Q&A – it felt almost like A Celebration of Harry Potter without the Expo!

Runner Ups:

1. Gringotts Opening at Warner Bros. Studio Tour (20.2%)
2. LeakyCon (18.2%)

Favorite Harry Potter Book:

In 2019, what would fans vote their favorite Harry Potter book? We wanted to settle the score, and also use these awards as a way to see if the preference of our readers change over the years:

WINNER: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (26.3%)

Turns out the third book is a fan favorite! Are you surprised, or did you vote for the third book?

Runner ups:

1. GoF (17%)
2.  OoTP (16.4%)

Surprisingly, Deathly Hallows didn’t appear in the runner ups – we wonder if this has to do with demographics of voters? Or maybe there were too many deaths in the final book! Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix were all huge turning points for Harry: finding Sirius and learning some more about his parents’ deaths, Voldemort’s return and Cedric’s death, and preparing for battle and Hogwarts and the Ministry being compromised.

Favorite ‘Wizarding World’ Film:

We also wanted to test the waters on the fan favorite Wizarding World film – we included both Fantastic Beasts films, to see if that would change things up!

WINNER: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (25.1%)

Surprisingly, Prisoner of Azkaban also won best film! Alfonso Cuarón had huge success with Roma in 2019, and The Golden Cauldron Awards have given him yet another success with his film adaptation!

Runner Ups:

1. Goblet of Fire (12.6%)
2. Philosopher’s / Sorcerer’s Stone (12.4%)

Goblet of Fire was also runner up for best film, but the first film also rated highly – must be that first shot of Diagon Alley and Hogwarts! We wonder if the film scores also came into play in these decisions?

BEST WIZARDING WORLD MOMENT OF THE DECADE

We left this vote completely open, and after sifting through thousands of entries, we had a VERY close call – our winner and top runner up were just ONE vote apart!

Winner: Deathly Hallows Part 2 Premiere

The Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiere was a truly historic moment. If you were there, you witnessed history being made in London’s Trafalgar Square (usually premieres take place in Leicester Square, but London made an exception for Harry Potter, understandably). J.K. Rowling told us “Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home”, and the cast gave truly tear-wrenching speeches about their time on the films. It was both heartwarming and heartbreaking to watch such a beautiful end of an era, and we’re not surprised at all that this moment won!

The launch / announcement of the Fantastic Beasts movies was our runner up, followed very closely (three votes apart) by the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (worldwide locations).

We had a HUGE variety of other nominations for best moment of the decade — here’s a summary, in no particular order:

• The casting of a black Hermione
• Dancing Hermione
• Katherine Waterston’s pregnancy announcement at the Fantastic Beasts premiere
• The opening of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
• The Cursed Child times square takeover
• Accio Box
• WWoHP Diagon Alley opening 
• The revelation that Snape is good in Deathly Hallows Part 2 
• The fandom standing up for what’s right – regardless of the views of its creator
• Leakycon Dublin
• Leakycon wrock concert immediately after the Deathly Hallows premiere in 2011
• LeakyCon boston 
• Opening of Gringotts at Warner Bros. Studio Tour 
• Forbidden forest opening at Warner Bros. Studio Tour
• The Warner Bros. Studio Tour opening  
• The launch of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Teddy Lupin graduating from Hogwarts
• Fanfictions
• Starkid Homecoming 
• Loquacious Literature’s artwork
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
• The Wizarding World app
• Voldemort’s death
• A Very Potter Senior Year at LeakyCon
• CAN’T CHOOSE 
• Binge Mode Harry Potter
• Ron and Hermione’s kiss
• “Anytime Hermione is a badass”
• Niffler
• Cast reunion pic 2019
• Pottermore opening
• Harry Potter in Concert
• “NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH”
• Jude Law and Eddie Redmayne at King’s Cross
• Potterless
• Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure opening
• Following Leaky on Twitter! (Whoever said this, we love you too)
• Listening to PotterCast for the first time (we also love you)
• Minalima’s creative work
• The launch of an interactive Sorting quiz 

We love seeing how varied the interests of the fan community are – thanks for so many brilliant answers, and some answers that made us laugh!

We also gave the following special honorary mentions to some great people / projects who deserve some recognition:

– Chris Rankin & James Payton – Best LeakyCon Panel Guest Hosts
– MinaLima – for inspiring delight in creativity and extreme talent
– Imogen Heap – providing a new, innovative and magical sound for ‘Harry Potter’
– The Harry Potter Alliance – for inspiring fans to live like Dumbledore’s Army
– Snitchwiches – for feeding hungry fans at not one, but TWO LeakyCons this year!
– The LeakyCon wrock troupe: Draco and the Malfoys, / Tonks and the Aurors / Lauren Fairweather / Harry and the Potters – for enhancing the fan experience and giving words to our love of the positive and fun messages of this series
– Jack Thorne – for being one of the busiest writers on the planet
– Sonia Friedman – for spreading the light of theater
– Seattle Father who created his own Diagon Alley in his backyard and donated it to Camp Korey, a facility for families dealing with medical issues
– The Protego Foundation, Transfiguring Adoption, Potterhead Running Club, This Star Won’t Go Out, Uplift & More – for brilliant campaigns that have reached far beyond the HP fandom
– James Payton, Chris Rankin, Louis Cordice, Tolga Safer, Stan Yanevski, Evanna Lynch, Nadia Brown: Most engaged with online fandom

Join us in congratulating our winners! Many thanks to ALL who made the Golden Cauldron Awards a success by sharing and voting – we hope you’re happy with the votes!

We’d love your suggestions for next year (new categories / formatting suggestions etc), so feel free to get in touch via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or email [email protected], and look out for more like this in future!

Read our 2019 Year in Review, and 2010-20120 Decade in review pieces for more on all people, moments and projects mentioned here!