Patrick

Voting is now closed. Thank you to everyone who voted. The results will be audited and announced soon! Patrick

Thank you for the replies. And thank you to everyone who has voted thus far. If you haven't voted yet, please be sure to do so!

Welcome to KF, Luan Bueno. Glad to have you here. Patrick

Hey oldgodan1994. Welcome. Patrick

That's awful, Titanium. I'm sorry. Glad to have you back, though. Patrick

Hello, Welcome to the voting period of the 14th 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 2015 nominees. In all, 23 different members have been nominated in the various categories that make up this year's awards. They are Luther unleashed, Hawkmoon, JR 137, The Pred, Spartacus Maximus, Titanium, liger, sensei8, bushido_man96, ninjanurse, Wastelander, DWx, Zaine, Judodad_karateson, mazzybear, Spodo Komodo, Kusotare, tallgeese, neoravencroft, chiliphil1, Nidan Melbourne, cathal and Lupin1. Congratulations to all of you! JR 137, sensei8 and bushido_man96 lead the nominations with 5 each, followed by Luther unleashed, who has 4. Our historical award numbers have been updated and several members have hit amazing milestones. Congratulations to bushido_man96 on reaching 35 nominations (now at 36), sensei8 on reaching 20 (22), tallgeese on reaching 20, Hawkmoon on reaching 10 and both JR 137 and Spartacus Maximus on reaching 5. 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, 2014 and October 18, 2015. 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 that had at least 10 posts made on or before October 18, 2015. 3. You cannot vote for yourself or an article that you wrote. 4. 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. 5. 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 http://www.karateforums.com/member-of-the-year-vt48988.html New Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/new-member-of-the-year-vt48987.html Community Spirit Award http://www.karateforums.com/community-spirit-award-vt48986.html Staff Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/staff-member-of-the-year-vt48985.html Funniest Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/funniest-member-of-the-year-vt48984.html Karate Contributor of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/karate-contributor-of-the-year-vt48983.html Jiu-Jitsu and Grappling Martial Arts Contributor of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/jiu-jitsu-and-grappling-martial-arts-contributor-vt48982.html Equipment Contributor of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/equipment-contributor-of-the-year-vt48981.html Health, Training and Fitness Contributor of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/health-training-and-fitness-contributor-oty-vt48980.html Instructor Central Contributor of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/instructor-central-contributor-of-the-year-vt48979.html Article of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/article-of-the-year-vt48978.html Vote Now Please vote. Voting will be closed on November 19, 2015 at 9 PM ET (GMT/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 Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2015. 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: Luther unleashed Hawkmoon JR 137 The Pred Spartacus Maximus Voting will be closed on November 19, 2015 at 9 PM EST (GMT/UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the New Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2015. Award Description: 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, 2014 and October 18, 2015. Here are the nominees: JR 137 Titanium liger Voting will be closed on November 19, 2015 at 9 PM EST (GMT/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 2015. 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: sensei8 bushido_man96 ninjanurse Luther unleashed Voting will be closed on November 19, 2015 at 9 PM EST (GMT/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 2015. Award Description: This award is the same as the Member of the Year award, except that this award is for current staff members only. Here are the nominees: Wastelander DWx sensei8 Zaine bushido_man96 Voting will be closed on November 19, 2015 at 9 PM EST (GMT/UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Funniest Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2015. Award Description: Humor is an important aspect of the forums, and this award recognizes the member who has brought a smile to your face many times. Here are the nominees: Hawkmoon Titanium Judodad_karateson sensei8 mazzybear Spodo Komodo Voting will be closed on November 19, 2015 at 9 PM EST (GMT/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 2015. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Karate forum - a member who has added substantial value in that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: JR 137 sensei8 Judodad_karateson Kusotare Spartacus Maximus Wastelander Voting will be closed on November 19, 2015 at 9 PM EST (GMT/UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Jiu-Jitsu and Grappling Martial Arts Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2015. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Jiu-Jitsu and Grappling Martial Arts forum - a member who has added substantial value in that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: tallgeese bushido_man96 Voting will be closed on November 19, 2015 at 9 PM EST (GMT/UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Equipment Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2015. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Equipment forum - a member who has added substantial value in that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: JR 137 neoravencroft Judodad_karateson chiliphil1 Voting will be closed on November 19, 2015 at 9 PM EST (GMT/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 2015. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Health, Training and Fitness forum - a member who has added substantial value in that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: bushido_man96 tallgeese Nidan Melbourne Luther unleashed mazzybear Voting will be closed on November 19, 2015 at 9 PM EST (GMT/UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Instructor Central Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2015. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Instructor Central forum - a member who has added substantial value in that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: Spartacus Maximus Luther unleashed JR 137 sensei8 Voting will be closed on November 19, 2015 at 9 PM EST (GMT/UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Article of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2015. Award Description: This award distinguishes your favorite article that was published in the KarateForums.com Articles section on or between October 19, 2014 and October 18, 2015. Whether the article enlightened or inspired you, this is the place to recognize it. Here are the nominees: Ulu Knife Techniques and Lessons from How It Is Used by cathal 5 Ill-Advised Things Every Brown Belt Should Do by Lupin1 Taekwondo by Kevin Hornsey (Book Review) by bushido_man96 Voting will be closed on November 19, 2015 at 9 PM EST (GMT/UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Hey rum pirate, I think you might receive a better response if you started a thread in the Getting Started in the Martial Arts forum that included Montreal in the title of the thread, listed what you are looking for in an art and possibly what is available closest to you (though I'm sure Montreal has a lot of schools). Even though you aren't getting started, per se, you will have a better chance of having people in the Montreal area see it. Best of luck. Patrick

Haha. Thanks JR 137. Voting will open this week, for sure. Just need to tally the nominations and prepare the poll threads. Patrick

Thank you for sharing this with us, Nidan Melbourne. Best of luck. 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. The November selection is... Kyonovice. Congratulations! Thank you for the great contributions that you have made to our community. Sincerely, Patrick

Welcome to KF, rum pirate! Patrick

Nominations are now closed. Thank you to everyone who nominated. Stay tuned for ballots as voting will begin soon! Liam, it looks like the number of members who nominated is 9. That may seem like a small number, but it'll be great because all 9 are members who know the community well, and we'll have a nice variety of members on the ballots. Voting is always easier than nominating, so the vote counts will be higher. Thanks again, Patrick

We have just two days until nominations close. Please get those last minute ballots in! Thanks, Patrick

Thanks Liam and Bob for being a part of this process. Patrick