awards ceremony 2022 2022 Ceremony: Finale/Acknowledgments

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

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

Edited July 1, 2022 by FltAdml. Wolf
Correcting donors list.

[Karrod Niac]

Deeply appreciate the kind words @Quinn Reynolds & @Kali Nicholotti - means quite a lot.  

 

Edit:  Additional thanks to @Tony, aka VAiru who I accidentally omitted from my original post!  I'm thrilled to see how Wes and the Thor/‘Oumuamua have grown since my departure and I'm so glad you folks are doing well.  Best of luck with the new ship!  

Edited July 1, 2022 by Karrod Niac

[Alora DeVeau]

I love this place, and I'm grateful I get to be a part of it!  Thank you for the kind words, and thank you to all who help keep this place going!

 

[Theo Whittaker]

Thank you to everyone involved in another amazing awards season!

[Alieth]

thank you so much for all the time and effort put in this! It's a blast every year thank for you! (even if @Genkos Adeawas so mad that we were in the verge of cut them in the middle of the full thing )




 

[Ulasso]

Thank you to everyone that was involved with putting the awards on. It was a very special experience.

[Talos Dakora]

Thank you for putting so much effort into making these awards the fun, exciting event that they are! You all are the shining stars of the fleet!

[Connor Dewitt]

This was my first Award Season in SB118 and it was truly special. It's one more facette of this communities passion and greatness. I love being a part of it! Thanks to all of those being involved in organizing the awards!

[+ Vitor S. Silveira]

 

To all who makes this community great. 

Thank you for your hard work. 

[Toryn Raga]

Another awards season done. Congrats to everyone winners and nominees alike and thank you to @Jo Marshall and everyone who works on these every year. Thank you so much. For me it's the consistency...of how much y'all make me cry every damned year.  I love this whole community and you all are amazing. Thank you especially to Tristan Wolf. For founding this community and doing all you do to keep it alive and fun. 

[Jack Kessler]

This was my first Awards Season and I honestly had no idea that it would be this large production. I have played in other groups that handed out awards but nothing this involved. Thank you all who worked on this and put so much effort into this season. This has been a whole new experience for me. Thank you all very much, for everything you do!!!