• The Member Awards are upon us! (again!)


    Quoting my previous article from 2021's edition:

    Good People of the Curia, it's that time of the year again! As usual for the beginning of the year, the site is running the annual Site Awards, which usually starts with the part dedicated to the Members (the other one being that dedicated specifically to Modding and Modders). The goal of the Awards is that of award those members who have excelled in one or more of those categories or whose outstanding activity has benefited the site and the community at large.

    As we all know, the community is the core and the reason why TWC still exists, and for that it of the upmost importance that as much as possible of the regular members, in particular the Citizens, will partake in them, not just in nominating but also, and primarily, by voting. Please do give a look at the Rules before voting, in particular to the one related to maximum number of votes per poll and if you have any question, comment, suggestion, etc, just use the Commentary thread.

    For those who are not familiar at all with the Member Awards, they date as back as 2005, with a gap at 2006, effectively making this the 16th edition! The Awards evolved with the site and with the community as a whole, and while some categories have remained unchanged, other have disappeared and have been replaced by some new ones. In general, the awarded members have deserved their new blings, but there have been controversy in some cases in the past, and that lead some, many actually, to desert them. The main opposition seems to be: they are a polularity contest.. well, of course they are! I don't see anything inherently bad with popularity and good reputation, and if anything we should all be working together to ensure that those who deserve recognition, will get it.

    Due to the nature of the Awards, as mentioned above, they have had alternate fortune and popularity among the membership, which resulted in them to be somewhat neglected at times; for the same reason, the setting up and running of the same hasn't been carried out always by the same institution or group of people: for a long while it was a Curial activity, meaning that those who run it were recruited by and among citizens: while that worked for a long while, when the site and the Curia began to suffer the long crisis in terms of activity which still persists, the Awards were among the first things to be neglected and postponed.. they survived, but a lot of people lost faith in their credibility and real utility for the site.
    By about 2015 they basically became a Staff thing, managed by Hex and Staff people in general, but with the contribution and input from everybody who wants to give a hand, be them citizens or regular members. Since then they have been consistent with themselves, with some clear and fair rules, conceived and created so that everybody can see the Awards as something which the whoie community can benefit from.

    Remember that there's one category specifically dedicated to the Curia, the "Best Curialist". As the reasoning goes:

    Whether it be proposing Amendments or potential Citizens,
    running for office or running the Curia;
    who has mastered the politics of the Capitol this year?
    Vote for TWC's Best Curialist of 2021
    This year, even more than anytime before, we need to do our best to put forward those who still spend their time doing what's needed to keep this community alive and, as much as possible, thriving.