Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf

This thread is for each member of the crew to check in with their new avatar on their profile. For a check-in to count, each crew member must include a funny quote, quip, or greeting (i.e.- "Trick or treat!") that matches the character or theme. The more people you have checked-in, the higher your overall score! Please read these instructions very carefully – missing any step may disqualify your crew! Participants must be checked-in to this thread by Monday, October 24 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Avatars must remain in their costumed forms until at least Monday, October 31 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Do not post anything except check-ins here – no other discussion or joking around, please! Players can only check in ONCE per contest. If you're playing two characters on two different ships, you have to decide which ship you want to participate with. Your participation will not count against your second ship. We'll discount the other ship's roster to account for your participation on this ship. If you have crew members who cannot access the forum due to accessibility issues, the CO must notify FltAdml. Wolf. The second post in this thread must contain the following: A clear and direct announcement of the ship's theme. Confirmation that your crew followed the "Halloween Avatar Contest avatars uploading process" exactly – use the "Section 3. Check your work" checklist to ensure you've not violated any rules. Here's an example:

This thread is for each member of the crew to check in with their new avatar on their profile. For a check-in to count, each crew member must include a funny quote, quip, or greeting (i.e.- "Trick or treat!") that matches the character or theme. The more people you have checked-in, the higher your overall score! Please read these instructions very carefully – missing any step may disqualify your crew! Participants must be checked-in to this thread by Monday, October 24 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Avatars must remain in their costumed forms until at least Monday, October 31 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Do not post anything except check-ins here – no other discussion or joking around, please! Players can only check in ONCE per contest. If you're playing two characters on two different ships, you have to decide which ship you want to participate with. Your participation will not count against your second ship. We'll discount the other ship's roster to account for your participation on this ship. If you have crew members who cannot access the forum due to accessibility issues, the CO must notify FltAdml. Wolf. The second post in this thread must contain the following: A clear and direct announcement of the ship's theme. Confirmation that your crew followed the "Halloween Avatar Contest avatars uploading process" exactly – use the "Section 3. Check your work" checklist to ensure you've not violated any rules. Here's an example:

This thread is for each member of the crew to check in with their new avatar on their profile. For a check-in to count, each crew member must include a funny quote, quip, or greeting (i.e.- "Trick or treat!") that matches the character or theme. The more people you have checked-in, the higher your overall score! Please read these instructions very carefully – missing any step may disqualify your crew! Participants must be checked-in to this thread by Monday, October 24 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Avatars must remain in their costumed forms until at least Monday, October 31 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Do not post anything except check-ins here – no other discussion or joking around, please! Players can only check in ONCE per contest. If you're playing two characters on two different ships, you have to decide which ship you want to participate with. Your participation will not count against your second ship. We'll discount the other ship's roster to account for your participation on this ship. If you have crew members who cannot access the forum due to accessibility issues, the CO must notify FltAdml. Wolf. The second post in this thread must contain the following: A clear and direct announcement of the ship's theme. Confirmation that your crew followed the "Halloween Avatar Contest avatars uploading process" exactly – use the "Section 3. Check your work" checklist to ensure you've not violated any rules. Here's an example:

This thread is for each member of the crew to check in with their new avatar on their profile. For a check-in to count, each crew member must include a funny quote, quip, or greeting (i.e.- "Trick or treat!") that matches the character or theme. The more people you have checked-in, the higher your overall score! Please read these instructions very carefully – missing any step may disqualify your crew! Participants must be checked-in to this thread by Monday, October 24 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Avatars must remain in their costumed forms until at least Monday, October 31 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Do not post anything except check-ins here – no other discussion or joking around, please! Players can only check in ONCE per contest. If you're playing two characters on two different ships, you have to decide which ship you want to participate with. Your participation will not count against your second ship. We'll discount the other ship's roster to account for your participation on this ship. If you have crew members who cannot access the forum due to accessibility issues, the CO must notify FltAdml. Wolf. The second post in this thread must contain the following: A clear and direct announcement of the ship's theme. Confirmation that your crew followed the "Halloween Avatar Contest avatars uploading process" exactly – use the "Section 3. Check your work" checklist to ensure you've not violated any rules. Here's an example:

This thread is for each member of the crew to check in with their new avatar on their profile. For a check-in to count, each crew member must include a funny quote, quip, or greeting (i.e.- "Trick or treat!") that matches the character or theme. The more people you have checked-in, the higher your overall score! Please read these instructions very carefully – missing any step may disqualify your crew! Participants must be checked-in to this thread by Monday, October 24 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Avatars must remain in their costumed forms until at least Monday, October 31 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Do not post anything except check-ins here – no other discussion or joking around, please! Players can only check in ONCE per contest. If you're playing two characters on two different ships, you have to decide which ship you want to participate with. Your participation will not count against your second ship. We'll discount the other ship's roster to account for your participation on this ship. If you have crew members who cannot access the forum due to accessibility issues, the CO must notify FltAdml. Wolf. The second post in this thread must contain the following: A clear and direct announcement of the ship's theme. Confirmation that your crew followed the "Halloween Avatar Contest avatars uploading process" exactly – use the "Section 3. Check your work" checklist to ensure you've not violated any rules. Here's an example:

This thread is for each member of the crew to check in with their new avatar on their profile. For a check-in to count, each crew member must include a funny quote, quip, or greeting (i.e.- "Trick or treat!") that matches the character or theme. The more people you have checked-in, the higher your overall score! Please read these instructions very carefully – missing any step may disqualify your crew! Participants must be checked-in to this thread by Monday, October 24 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Avatars must remain in their costumed forms until at least Monday, October 31 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Do not post anything except check-ins here – no other discussion or joking around, please! Players can only check in ONCE per contest. If you're playing two characters on two different ships, you have to decide which ship you want to participate with. Your participation will not count against your second ship. We'll discount the other ship's roster to account for your participation on this ship. If you have crew members who cannot access the forum due to accessibility issues, the CO must notify FltAdml. Wolf. The second post in this thread must contain the following: A clear and direct announcement of the ship's theme. Confirmation that your crew followed the "Halloween Avatar Contest avatars uploading process" exactly – use the "Section 3. Check your work" checklist to ensure you've not violated any rules. Here's an example:

This thread is for each member of the crew to check in with their new avatar on their profile. For a check-in to count, each crew member must include a funny quote, quip, or greeting (i.e.- "Trick or treat!") that matches the character or theme. The more people you have checked-in, the higher your overall score! Please read these instructions very carefully – missing any step may disqualify your crew! Participants must be checked-in to this thread by Monday, October 24 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Avatars must remain in their costumed forms until at least Monday, October 31 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Do not post anything except check-ins here – no other discussion or joking around, please! Players can only check in ONCE per contest. If you're playing two characters on two different ships, you have to decide which ship you want to participate with. Your participation will not count against your second ship. We'll discount the other ship's roster to account for your participation on this ship. If you have crew members who cannot access the forum due to accessibility issues, the CO must notify FltAdml. Wolf. The second post in this thread must contain the following: A clear and direct announcement of the ship's theme. Confirmation that your crew followed the "Halloween Avatar Contest avatars uploading process" exactly – use the "Section 3. Check your work" checklist to ensure you've not violated any rules. Here's an example:

This thread is for each member of the crew to check in with their new avatar on their profile. For a check-in to count, each crew member must include a funny quote, quip, or greeting (i.e.- "Trick or treat!") that matches the character or theme. The more people you have checked-in, the higher your overall score! Please read these instructions very carefully – missing any step may disqualify your crew! Participants must be checked-in to this thread by Monday, October 24 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Avatars must remain in their costumed forms until at least Monday, October 31 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Do not post anything except check-ins here – no other discussion or joking around, please! Players can only check in ONCE per contest. If you're playing two characters on two different ships, you have to decide which ship you want to participate with. Your participation will not count against your second ship. We'll discount the other ship's roster to account for your participation on this ship. If you have crew members who cannot access the forum due to accessibility issues, the CO must notify FltAdml. Wolf. The second post in this thread must contain the following: A clear and direct announcement of the ship's theme. Confirmation that your crew followed the "Halloween Avatar Contest avatars uploading process" exactly – use the "Section 3. Check your work" checklist to ensure you've not violated any rules. Here's an example:

This thread is for each member of the crew to check in with their new avatar on their profile. For a check-in to count, each crew member must include a funny quote, quip, or greeting (i.e.- "Trick or treat!") that matches the character or theme. The more people you have checked-in, the higher your overall score! Please read these instructions very carefully – missing any step may disqualify your crew! Participants must be checked-in to this thread by Monday, October 24 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Avatars must remain in their costumed forms until at least Monday, October 31 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Do not post anything except check-ins here – no other discussion or joking around, please! Players can only check in ONCE per contest. If you're playing two characters on two different ships, you have to decide which ship you want to participate with. Your participation will not count against your second ship. We'll discount the other ship's roster to account for your participation on this ship. If you have crew members who cannot access the forum due to accessibility issues, the CO must notify FltAdml. Wolf. The second post in this thread must contain the following: A clear and direct announcement of the ship's theme. Confirmation that your crew followed the "Halloween Avatar Contest avatars uploading process" exactly – use the "Section 3. Check your work" checklist to ensure you've not violated any rules. Here's an example:

Join our 12th Annual Halloween Avatar Contest! Here's the quick-and-spooky: Each crew chooses a theme – like "Nightmare Before Christmas," or "Mugshots," or "Sesame Street" – then, each person on the crew is assigned a character and changes their forum avatar to an image of that character. A panel of judges (one person from each ship) helps decide the winners! HOW TO ENTER THE COMPETITION Each crew must pick a theme. (You should already have an OOC email thread about it!) For a member of the crew to be considered part of the team, they must: change their avatar here on the forums check in to crew's official thread in this forum (more on that below) with a funny quote, quip, or greeting. (i.e.- "Trick or treat!"). Please keep any other extraneous posts out of this thread as it will be used to count the ship's participants. Regarding check-in threads: The second post in the check-in thread must an announcement of the ship's theme AND confirm that all rules have been followed. Participants must be checked-in to their ship's thread in this forum by Monday, October 25 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Avatars must remain in their costumed forms until at least Monday, October 31 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. Each crew entering the contest must upload their avatars to the wiki following this tutorial to the letter. Please follow each instructions closely and exactly – your crew will be disqualified if you do not follow the instructions! JUDGING CATEGORIES OF SCORING We've made changes to judging as of the 2021 contest: There are now two winning crews – one each in Originality and Design. Originality of Theme category: Judging in this category is looking for new, fun, creative, inventive, and imaginative ideas. Is this something exciting, adventurous, and inspired? Or has it been done before? Does your theme have unique style and substance? A winning crew will think outside of the box when deciding on their theme and avatar concepts, with a fresh and new approach to the challenge. Important note on eligibility: Crews may not choose a theme that simply mirrors a Starfleet crew we've seen onscreen or in beta canon with your characters faces subbed in – so no "SB118 Ops as the Enterprise crew," for example. You are welcome, however, to create a theme where your characters are drawn in the style of a Design quality of avatars: For this category, we're looking for the technique in the design and how it comes together. How hard was it to create the avatars, and how good is the execution? Did the crew a theme where they had to do a lot of work to create the avatars? If names are present on the avatar, how readable are they? How do the avatars look – is it easy to discern what the characters look like when they appear on the forum? Check out past entrants and winners for inspiration and ideas of what wins here. Important note on design: Avatar designers should ensure that the avatars, as they appear on each person's check-in post, works best. Many ships create a "unified graphic" with all the characters on it, and then just slice that up. But this often leaves text unreadable once each person puts the avatar onto their profile. So focus more on making the avatar appear correctly on the forums. Keep in mind that the unified graphic is not judged or required, so while it's a bit of fun to bring all the avatars together and show the theme, don't assume that unified graphic will win you the contest! Number of crew members checked in: This is a multiplier to the previous two qualifications that discounts your overall score. For example, if the official crew roster (maintained by the ship CO and FO) says there are 12 crew members, but only 5 people are checked-in to the thread, then your multiplier is 42%. This can easily drop you out of first place! JUDGES PANEL We'll ask each ship to send a volunteer – they can't be the ship's CO, and they must not have a chracter on more than one ship. Each judge will rank every ship's entry on the originality and design quality per above. Judges will not be able to rank their own ship in the first position. We'll use Ranked Choice Voting to determine the winner for each category. Once we have the scores for each of the two categories, we'll multiply by the number of crew members checked in, per above. The crew with the highest score in each category will be announced as the winners. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS How do I change my avatar? A detailed tutorial is found here. What's the deal with the funny quote, quip, or greeting required on the check-in thread? It could be a quote from the character you're using, or something funny that you just make up on the fly. But make it good -- ask your teammates for help if you need inspiration! Can my team use a theme that's previously been used? Yes, as long as you use new images. Where do we get avatar images if none of us on my team are good at graphics? Check out the graphics request forum. Ask nicely for best results! Do the avatars have to look like the characters? No. How is participation counted? What about secondaries and disabled members? The number of possible participants will be pulled from the official ship roster (maintained by CO and FO) on Monday, October 24. We will discount properly marked secondaries and any members who are disabled and cannot access the forums, as per the CO of the ship. When will winners be announced? As close to the last day of October as possible. What do the winners get? Everyone from the winning crews gets the Winner badge. What if I have other questions? Head to Discord and ask them in "🎃the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year" channel. Forum icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com.

DATES: The class began on 2022-09-26 and ended 2022-10-03 LIST: sb118-Academy1 COMMANDING OFFICER: Lt. Commander @Elizabeth Snow FIRST OFFICER: Commander @Addison MacKenzie GRADUATES: Returning member @Gogigobo Fairhug @Alex Forsyth Welcome to the fleet – we're so glad you're here! My door is always open if you ever need anything

DATES: The class began on 2022-09-06 and ended 2022-09-13 LIST: sb118-Academy3 COMMANDING OFFICER: Lt. Commander @Elizabeth Snow FIRST OFFICER: Lt. Commander @Genkos Adea GRADUATES: @Arik Syren Gordon Bennett Welcome to the fleet – we're so glad you're here! My door is always open if you ever need anything

DATES: The class began on 2022-07-19 and ended 2022-07-25 LIST: sb118-Academy1 COMMANDING OFFICER: Lt. Commander @Samira Neathler FIRST OFFICER: Lt. Commander @Wil Ukinix GRADUATES: T'Syrik One Zero One (101) and Zero Zero Zero (000) Mag Hawkeye Maximilian Kross Welcome to the fleet – we're so glad you're here! My door is always open if you ever need anything

DATES: The class began on 2022-06-28 and ended 2022-07-04 LIST: sb118-Academy2 COMMANDING OFFICER: Lt. Commander @Alora DeVeau FIRST OFFICER: Com. @Rahman and Rivi Vataix GRADUATES: @Jexath Welcome to the fleet – we're so glad you're here! My door is always open if you ever need anything

I can't speak as much at length as I have for other awards for these, but I nonetheless want to offer congratulations on your wins! Please know that it is such an honor to be recognized by your peers for an award such as this and that your work will be remembered fondly! And, of course, thank you for all the time and creativity you put in to earn this award. To our inaugural Prestigious Service Medallion recipients: you really have reached the pinnacle of skill for your duty post! I hope that this shows just how much the rest of us recognize your continued, ongoing contribution to the game

This wrap-up of the awards is all about giving thanks to everyone who helped put it together. Awards are, without a doubt, our biggest and most involved event every year, bringing together nearly every member of the fleet to make nominations while engaging everyone on staff to publish it all flawlessly and on time. Once again, our first and foremost thanks goes to the producer of the show for the third year in a row: Jo Marshall. Em has volunteered repeatedly and, each year, becomes more of an expert in the many dozens of moving parts required to pull off this thing. She is quick, helpful, clear, and enthusiastic about making this event happen, and I know I speak for everyone on staff when I declare our deepest appreciation at the way she makes this easier for all of us. And all of this is done while also managing many other fleetwide tasks, not least of which is the First Officer the Gorkon! Also Genkos Adea, Elliot, who acted as a deputy to Marshall and helped every step of the way in assembling and publishing content, sometimes even at random times just to confound all the eager beavers on Discord who were counting down the minutes. Many thanks to him for his contributions and the amusement he brought to the staff watching the scramble! And Alora DeVeau, Amanda, for being a cheerleader for this process! Her enthusiasm for everyone in the awards is an inspiration and kept us going! Now onto the Awards Committee, who have the mighty task of reading all the nominations for Special and Duty Post awards and then have to vote to decide who's the winner of each! This is a monumental amount of reading and a lot of decisions to be made in a very short period of time but they did it admirably. Many thanks to these folks: Alora DeVeau Shedet / Nugra Karrod Niac Kali Nicholotti Randal Shayne Endless and deep appreciation for the Commanding Officers of the fleet, who have the job of encouraging everyone to participate in nominations, and then have to pull together a logical and appropriate list of General Award winners, followed by a slew of award presentations for other categories that are heartfelt and draw upon the nominations and things they've observed. It requires much time, energy, and love to do all that and they appreciate our thanks for doing it while also maintaining the rest of their responsibilities. Also our First Officers, who review the Staff Award nominations and provide the Executive Council with recommendations on who to give those awards to. We appreciate the thoughtful consideration of those awards and hope all the FOs know that! The Executive Council, who put so much time and emotion into being the best possible simmers, community members, and administrators as possible. The vast majority of people who've been members of our community will never know the rather incredible and academic amount of work that goes into ensuring our volunteer-led community can sustain itself. They do it for the joy of seeing this community thrive, but nonetheless deserve so much thanks and appreciation – I don't know how we could ever show enough love! And to those who ramped up excitement in the Discord Awards channel, and those who submitted a nomination: Thank you for your consideration and recognizing the work of others. You help the staff make this awards ceremony possible. I'd also like to take a moment to recognize all of our donors for the past year, including those whose names are not published below because they asked to remain anonymous, for contributing to the community's self-sustaining fund to maintain our website and other digital assets. Thank you so much! Arturo Maxwell Baylen Anders Jo Marshall Genkos Adea Jacob Horne Jalana Rajel Kalianna Nicholotti Lephi Oddas Aria Sarah Phillips Serala Serren Tan Wil Ukinix Wyatt Ral Yogan Yalu Our staff also wished to add these words of thanks to the permanent record of our awards ceremonies: Adml. Quinn Reynolds Karrod Niac: When the Embassy needed help in early 2020, Brian (Karrod Niac), along with Matt (Addison MacKenzie), selflessly answered the call. Over the next few months, Brian spearheaded changes and reinvigorated the Embassy, and when there was a change of command, he continued bringing his very best and supporting his new CO. The Embassy became the Thor, and is now the ‘Oumuamua, and is still going strong. It’s very likely that if not for his efforts, we would have lost people recognised in this year’s awards, and so I wanted to take this opportunity to recognise one of the fleet’s most talented writers for everything he has done. Thank you, Brian! Jo Marshall, Samira Neathler, Alieth: You have been a huge support over the past year, helping me to navigate through some tricky situations, keeping our missions running smoothly, and always bringing your A game to your writing. You are a big part of the reason the Gorkon is such a fun place to sim, and I look forward to creating many more stories with you! Tristan Wolf: I don’t have the words to express how much admiration I hold for you; how much time and effort you invest in our world, your unfailing drive to make things better, the way you can cut to the heart of an issue, and so much more. It is an absolute privilege to be a part of the group you created, a group that has taught me so much and made me a better person and asks me to always continue striving to be better, and so from the bottom of my heart, thank you, for everything. Commodore Kalianna Nicholotti Addison MacKenzie, Genkos Adea, and Yogan Yalu: Without these three, the Excalibur would not be what it is and the Resolution would not have been what it was. Steadfast, always willing to dive in and handle what’s needed, I am not only glad to have them as my staff, but also call them friends. Karrod Niac: Injecting drama and humor in equal measure really helps to bring the story to life. In this, Brian is exquisite, and it’s helped shape the ever growing story that we weave. Jo Marshall: You make even the most overwhelming projects fun to work on. I’m sure there is no shortage of volunteers to assist you, but if there ever is, call me. I’ll be your wingman. Captain Shayne: Sometimes you just need to run your ideas by another captain, and get an honest response. Thanks for being reliable and honest and ever helpful. Fleet Captain Aria Lt. Commander T’Lea: Thank you so much for being a steadfast presence on the Juneau, and now the Denali. You have been a steady presence in so many roles for so long, from an XO, to a mentor, to someone just to write or enhance missions and individual storylines. You have a great attitude, writing style, and are just a pleasure to have in the fleet. Commodore Ossa V’Airu Jacob (Wes Greaves): For stepping up into the XO role and succeeding the incomparable job Brian did with his excellent take on, well, excellence. Jacob (Wes Greaves), Amanda (Katsim Peri), and Ben (Alexander Brodie): For the amazing mentoring work. The crew of the ‘Oumuamua/the former crew of the Thor, who threw themselves into creating a new ship with an unusual name with enthusiasm and joy. Also, echoing everything Emma wrote about Brian (Karrod Niac, formerly Geoffrey Teller) and Matt (Addison MacKenzie) holds true for me, too! So many thanks for doing your best with the Embassy and setting first the Thor and now the ‘Oumuamua up for continued success. The other members of the Executive Council (Jordan, Emma, Rich, Jamie, Nick), all of whom are always around to offer guidance and assistance and a chat. And that's a wrap on the 2022 Awards Ceremony! I hope that this Awards Ceremony has helped you feel special, welcomed, and recognized. -FltAdml. Tristan Wolf

Oh my gosh, it's crazy that we roll up the length of service awards with the special awards because there's so much to say about these folks! This is the day to recognize the people who have staying power and crazy amounts of extra-curricular motivation. First, I just want to say a hearty congrats and thanks to all the people who earned Length of Service awards this year. It's no small feat to make it a year! And from there, the list shrinks but the prestige grows. I really can't believe that it's been 10 years for @Jalana, and more than 15 for @Atan T'Seva and @Quinn Reynolds. You've all been incredible companions in this journey and I hold deep appreciation for everything you've brought to the community and your willingness to contribute your incredible creative energies to sustaining and improving this place. Without people like you, we would never have made it more than 28 years "in the biz." And that 15 year club is truly something incredible because only eight of us have made it at least that long out of the thousands that have passed through these hallowed halls. Onto the Special Awards, where we get a chance to really hone in on the folks who are putting in the special magic that make "everything else" work around here. @Rahman and Rivi Vataix earning the third Great Bird Award – which has been around since the 90s! That's incredibly special and shows just how much Rich has brought to our community. His creativity and imagination sparkles, but what it took to earn this award was not being afraid to apply all that. He brings to the table these innate abilities and learns new skills and is never afraid to try new things, make proposals, and be fearless. I love that about him. @Wes Greaves has been a "rising star" from almost the first day. I remember hearing buzz about him from the training class and thinking that if he made it past the first few weeks – I was a little worried that, as a member of the military, he might find fault in our failure to salute on the bridge! – he'd go really far. It's so much fun to trace his path from that day and see how he's been a great simmer, mentor, and now leader as the First Officer of the impossibly named USS ‘Oumuamua. I guess I can also piggy back on the "spoiler alert" in this presentation that he's also earned the Strange Medallion (which moved from the Duty Post awards into the Staff awards category this year and will be announced tomorrow on Day 3), doubling down on two major awards just to prove how great his contribution is in the past year. Can't wait to see what comes next for him! Thanks to @Samira Neathler who's been a force on multiple teams this year, but is being recognized with the Locutus Award for substantial contributions on the social media team – a real day-to-day responsibility that helps us maintain our search engine rankings and the communities we've cultivated outside the bounds of our forums and chat. We made this award because it's so important to have folks that are willing to contribute to these efforts and I really appreciate when someone brings the kind of energy required to win this award. And it's fitting that this award is about bringing new people into the fold because Neathler has also been an incredibly prolific member of the Academy Training Team! It's been 18 years since we established the wiki, and it's fun to see how this little corner of our community has cultivated its own culture. Many thanks to @Maz Rodan for all the contributions that led to receiving the Sarpeidon Award. Without people who are willing to dive in and learn more about how to code on the wiki, help others with tricky formatting and page-building, and help our captains maintain all the most important pages for their ships, it wouldn't thrive the way it does now as, dare-I-say-it?, the "Memory Alpha" of RPG wikis. Surely there are no other RPG wikis out there that even come close, thanks to people like Maz! Newer folks might not realize the utter insanity that is our training program and how incredible it is for @Genkos Adea and others to be recognized for the Boothby Award. Our training program began in the 1990s and now runs a class almost every single week of the year, rain or shine, 1 cadet or 6. Founded by Elinor of Kanist, this incredible – mostly hidden – piece of the community is staffed by dedicated Lt. Commanders and Commanders like Genkos who show up regularly and volunteer to help train new folks. There are miserable weeks, when we lose a whole class for one reason or another, and there are glorious weeks when we graduate six people at once. But mostly it's just a routine and above all, that's kind of the most important point? The fact that trainers are able to shine in a week-in-week-out cycle, learning new things every week and helping improve the program over more than two decades. Thank you to Genkos and everyone who makes it possible. It would be hard to have missed @Ikaia Wong's contributions to the Discord chat, where illustrations pop up regularly as the quirky Klingon character peeps shyly from behind a PADD. But folks like Wong make our chatroom a delightful and fun place to hang out. I have Discord open all day on my computer, which I'm at most of the day, and I often lurk and just watch the madness and fun unfold. I'm thankful for Wong's contributions that make me smile and everyone else who is always there, sorta like our own little version of Cheers – everyone knows your name. Speaking of making the community more fun, and Discord, we can't help but recognize @Jaelyne Isa with The Community Champion Award for helping facilitate our monthly chats every month. But it's not just the chats themselves that are so great, but also the preparation, which is like a 20-step process to ensure that the fleet is aware of what's coming up and that the events are planned! And I'm hugely grateful for the competent and diligent help in this area. I hold a very special place in my heart for @Alieth, who has been such a positive and wonderful presence. The Northern Star Award is kind of like a "best all around community member" recognition, and Alieth certainly deserves it. From being a delightful person to interact with on Discord, to bringing incredible graphics that have built on the work of Rich and Jess before her, we're on a whole new level now because of Alieth! She's always so helpful and thoughtful, providing encouraging feedback and great ideas. I'm very thankful of her contribution. The Jake Sisko Prize is fun one because our Federation News Service is so incredibly unique in the world of RPGs, and maintaining it is such a creative niche for us. Like, can you imagine any other RPGs having a spinoff group that is this diligently maintained, pumping out worldbuilding like a factory to help enrich their stories and where the motivation to sustain it is just "it's a hell of a lot of fun"? You know you're in a special community when you've got that. So thanks to @Yalu, who also brings my favorite bearded avatar to the table, for all of the creative energy that's gone in to helping develop and maintain FNS over this past year. What a wonderful talent! Once again we come back to folks who contribute beautiful imagery to the fleet for the Okuda Award, and thanks to Aine Sherlock for contributing many unique visions to the fleet. The graphical sparks that they contribute help make the game so much richer and more fun to participate in, and once again it's just important to remember how much time and effort goes into these kinds of contributions, above and beyond simming! Thank you. I almost forgot the Luminary Award, with up-and-comer Trovek Arys who inspired quite a few paragraphs of recognition from Com. Taybrim! We're so appreciate of new folks who bring this kind of enthusiasm to everything they do, learning the ropes by trying out many things and being willing to dive right in and learn how many things work. The fresh ideas of newer folks keep us young and ensure that we can iterate on what we do year after year, and also help invigorate the old folks like me on the staff who need that spark to help inspire us. Many thanks for what you've brought to Ops and the larger community. Finally, I can't forget all the folks who received the Xalor Clan Xifilis award. Many thanks to each of your for continuing to participate and contribute on a regular basis through challenging circumstances and trying personal situations. We so appreciate what you bring, despite how difficult it can be to show up and put in great work.

Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you for your hard work and dedication to your ships, which clearly have an impact on making them a fun and enjoyable game for your other writers. The time and effort you put into making great characters and stories is a marvel and I certainly want you all to know how much it means to us that you spend your time here. You're joining a long legacy of stellar writers and simmers who have earned similar awards to you over the years. I hope you'll take a few minutes to stop by the General Awards gallery and check out others who've won these awards before you, some going all the way back to 1996! (Some awards don't show the full history on the gallery pages, but you can see the complete winner history in the spreadsheet.) Your name will join that history.

DATES: The class began on 2022-05-31 and ended 2022-06-05 LIST: sb118-Academy2 COMMANDING OFFICER: Lt. Commander Yogan @Yalu FIRST OFFICER: Lt. Commander @Samira Neathler GRADUATES: Maxwell Tannhauser @Rhylan Ward Nella Noxwyn Welcome to the fleet – we're so glad you're here! My door is always open if you ever need anything

DATES: The class began on 2022-05-10 and ended 2022-05-16 LIST: sb118-Academy3 COMMANDING OFFICER: Commander @Jo Marshall FIRST OFFICER: Lt. Commander @Samira Neathler GRADUATES: @Kante Soho @EgilRenot Welcome to the fleet – we're so glad you're here! My door is always open if you ever need anything

Glad to have you with us. My door is always open if you ever need anything!

DATES: The class began on 2022-04-04 and ended 2022-04-11 LIST: sb118-Academy2 COMMANDING OFFICER: Lt. Commander @Lael Rosek-Skyfire FIRST OFFICER: Lt. Commander @Samira Neathler GRADUATES: Ro Ranella Serok of Vulcan Welcome to the fleet – we're so glad you're here! My door is always open if you ever need anything

DATES: The class began on 01/31/2022 and ended MMMM XX, YYYY LIST: sb118-Academy2 COMMANDING OFFICER: Lt. Commander @Wes Greaves FIRST OFFICER: Lieutenant @Alieth GRADUATES: Tolan Voral Welcome to the fleet – we're so glad you're here! My door is always open if you ever need anything!

DATES: The class began on 2022-01-24 and ended 2022-02-01 LIST: sb118-Academy1 COMMANDING OFFICER: Lt. Commander Yogan @Yalu FIRST OFFICER: Lt. Commander @Jaelyne Isa GRADUATES: Ulasso Welcome to the fleet – we're so glad you're here! My door is always open if you ever need anything