Writers' Study Yearly Awards 2014 - Nominations

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Hello ladies and gentlemen of the Writers' Study! Welcome one and all to our first ever Yearly Awards competition! This will be taking up from where the old AAROTY competition left off. Yet instead of just voting for your favourite AAR, there's a whole wealth of things to choose from - including Creative Writing pieces as well!

So what are the categories for these awards?

After Action Reports

AAROTY

Same as before! The best AAR of 2014!
You may vote for any AAR that received an update in 2014.

Best AARtist

Who did you think was the best AARtist of 2014?
You may vote for any member who posted an update to an AAR in 2014.

Best Plot

Which story weaved the best tale? What got your pulse racing or tugged your heartstrings?
You may vote for any AAR that received an update in 2014.

Best Protagonist

Every AAR has their lead character (or characters!) Which hero did more than any other this year?
You may vote for any protagonist character in an AAR that received an update in 2014.

Best Antagonist

Who was the ultimate villain and all-round dastardly character of 2014?
You may vote for any antagonist character in an AAR that received an update in 2014.

Best Female Character

The damsel in distress of the warrior princess? Eitherway, which female character stole the show for you?
You may vote for any female character in an AAR that received an update in 2014.

Best Battle Descriptions

Blood, gore, broken bones. Which story did a much better job of describing battle than I just did?
You may vote for any AAR that received an update in 2014.

Most Picturesque

Whether screenshots or other images, which story used its graphics to the greatest extent?
You may vote for any AAR that received an update in 2014.

Best Newcomer

Who has been this year's rising star?
You may vote for any member who posted an update to an AAR in 2014, providing they either joined TWC in 2014 or only made their first significant writing contributions in this year.

Creative Writing

CWOTY

Which was the best Creative Writing piece of 2014?
You may vote for any CW story that received an update in 2014.

Best Creative Writer

Who dazzled you the most this year with their prose?
You may vote for any member who posted an update to a CW story in 2014.

Best CW Plot

Which story spun the best yarn?
You may vote for any CW story that received an update in 2014.

Best Protagonist

Creative Writing has them too! Who was your hero this year?
You may vote for any protagonist character in a CW story that received an update in 2014.

Best Antagonist

The bad guy! Who should the Minions have been looking for?
You may vote for any antagonist character in a CW story that received an update in 2014.

Best Female Character

Which lady of the Creative Writing section is getting your vote?
You may vote for any female character in a CW story that received an update in 2014.

Best Dialogue

Which tale featured the most hard-hitting speech this year?
You may vote for any CW story that received an update in 2014.

Best Poet

Who was this year's William Blake?
You may vote for any member who posted an update to a poem in 2014.

Best Newcomer

Who rose fastest through the ranks in the Creative Writing section this year?
You may vote for any member who posted an update to a CW story or poem in 2014, providing they either joined TWC in 2014 or only made their first significant writing contributions in this year.

There will also be a Staff Choice award for our favourite AAR and Creative Writing piece, so watch out for that after the voting as well!

There are naturally a few rules and regulations. As you can see, every category has an eligibility criteria. Naturally, only stories that were created and/or updated in 2014 are eligible. However, when it comes to nominating there are some other rules:

No self-nomination
You cannot nominate yourself, your own stories or characters from your own stories for any category.

Maximum of three nominations per category
You can only nominate three nominees for a category. Any more than three nominations and only the first three will be counted.

Nominations are to be made in this thread
Nope, that's not a link. Post your nominations in this thread that you're reading right now please!

When nominating a character , please give the relevant story (or stories) they appear in
You do not need to provide any links, but you can if you so wish. Feel free to provide the author's name if you wish, although this is not necessary.

The nomination period will be open for two weeks, until 11:59 GMT+0, Tuesday 3rd February. Following this, there will be a two week voting period. Winners and runners-up of the AAROTY/CWOTY categories will receive Writers' Study points, whilst winners of the other categories will receive reputation points. Exact amounts will be revealed in due course.

To nominate, please copy and paste the following into this thread, with your nominations for each category:

AAROTY:
Best AARtist:
Best Plot:
Best Protagonist:
Best Antagonist:
Best Female Character:
Best Battle Descriptions:
Most Picturesque:
Best Newcomer:

CWOTY:
Best Creative Writer:
Best CW Plot:
Best Protagonist:
Best Antagonist:
Best Female Character:
Best Dialogue:
Best Poet:
Best Newcomer:

For example:

AAROTY: Story A, Story B, Story C
Best AARtist: Member 1, Member 2, Member 3
Best Plot: Story D, Story E, Story F
Best Protagonist: Character X of Story G, Character Y of Story H, Character Z of Story I

etc...

Any questions, feel free to ask them in the chat thread or PM myself. Happy nominating!

We also want to say a huge thank you to Joar for designing some new artwork for us. Please rep him generously for his troubles!

[Scottish King]

AAROTY: For King and Country, Way of the Bow, A Wolf Among Dogs
Best AARtist: IneptCmdr, Radzeer, Merchant of Venice,
Best Plot: A Wolf Among Dogs, For King and Country, The Wings of Destiny
Best Protagonist: Robert de Loup of A Wolf Among Dogs, Nobunaga of In the Light of Dusk,
Best Antagonist: Richard of Arras of A Wolf Among Dogs,
Best Female Character: Emura Akara of Way of the Bow,
Best Battle Descriptions: A Wolf Among Dogs, For King and Country, In the Light of Dusk
Most Picturesque: The Black Hearted Lords of Thrace, aut vincere aut mori
Best Newcomer: Alwyn, Lugotorix,

CWOTY: Titanium Core, The Road to God is Paved With Sins, The Winter War
Best Creative Writer: General Retreat, HunterKYA, McScottish
Best CW Plot: Titanium Core, The Road to God is Paved With Sins, The Winter War
Best Protagonist: Tyler Braedan of Titanium Core, Wymond of The Road to God is Paved With Sins, Horatio Drake of The Chronicles of the Jolly Roger
Best Antagonist: Alyssa of Titanium Core,
Best Female Character: Jane of The Earth Daughter, Edhen of Titanium Core
Best Dialogue: Titanium Core, The Road to God is Paved With Sins, Tale of a Young Knight
Best Poet: Salah ad Din Yusuf, aqualord123, Lord of the Drunk Penguin
Best Newcomer: Ussaid the Hashshashin, Deepstrike 101, NCR

Ill probably edit this before the submission period ends

[Merchant of Venice]

AAROTY:Yōkai, For King and Country, In The Light of Dusk
Best AARtist: Hitai de Bodemloze, Tigellinus, IneptCmdr
Best Plot: Yōkai, Imperial Purple Never Fades, Éirí Amach: Irish Rising
Best Protagonist: Oda Nobunaga- In the Light of Dusk, Robert de Loup- A Wolf Among Dogs,
Best Antagonist: Richard of Arras- A Wolf Among Dogs, Dempsey- Éirí Amach: Irish Rising
Best Female Character: Nishina Hitsume- Yokai
Best Battle Descriptions: For King and Country, In the Light of Dusk
Most Picturesque: For King and Country,
Best Newcomer: Alwyn, Deepstrike101, Esaciar

CWOTY: Titanium Core, The Road to God is Paved with Sins
Best Creative Writer: HunterKYA, McScottish, Hitai de Bodemloze
Best CW Plot: Titanium Core, The Road to God is Paved with Sins
Best Protagonist: Tyler Braedan- Titanium Core, Wymond- The Road to God is Paved with Sins
Best Antagonist:
Best Female Character: Talia- Titanium Core,
Best Dialogue: Titanium Core
Best Poet:
Best Newcomer: NCR

Will edit and complete after some more consideration

[NCR]

AAROTY: In the Light of Dusk, A Wolf Among Dogs, Éirí Amach: Irish Rising
Best AARtist: MerchantofVenice, Tigellinus, Alywn
Best Plot: In the Light of Dusk, Way of the Bow, Imperial Purple Never Fades
Best Protagonist: Nobunaga Light of Dusk, Robert De Loup A Wolf Among Dogs,
Best Antagonist: Richard of Arras A Wolf Among Dogs
Best Female Character: Emura Way of the Bow,
Best Battle Descriptions: In the Light of Dusk, A Wolf Among Dogs, Wings of Destiny
Most Picturesque: Imperial Purple Never Fades, the Black Hearted Lords of Thrace, For King and Country
Best Newcomer: Alywn, Deepstrike101, Lugotorix

CWOTY: Titanium Core, The Road to God is Paved with Sins, Tale of a Young Knight
Best Creative Writer: Dance, McScottish, HunterKYA
Best CW Plot: Titanium Core, The Road to God is Paved with Sins, Empire and Republic
Best Protagonist: Sir Gilbert Rayne Tale of A young Knight, Tyler Braedon- Titanium Core, Waymond, the Road to God is Paved with Sins
Best Antagonist: Alyssa Titanium Core,
Best Female Character: Edhen of Titanium Core,
Best Dialogue: Tale of a Young Knight, Empire and Republic, Titanium Core
Best Poet: Saladin ad din Yusuf, Scottish King,
Best Newcomer: Ussaid the Hashshashin

Will continue to update after more thoughts. Best wishes to all!

[Maximinus Thrax]

AAROTY: Sword of the Sea, Yōkai, Way of the Bow
Best AARtist: General Retreat, Hitai de Bodemloze, Merchant of Venice
Best Plot: A Wolf Among Dogs,
Best Protagonist: Akashi Kyo (Yokai),
Best Antagonist: Richard of Arras (A Wolf Among Dogs),
Best Female Character: Suzushi Yosome,
Best Battle Descriptions: Way of the Bow, Aut vincere aut mori
Most Picturesque: Aut vincere aut mori, Way of the Bow, For King and Country, Eiri Amach
Best Newcomer: Lugotorix, IneptCmdr, Alwyn

CWOTY: The Winter War, Tale of a Young Knight, The Road To God Is Paved With Sins
Best Creative Writer: McScottish, Dance, HunterKYA
Best CW Plot: The Road To God Is Paved With Sins, Tale of a Young Knight, Titanium Core
Best Protagonist: Wymond (The Road To God Is Paved With Sins), Sir Gilbert Reyne (Tale of a Young Knight),
Best Antagonist:
Best Female Character: Sister Elsabeth (The Road To God Is Paved With Sins), Natalia Sterling (Titanium Core)
Best Dialogue: Tale of a Young Knight, The Road To God Is Paved With Sins
Best Poet: Salah ad Din Yusuf, aqualord123,
Best Newcomer: Deepstrike101, Iron Aquilifer,


To be completed

[Lugotorix]

AAROTY: For King and Country
Best AARtist: Alwyn, bourboncream, Chirugeon
Best Plot: Kronikton ton Basileon, Yokai
Best Protagonist: Oda Nobunaga of In the Light of Dusk, Galenhaest of Northumbria: Blood and Gold, Hans, The White Horse
Best Antagonist: Shimazu Takahisa of In the Light of Dusk
Best Female Character:
Best Battle Descriptions: Children of the Forest, The White Horse
Most Picturesque: Children of the Forest, Lion and the Eagle
Best Newcomer: Alwyn, Roman Heritage, bourboncream

CWOTY: The Winter War
Best Creative Writer: Golded, Escaciar, McScottish
Best CW Plot: Knights of the Black Cross, Tale of a Young Knight
Best Protagonist: Tristan, Gilbert Reyne
Best Antagonist: Bardulf, Bonifatius- A Born King
Best Female Character: Yuki
Best Dialogue: Titanium Core
Best Poet: Scottish King
Best Newcomer: Golded, Iron Aquililer

Will update and likely make some changes, have to review a lot- Some of the Sengoku era ones are swimming in my head

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

AAROTY: The Wolf Among Dogs - The Latin Empire (Radzeer), For King and Country (IneptCmdr)
Best AARtist: Lugotorix, Robin de Bodemloze
Best Plot: Way of the Bow (Merchant of Venice)
Best Protagonist:
Best Antagonist: Chosokabe Motochika (Way of the Bow)
Best Female Character: Emura Akara (Way of the Bow), Elisabeth (Reichsadler)
Best Battle Descriptions: Reichsadler (Massive_attack)
Most Picturesque: The Wings of Destiny (Robin de Bodemloze), For King and Country (IneptCmdr)
Best Newcomer: Alwyn, IneptCmdr, bourboncream

CWOTY: Tales from the Steppe (Maximinus Thrax), The Sultan and the Servant (Rex Basiliscus)
Best Creative Writer: Maximinus Thrax, McScottish, Dance
Best CW Plot: The Sultan and the Servant (Rex Basiliscus)
Best Protagonist:
Best Antagonist:
Best Female Character: Emine (The Sultan and the Servant)
Best Dialogue:
Best Poet: Scottish King, Salah ad Din Yusuf
Best Newcomer: justdownloading

My thoughts so far. Obviously some gaps to be filled still.

That guy: You know that guy who belittles his tiny neighbor and then cruelly ushers him out of his audience: 'If there ever was an Oni in the form of a man.' Yeah, that guy: I thought he was in Way of the Bow, but I've been looking for like a half hour and I can't find him. In Takeda maybe?

You're thinking of Shimazu Takahisa from In The Light of Dusk

Best Dialogue: Yokai ( I consider this CW also)

Although discussing whether or not my story is one or the other is something I'd be happy to do some time, for the purposes of the competition, since it's not in the CW section, it don't think it is eligible here unfortunately. Thank you all the same though!

[Lugotorix]

AAROTY: The Wolf Among Dogs - The Latin Empire (Radzeer), For King and Country (IneptCmdr)
Best AARtist: Lugotorix, Robin de Bodemloze
Best Plot: Way of the Bow (Merchant of Venice)
Best Protagonist:
Best Antagonist: Chosokabe Motochika (Way of the Bow)
Best Female Character: Emura Akara (Way of the Bow), Elisabeth (Reichsadler)
Best Battle Descriptions: Reichsadler (Massive_attack)
Most Picturesque: The Wings of Destiny (Robin de Bodemloze), For King and Country (IneptCmdr)
Best Newcomer: Alwyn, IneptCmdr, bourboncream

CWOTY: Tales from the Steppe (Maximinus Thrax), The Sultan and the Servant (Rex Basiliscus)
Best Creative Writer: Maximinus Thrax, McScottish, Dance
Best CW Plot: The Sultan and the Servant (Rex Basiliscus)
Best Protagonist:
Best Antagonist:
Best Female Character: Emine (The Sultan and the Servant)
Best Dialogue:
Best Poet: Scottish King, Salah ad Din Yusuf
Best Newcomer: justdownloading

My thoughts so far. Obviously some gaps to be filled still.



You're thinking of Shimazu Takahisa from In The Light of Dusk



Although discussing whether or not my story is one or the other is something I'd be happy to do some time, for the purposes of the competition, since it's not in the CW section, it don't think it is eligible here unfortunately. Thank you all the same though!

That's exactly who I'm thinking of. The one place I didn't look, which kind of makes sense because he's Shimazu. I'll happily nominate him. He's evil. And that's cool, I'll nominate it for plot in AARtistry. Well deserving.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Due to a lack of nominations, we're extending the nomination deadline until February 3rd. So anyone who hasn't nominated yet, get to it!

Also, people should definitely go and give some rep to Joar, who designed some awesome new artwork for us!

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

Stayed away from the AAR scene as I don't really know enough of what's going on to nominate people for things. Tried to vary who I nominated for different categories as well, might add a few more people as I look back over 2014.

CWOTY: Empire and Republic |
Best Creative Writer: Hitai de Bodemloze |
Best CW Plot: Mountain Hold | Tales of Acamar: Legends
Best Protagonist: Rizardo d’Chaeza; The Merchant of Veluca |
Best Antagonist: Xiara; Dreams of a Spammer (debatable but I think so) |
Best Female Character: Nii; Dies Irae |
Best Dialogue: Titanium Core |
Best Poet: Salah ad Din Yusuf | Scottish King (for The Song of Asnurn) |
Best Newcomer: spam500 |

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Some of those are 2015 stories Shank Dies Irae, Mountain Hold and The Merchant of Veluca I'm afraid cannot qualify. But thanks for nominating!

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

Looks like I'll have to make a few changes then.

[Junaidi83 de Bodemloze]

Seem reading is not bad place to spend the time beside modding will look forward the winner on the best plot.

How about adding some category so anyone can easy to look and compare also, for example horror genre , romance, comedy, since its will hard to tell to see which plot is better between horror vs romance, both is interesting but different kind of beast.

Just my though anyways

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Thanks for the comments Junaidi On the subject of genres, it's a bit tricky, since a lot of stories either fit into a lot of different genre categories, or none at all. Traditionally, there hasn't been much distinction between genres. Taking romance as an example, most AARs nowadays have a romance sub-plot or two, but they also have many different things that define them. Comedy AARs are the only major genre defined as such, but nowadays we don't see many of them. In the past they were incredibly popular though. It might work better for creative writing, but it can be kind of one-sided. At the moment there are loads of science fiction stories, but not a whole lot of anything else for example. Also what we wanted to do was keep the nomination categories for the awards reasonably small. For example we were originally planning to have a category for best Rome AAR/best Medieval 2 AAR etc etc etc, but that just seemed a bit too much.

This is our first time running this kind of thing as well, so obviously there's trial and error involved. We appreciate any comments on how the competition is structured and run though, so thank you for sharing

[Junaidi83 de Bodemloze]

I realy dont graps all you said Cousin Hitai, hmmm so its seem one story have mix of element am i correct, either horror, romance, comedy, all part into one bundle so its hard to separated it right.

In that the case, its actually simple, any story may have the mixed element, but the horror element will remaint, so the best categorized for Best Horror genre, off course the story that have the strongetst element of horror, (its horror genre anyways), while for romance genre, the best one off course the most romantice and touching the feeling will be the winner, same like comedy genre.

So can one story win all 3 nomination for example ? Yes off course its can, as long its proves qualify, its also encourage writer to focus to certain element as the strongest when he / she writing. Since we know not everyone capable to produce strong all round story aspect, its also simplifiy any new member or people who also want to participate during the vote (i never know how you guys decide the winner , but i guess its uses vote like usual)

Lets say in this case we have 2 story fight for horror nomination :
1. Graveyard in the night : There is no romance or comedy aspect,pure horror and gore and the protagonist die, slaughter by ghost
2. Chinesse Ghost Story : Maybe you have read the movie,its story about ghost that falling in love with human, and must fight countles demon and going to hell to rescue the lovers, its also have mix of comedy scene like Tao priest chanting a spell and got failure (see the mixed content here)

So how can we review this two similiar beast ? Its simple anyways back to the "core" despite the epic story of Chinesse Ghost story, the horror part seem weaker than Graveyard in the night , despite its supported by good romance and comedy. So we can decide that Graveyard in the night will be the best of horror story , but for the romance part you can count on Chinesse Ghost Story

To make fair we can also set each category to have certain rank like
Best Horror
1.place
2.place
3.place

Best Romance
1.place
2.place
3.place

And so on, like i already said before i never particapate writing study and dont even know how the process to decide which story is better, so if some of my idea already implemented, i must say sorry since i never intended talking the thing already been implemented

The suggestion is to simplified the categorize sometimes its realy confusing ,to newbie, hey who know maybe writer can sell the stories and become novelist. Every dream job start from hobby right ? Its also help young writer to develop his writing skill toward specific things, rather turn the story into to many weaker parts forgeting its core.