Patrick

Thanks for sharing this, Ken. I hadn't seen it. Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. After more than a month of nominations and votes, the 2019 edition of the KarateForums.com Awards have come to an end. It is now time for us to announce the winners! Before I do so, I wanted to once again congratulate everyone who was nominated. Regardless of whether or not you won the award, the fact that you were nominated means that, when asked to identify a member who really stood out in the past year, your fellow community members thought of you. Out of the 18,292 registered members in the history of this community, only 156 have ever been nominated for an award. So to be nominated is pretty cool, and you should be proud. If you did not win or were not nominated, please don't take it badly. These awards do have meaning, but they are also for fun and not everyone can win or be nominated. Please join me in congratulating our winners. I would like to specifically thank everyone who participated in the process by nominating and voting. It is the community that selected the nominees and decided the winners. There are no KarateForums.com Awards without you. Several nominees took the time to vote in categories where they were nominated. Since you can't vote for yourself, your choice is to vote for someone else or not vote at all. Though I can't reveal who voted for whom, please know that I appreciate everyone who thoughtfully voted in the categories where they were nominated. It says a lot about you, and I love to see it. Without further ado, here are our winners: 1. Member of the Year: Spartacus Maximus (for the 3rd time!) 2. Community Spirit Award: sensei8 (for the 7th consecutive year!) 3. Staff Member of the Year: sensei8 (for the 3rd time!) 4. Funniest Member of the Year: tallgeese Note: This award came by unanimous nomination, which is why there was no voting ballot. 5. Karate Contributor of the Year: (tie) Wayofaswede and Wastelander (for the 2nd time!) 6. Health, Training and Fitness Contributor of the Year: bushido_man96 (for the 3rd time!) 7. Instructor Central Contributor of the Year: DWx Congratulations to sensei8 (2 wins!), Spartacus Maximus, tallgeese, Wayofaswede, Wastelander, bushido_man96, and DWX! Wayofaswede is a first time honoree. Congratulations as well to sensei8 on reaching 25 wins, the most all-time, and to bushido_man96 and tallgeese for picking up their 15th wins, tying for the second most ever. For past winners and all of the awards historical data, please check out: http://www.karateforums.com/awards.php Thank you for reading and for supporting the KarateForums.com Awards. Sincerely, Patrick

That sounds confusing, Bob. Hoping you get some answers as soon as you can. Will be thinking good thoughts. Patrick

Voting is now closed! Thank you to everyone who voted. Results will be announced in the coming days. Patrick

Welcome aboard, Capella. Sorry again for those login issues. Glad to have you! Patrick

Thank you so much for sharing this, Brian. It means a lot to read it, and I'm so glad that this community is able to fill that gap for you and others and help you stay connected to the martial arts in those moments where you feel like you might be drifting away, even temporarily. Thank you for helping to create a space where that is possible! Patrick

Hope everyone is wrapping up a nice holiday weekend. My Thanksgiving was great. We visited my girlfriend's family and were able to get an amazing spot for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade because her sister worked on it. Pretty low key time! Patrick

Hey all, In notifying those who had been notified, the link came at the end of a sentence and, if you didn't realize it, the link included the period at the end of the sentence in the link itself, which means the link didn't work. As this may have stopped some people from voting, I am going to extend voting to December 6. So, if you haven't voted yet, please do! Thanks, Patrick

Hello, Welcome to the voting period for the 18th annual KarateForums.com Awards! Through these awards, we recognize just a few of the individuals who have made outstanding contributions to KarateForums.com in the past year. You submitted your nominations and, from those, we have our KarateForums.com Awards 2019 nominees. In all, 12 different members have been nominated in the various categories that make up this year's awards. They are Spartacus Maximus, JazzKicker (first time nominee!), Alan Armstrong, Fat Cobra, JR 137, pers (first time nominee!), sensei8, bushido_man96, Wastelander, DWx, Wayofaswedem and scohen0300 (first time nominee!). Congratulations to all of you! bushido_man96 and sensei8 lead in nominations with 3, followed by Alan Armstrong, DWx, JR 137, Spartacus Maximus, and Wastelander with 2. Our historical award numbers have been updated and new milestones have been reached! Congratulations to bushido_man96 on reaching 45 nominations (now with 47, the most all-time) and sensei8 on reaching 35 (now with 37, second all-time). With the ballots crafted, it is now time to vote. What You Should Know Before Voting 1. These awards take into consideration all community activity between October 19, 2018 and October 18, 2019. You should vote based upon activity during this period - not activity prior to or after it. 2. To vote, you must have a KarateForums.com account with at least 10 posts made on or before October 18, 2019. 3. You cannot vote for yourself. 4. Your votes will be kept private. We do not publicly reveal who voted for whom. 5. Please do not attempt to artificially inflate our vote totals in any way. This includes, but is not limited to: Trading votes, encouraging people to vote indiscriminately (publicly or privately), sending spam and any other behavior that could lead to results being artificially skewed. Members found to be participating in these activities will be disqualified from nomination in any category. 6. Please note that you do not have to vote in every category. You can vote in as many or as few as you would like - please go for as many as you feel comfortable with. The more valid votes we receive, the better! Categories The categories are listed below. For each category, you will find a link to the ballot where you can vote. Member of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/member-of-the-year-vt52832.html Community Spirit Award https://www.karateforums.com/community-spirit-award-vt52833.html Staff Member of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/staff-member-of-the-year-vt52834.html Funniest Member of the Year Only one member was nominated in this category. As such, that member is the honoree. In order to not give the person away, their nomination has been temporarily excluded form our historical totals, but they will be revealed when the other winners are revealed. Karate Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/karate-contributor-of-the-year-vt52835.html Health, Training and Fitness Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/health-training-and-fitness-contributor-oty-vt52836.html Instructor Central Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/instructor-central-contributor-of-the-year-vt52837.html Please note: I made an error in regard to our New Member of the Year category as, based on our criteria, no members were eligible. I apologize for the confusion. As such, the New Member of the Year will not be awarded this year, but I hope to bring it back in the future. Vote Now Please vote. Voting will be closed on December 6, 2019 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not post your votes in this or any thread. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to private message me or reply here. Thank you for reading and for visiting KarateForums.com. Your participation in these awards is what makes them meaningful. I can't wait to see who you vote for this year. Sincerely, Patrick

Please vote for the Instructor Central Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2019. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Instructor Central forum - a member who has added substantial value to that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: sensei8 DWx Spartacus Maximus Voting will be closed on December 1, 2019 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Health, Training and Fitness Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2019. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Health, Training and Fitness forum - a member who has added substantial value to that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: Alan Armstrong bushido_man96 scohen0300 Voting will be closed on December 1, 2019 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Karate Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2019. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Karate forum - a member who has added substantial value to that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: Wayofaswede Wastelander JR 137 Voting will be closed on December 1, 2019 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Staff Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2019. Award Description: This award is the same as the Member of the Year award, except that this award is for current staff members only (except Patrick). Here are the nominees: sensei8 Wastelander DWx bushido_man96 Voting will be closed on December 1, 2019 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Community Spirit Award in the KarateForums.com Awards 2019. Award Description: This award should go to a person whom you feel has a strong passion for this community. A person who is all about the home team - in this case, KarateForums.com. Here are the nominees: JR 137 pers sensei8 bushido_man96 Voting will be closed on December 1, 2019 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2019. Award Description: This award is intended to acknowledge the member who you feel best exemplifies the qualities that KarateForums.com puts a premium on. Knowledge is valuable, but most valuable is a kind and helpful nature. You don't need to be a martial arts expert to be nominated for this award - you need to be someone who is kind and who shares what they know in a productive fashion that helps others. Here are the nominees: Spartacus Maximus JazzKicker Alan Armstrong Fat Cobra Voting will be closed on December 1, 2019 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

I don't think anyone ever does! Thanks again. Patrick

Nominations are now closed! Thank you to those that nominated. Ballots soon. Patrick

Happy Veterans Day! Thank you for your service. Patrick

Last call for nominations! They close tomorrow night. You can consider them open until I post a reply on this thread saying they are closed. Thanks to those who have added their voices! Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. Our honoree for October is... Nevinyrral, who now been Member of the Month twice! I think it's pretty neat to pick up another Member of the Month almost 9 years after your first! Thanks for being such a great contributor for so long, Nevinyrral. Sincerely, Patrick

Hey scohen0300, Thanks for sharing this! An odd technical glitch caused this topic to have no title, which is why I believe it didn't receive much response. I have fixed this and added a suggested title (feel free to adjust if it doesn't fit). I wanted to bump this up so that others could now see it. Sorry about that. Thanks again! Patrick

Thank you to everyone who has nominated so far! I have decided to extend nominations another week until November 12! If you haven't been able to find time yet, I hope you'll participate. You can nominate for as many or as few categories we you would like! Thanks, Patrick

Hello, Welcome to the 18th annual KarateForums.com Awards! Through these awards, we recognize just a few of the individuals who have made outstanding contributions to KarateForums.com in the past year. Over the last 17 years, we have honored 153 different members with a nomination and 56 with an award. Both of these numbers will grow again this year. Your participation is vital. It is the members of this community who select the nominees and vote for the winners. What You Should Know Before Nominating 1. Review the KarateForums.com Awards 2019 Nominations Guide, serving as a starting point in filling out your ballot. 2. These awards take into consideration all community activity between October 19, 2018 and October 18, 2019. Members must be nominated based upon their activity in this period. 2. To nominate, you must have a KarateForums.com account with at least 25 posts made on or before October 18, 2019. 3. Only one member can be nominated for each award. In other words, you cannot nominate two members for Member of the Year. You have to pick one person. One person can be nominated for more than one award, however. 4. You cannot nominate yourself for any of the awards. 5. Your nominations will be kept private. We do not publicly reveal who nominated whom. 6. Please do not attempt to artificially inflate our nomination totals in any way. This includes, but is not limited to: Trading nominations, encouraging people to nominate indiscriminately (publicly or privately), sending spam and any other behavior that could lead to results being artificially skewed. Members found to be participating in these activities will be disqualified from nomination in any category. 7. Though it is unlikely to occur, a banned member cannot be nominated. 8. Please note that you do not have to nominate in every category. You can nominate for as many or as few as you would like. Please go for as many as you feel comfortable with. The more valid nominations we receive, the better! From these nominations, the ballot for each award will be chosen, consisting of the top 4 nominees plus ties. Through the poll system available on these forums, you will be able to vote for the winners! Categories Important note: All members (including Sempais and Senseis) are eligible for nomination in any category, except where otherwise noted. However, I (Patrick) am ineligible for nomination in any category. 1. Member of the Year This award is intended to acknowledge the member who you feel best exemplifies the qualities that KarateForums.com puts a premium on. Knowledge is valuable, but most valuable is a kind and helpful nature. You don't need to be a martial arts expert to be nominated for this award - you need to be someone who is kind and who shares what they know in a productive fashion that helps others. Current staff members (Sempais, Senseis, and Patrick) cannot be nominated for this award. 2. New Member of the Year This award is the same as Member of the Year, except that this one is strictly for members that registered on or between the dates of October 19, 2017 and October 18, 2018. Eligible members must have made at least 50 posts by October 18, 2019. Current staff members (Sempais, Senseis and Patrick) cannot be nominated for this award. 3. Community Spirit Award This award should go to a person whom you feel has a strong passion for this community. A person who is all about the home team - in this case, KarateForums.com. 4. Staff Member of the Year This award is the same as the Member of the Year award, except that this award is for current staff members only (except Patrick). If you are unsure of who is on staff, please visit http://www.karateforums.com/staff.php for a complete listing. 5. Funniest Member of the Year Humor is an important aspect of the forums and this award recognizes the member who has brought a smile to your face many times. 6. Karate Contributor of the Year This award is for your favorite contributor within the Karate forum - a member who has added substantial value to that section in the past year. 7. Health, Training and Fitness Contributor of the Year This award is for your favorite contributor within the Health, Training and Fitness forum - a member who has added substantial value to that section in the past year. 8. Instructor Central Contributor of the Year This award is for your favorite contributor within the Instructor Central forum - a member who has added substantial value to that section in the past year. Please note: Due to a lack of activity, the Equipment Contributor of the Year award has been removed this year. We hope activity in that section grows and we are able to add it back in the future. Ready to Nominate? Please nominate. You will find a blank ballot at the bottom of this message that you can copy and paste. You nominate by sending a private message to the account with the username Awards through this link: http://www.karateforums.com/privmsg.php?mode=post&u=2715 - nominations will be closed on November 12, 2019 at 10pm Eastern. Please do not post your nominations publicly in this thread or elsewhere in the forums. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to private message me or reply here. Thank you for reading and for visiting KarateForums.com. Your participation in these awards is what makes them meaningful. I can't wait to see who you choose to honor this year. Here is a blank ballot that you can use:

Hello, Thank you for your interest in participating in the 2019 edition of the KarateForums.com Awards! To aide you in doing so, we publish this guide, where we list the members who have made the most posts in the sections that are represented within our KarateForums.com Awards categories. We recognize that it can sometimes be difficult to choose nominees and hope that this guide will be helpful. How to Use This Guide Post count is not necessarily what you should look at when deciding who should be honored. Perhaps someone doesn't post as much as others, but when they do, their posts are amazing. Maybe they made a post that really stood out to you and you want to recognize them for it. Maybe someone makes a lot of short posts in that section. For this reason, we are going to list the top 10 posting members from the last 12 months in each section, plus ties, but without the actual number of posts and in alphabetical order. Our goal here is to provide a useful guide, but also to not prejudice the nominations toward only those with the highest quantities of posts. We hope this will provide you with a reasonable starting point for your nominations. However, you can nominate members who are not listed here at all, and I encourage you to conduct your own research by viewing and thinking about a member's posts within a given section as you put together your ballot. Nominations Guide With that said, here are the top 10 contributors to award-eligible forums, plus ties, in alphabetical order: Karate Contributor of the Year Age-Uke Alan Armstrong aurik bushido_man96 immaterial JR 137 Spartacus Maximus sensei8 Wastelander Wayofaswede Health, Training and Fitness Contributor of the Year Alan Armstrong Bulltahr bushido_man96 conrad665 Fat Cobra JazzKicker JR 137 RW scohen0300 sensei8 singularity6 Spartacus Maximus tubby twistkick kid wagnerk Instructor Central Contributor of the Year Alan Armstrong bushido_man96 conrad665 DWx Fat Cobra JazzKicker JR 137 sensei8 singularity6 Spartacus Maximus tallgeese The Pred twistkick kid Wastelander For the full details on submitting your nominations, please see our nominations announcement. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly or ask in that thread. Thanks, Patrick

Happy birthday, Bob! Hope you're having a great day. Thank you for all of the contributions that you have made to our community. Patrick