Writers' Study Yearly Awards 2015 Results!!!!!!

[Merchant of Venice]

The time has finally come around!! The votes have been counted and sorted, the voting booths have been cleaned up, the monkey slaves have been sent back to the zoos we hired them from and the winners have emerged, a bit bloodied from such an intense contest but nevertheless, standing proudly amongst the dead bodies of their competitors and those who won last year shunned in the shadows. It’s taken longer than expected due to unforeseen circumstances but nevertheless, we have made it. Firstly, before I begin on my Chris Rock-like opening monologue, I’d like to thank everyone who nominated their fellow writers and stories and those who voted so we wouldn’t have one vote in each category. I’d like to thank the behind the scenes people, the staff at the CQ and WS who were integral in the designing of the awards and the award process and to Alwyn for being such a great Director. And lastly and perhaps with a hint of obligation, I’d like to thank all the writers who make the Writers’ Study so great with the stories ranging from Rome to the future and from the shores of England to the towns of a fantasy world born from the writer’s imagination. Every single story written is as important as Primus Inter Pares or I am Skantarios even if not every story can win an award. So without further adieu (yes I’ll leave my monologue for next year) here are the winners.

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AAROTY
1. A Long Way From Home by Caillagh
2. Way of the Bow by Merchant of Venice (whoever he is).
3. Tin Isles by waveman and Yokai by Hitai de Bodemloze (joint winners).


In First Place, claiming AAR Of The Year, is Caillagh’s Skyrim masterpiece A Long Way From Home. Focusing on poor Yannick, a normal human who somehow has materialised in the cold, unforgiving world of Skyrim. A Long Way From Home is a funny tale mixed with drama and suspense and wrapped in beautiful writing and sprinkled with some stunning scenery shots. If its first placing isn’t enough of a recommendation, I’ve been following it from the start and always look forward to new chapters. So join me in congratulating 2015’s AAR Of The Year, A Long Way From Home.


In Second Place, some guy I’ve never bothered to read so I can’t really talk about it. I’m sure he won’t care anyway.


In join Third Place, is Tin Isles and Yokai by waveman and Hitai de Bodemloze respectively. Two fantastic tales who couldn’t separated even by a tiebreaker and so this weary competitor manager who knew the masses would call for blood if forced to partake in another tiebreaker, declared them both third place winners. Waveman’s AAR, set in post Roman Britain has just finished so now is the perfect time for you to jump right into it. Hitai de Bodemloze’s Shogun 2 hard narrative AAR focuses on the a police detective trying to solve mysterious murder cases before taking a rather bizarre twist. A highly recommended read indeed. Congratulations to both for their podium places.


AARtist of the Year
This year’s AARtist of the Year is Alwyn (and no, the vote wasn’t rigged). Alwyn’s superb writing can be showcased in his multiple AARs, The Lion and the Eagle, Éirí Amach: Irish Rising, Kite Pèp Men Ale and his new one, Andraste’s Children. Alwyn has been an excellent and engaging writer ever since he joined the site and it is no wonder he wins this award.


Best Plot
Yokai by Hitai de Bodemloze wins this award for its fast paced, twisty-turny (not a word, I know) plot. A worthy winner.


Best Protagonist
McScottish’s The Sun Never Sets nearly won many awards but it was his main protagonist, the hardy Scotsmen Winstenforth who won the Best Protagonist and brought home some gold for McScottish, a study staple (no not the stationnary, the other meaning) for a long time.


Best Antagonist
Most evil enemy guy this year went to Imagawa Yoshimoto from waveman’s AAR For Honor or For Glory. Always love me some evil Japanese warlords.


Best Female Character
Some character named Suzume from that AAR Way of the Bow that I’ve never heard of won this category. Don’t look at me, I haven’t read it.


Best Battle Descriptions
For King and Country, the much loved ETW AAR by IneptCmdr took the title of best battle descriptions and it is no wonder why. Sometimes I find myself rooting for colonialism then I remember actually how horrible it was.


Most Picturesque
Trapstilla Vandalarius by Lugotorix was awarded the most picturesque due to some really stunning screenshot taking. A definitely worthy winner.


Best Newcomer
It truly is a strange combination to win both AAROTY and Best Newcomer but that is exactly what Caillagh has done. It must be a very ominous thing to win these two so maybe great things lie ahead.

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CWOTY
1. Of Souls by Shankbot de Bodemloze.
2. The Skymaster’s Shadow by Lortano.
3. Titanium Core: Borderlands by HunterKYA.


In First Place is Shankbot de Bodemloze’s Of Souls which I personally think has one of the coolest premises. Set in the mythical land of Bayenya, Of Souls follows Gavier, a soulsmither of sorts (a soulsmither is someone who pretty much uses people’s souls to fuel crystals. Sorry Shankbot to the really awful explanation.). Of Souls is written beautifully in its descriptions and dialogue and has a plot that promises only to become even more thrilling. Congratulations to Shankbot for winning this year’s Creative Writing Of The Year.


Second Place goes to The Skymaster’s Shadow by Lortano. The prequel to the amazing Stormy Skies, The Skymaster’s Shadow is set a couple of decades earlier and has such a fascinating list of characters and such rich dialogue and thrilling plot. If you like pirates then this is definitely a story for you.


HunterKYA's Titanium Core: Borderlands wins Third Place this year. A sequel to the original Titanium Core, HunterKYA’s space story of gruelling galactic wars, romances and one hardy but loveable mercenary protagonist is a favourite of mine as well. HunterKYA as a great skill for dialogue and conveying the character slightest nuances with his writing.


Best Creative Writer of the Year
Winning not only AAROTY but also Creative Writer of the Year is Shankbot de Bodemloze. Clearly the readers and voters are loving everything Shankbot does. As mentioned, Shankbot is a really excellent writer and member of the community for many years and it is not a surprise he wins this award.


Best Plot
Scottish King’s Tales of Acamar: Legends wins Best Plot for this year. A great job to Scottish King and a testament to his skill as a writer indeed.


Best Protagonist
Alexandre de la Roche from isa0005’s Dans l’ombre de l’aigle (I know what you’re thinking “ooohhh la la so frenchy, so chic”) is awarded best protagonist. I’m loving isa005’s story set in Napoleonic era Paris, featuring a not so shiny hero.


Best Antagonist
Carson, who appears in both The Skymaster’s Shadow and Stormy Skies wins this best protagonist for his evil, swashbuckling pirateering (not a word I know) in Stormy Skies.


Best Female Character
When I think of female characters in Creative Writing stories I think of Titanium Core Borderlands and its host of great female characters. Edhen is just one of them but a nevertheless complex character who’s presence adds so much to HunterKYA’s already amazing story.


Best Dialogue
Yeepeep’s Zero Kelvin has taken the title of best dialogue. This sci-fi-ish story is excellently written and told by Yeepeep and definitively one to try out.


Best Poet
I bet Lord of the Drunk Penguin could take on Byron in a poetry smash. He’s beaten everyone else here, who else is there to taken on for the title of Lord of Poetry?


Best Newcomer
Zeion has been awarded as this year’s Creative Writing Best Newcomer. Zeion and his many stories have been taking the study by storm last year and this year so well done to Zeion did, very much a rising star in TWC.


And that’s it for 2015’s Writers’ Study Yearly Awards. If you have any feedback for how it was run, how you think it should be run or anything else don’t hesitate to post a comment on the Writers’ Study Chat Thread, below in these comments or to PM me or Alwyn. Of course, we likely have a few people eligible for new awards and those who have will get theirs soon. Again, thank you to everyone I mentioned earlier. Congratulations to all the winners and all the nominees as well. Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who writes and reads and keeps this amazing community alive. A place for writer’s to explore their creativeness and imagination in a community that is so encouraging and inclusive.

Until next year,

Merchant of Venice

[Lugotorix]

Congratulations to the winners! No idea how I won 'Most Picturesque.' But I'll take what I can get

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

Congrats to everyone, entrants and winners, the quality of work in the WS is huge. A big thanks to staff for organising everything and pushing this through.

I'm truly humbled by the CWOTY win, thank-you to everyone who thinks my work is worthy of that title. Guess there is pressure on me to update the thing as well now.

[Lortano]

Having also taken the time to look through the actual polls (Perks of being staff I guess) I'd like to say a few things before my obligatory thank yous.

First of all, in practically every category nobody ended up with zero votes. I understand that some people may be upset about not winning, or wondering whether or not their writing is really up to snuff, but please keep in mind that at least one person thought that your work was good enough to be the best work written on this board throughout the year. Take encouragement from that fact and carry on climbing.

As for my own win, I'd like to thank everyone who voted for both Carson and Gavier from Shankbot's story, it was nice to see so many voters for that one. I'd also like to thank those who took me to second place in CWOTY and I hope to continue writing and entertaining throughout 2016. Good day all!

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

Congratulations to "all" writers here on site. We write to express ourselves, for without that expression we are moot. To reach out to, and discuss with with other writers, we absorb some of their auras
and become better at what we do....


"We write, therefore we are". Remember now...."Some writers do not know what is to be written, until they look down and see it on the page."

[Alwyn]

Congratulations to all the winners, all the nominees (as Lortano said), and all our writers (as Mega Tortas said)!

Thank you to everyone who nominated stories and AARs and and huge thanks to Merchant, Deputy Director of the Writers' Study and Critic's Quill, for doing the hard work of running the Yearly Awards!

As Merchant said, there will be Writers' Study competition points for prize winners. During this weekend, I will update the Hall of Fame in the Writers' Lounge and request new Writers' Study Competition Medals for people who qualify.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Was very surprised to see my work nominated and even more surprised to win (joint) 3rd place and Best Plot, so thank you to all who voted. Congratulations to all the winners and a pat on the back for Merch who organized the competition (not as easy as it looks, trust me)

[IneptCmdr]

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to everyone who voted for my AAR in the battle description category.

[isa0005]

Congrats to all those who won! Can't wait for next year!

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

Congratulations to everybody!

I don't really know what to say about the awards I've won. It's a bit of a shock. I didn't even prepare an acceptance speech or anything! I feel very honoured, anyway, even if I don't feel all that deserving. Thank you.

Thanks to Merchant for doing all the hard work of organising this. And thanks to everybody else (winners, entrants, WS writers, voters, and readers) for making the WS what it is.