Whew! Just as I expected, choosing who to nominate was
really hard, and explaining why I chose them was [almost as difficult/just as difficult/even more difficult] (I can't decide which!
) so my apologies if some of my wording is strange or awkward. Anyway, here are my votes at last:
Fanart Award: Despite the relative paucity of new LBT fanart in the past year, this was a difficult category to decide on, since those artists who did post were extremely talented in their work. I wish to give a shout out to
Darkwolf91 and
Sky, who have not been artistically active on the GOF for a few months now (perhaps the reason their names have not come up in this year’s voting thus far), but did create some fantastic LBT artwork in the past year. Ultimately, however, my nominee for this award is
FlipperBoidSkua. This member continually astonishes me with both the quality and quantity of her drawings. I particularly adore the emotion expressed in the poses and faces of her characters. Oftentimes my first look at a drawing by this artist results in me physically acting out the
,
,
, or
emoticon (well, sans the water for the last one, but the same series of expressions). Though she struggles with backgrounds, she is still an incredibly versatile and talented artist, and I have no doubt that she will continue to improve and advance her art style.
Feedback Award: Unfortunately to say, I haven’t been keeping up with as many fanart and fanfiction threads as I used to, so I haven’t seen as many of the reviews that other members have been leaving.
FreckledOne has shown himself to be very good at writing feedback that is simultaneously polite, constructive, supportive, and often plain enjoyable to read, and I think he deserves the encouragement of an honorable mention even though he is not eligible for an award this year. I very strongly considered nominating
Vonboy,
Blais_13, and
StrutEggStealer for this award; all of them are excellent reviewers of fanfiction and/or fanart, and I admire the sheer number of different threads they have commented in. It was a very close vote, but I have decided to nominate
Pterano. This member may not be as active a reviewer as he used to be, but looking over his reviews from months past has reminded me of the work he puts into helping fanfiction writers write the best they can. He leaves both eloquent reviews of story events and detailed explanations of how to improve aspects of the writing such as sentence structure. Even if he does not go back to reviewing stories, the fact that he has made these contributions to the feedback category within the past year makes me feel that he deserves a chance for this award.
Friendly Member Award: As always, the abundance of kind, polite, open-minded, generous people on our wonderful forum makes this a difficult category, but I think that I will have to nominate
FlipperBoidSkua for this category as well. As she herself has stated, she is shy and does not interact with many others on the forum. I am immensely grateful to be one of those lucky members who has gotten to know her, and can tell you that this cheerful, good-natured, self-described spazz of the GOF is a wonderful friend to have. She is like a chocolate bar: sweet, full of energy, and guaranteed to improve your mood. She is extremely polite and considerate, and tries very hard not to inadvertently offend or annoy the people she talks to. Whenever I am feeling down or negative about myself, she is always supportive and encouraging. She never fails to express her gratitude to members who comment on her work, and takes constructive criticism with a smile. She has even utilized her fantastic art skills to fulfill picture requests by other members. I truly hope that Spazzy Sparky will find more opportunities for interaction with other membersóand more friendshipsóin her future on the GOF.
Helpful Member Award: This was quite possibly the most difficult category of all for me. After a great deal of thought, I am giving my vote to
Darkhououmon. Though the two of us have only had sporadic interactions over the past year, nearly every time Kacie contacted me was so that she could share a science article that she thought I would like, or to send me information on the
Dinosaur Wars book series that we mutually enjoy. I am grateful for her thoughtfulness, and I also understand that she has done helpful things for other members as well.
LBTFan13 gets an honorable mention from me for his help with the “In The Land Before Time” RP.
Philosopher Award: There have been many members this year who have made wonderful contributions to discussion threads. I have seen some very insightful posts by
Ghostfishe, and am only not nominating him because he has not yet attained the post count required to be eligible for the awards;
FlipperBoidSkua has come up with some very thought-provoking discussion topics, including some ideas that I find downright brilliant and have never heard anywhere else; I have immense respect for
Darkhououmon’s style of discussion, stating her opinions in a matter-of-fact way without being impolite or losing her cool, even in potentially volatile threads (not to mention that she has made plenty of very good points in a variety of discussions); and
jansenov,
The Chronicler, and
Malte279 have all made some very well-written and stimulating posts regarding current real-world issues. It is an extremely close contest, but out of all of these contenders, I have ultimately decided to nominate
jansenov.
Proactive Member Award: I vote for
Mumbling. With so many GOF members not being able to visit the forum as often due to real life, I truly admire how much time Iris still manages to find for the forum. It seems that whenever there is an issue that requires administrative assistance, she pops up to help. (As Littlefoot1616 pointed out, that takes proactivity.) She is an amazing admin, and I am so grateful to her for making both the GOF and Fanfiction Awards possible this year. Here’s hoping the 2013 Awards will happen (If they do, I’m sure Iris will be at least one of the people we will have to thank).
Role Play Gamer Award: Although I am not particularly active in the RP section, I somehow feel compelled to nominate
The Chronicler for this category. Not only has he been rather closely involved in planning out upcoming storyline events in the “In The Land Before Time” RP and making sure that his plans fit in with those of other players (something I greatly appreciate), but he strikes me as a fairly proactive RPer: He almost singlehandedly devised a subplot for his characters (and a couple of other players’) in the aforementioned RP, and continued to post in an effort to progress that story during a period when no one else was active in the RP. He has also attempted to start at least two of his own RPs, and while sadly they haven’t garnered much attention, based on his descriptions they seem to me to be quite interesting and original ideas with a lot of potential. I wish him luck on his current RP idea.
