KarateForums.com Awards 2012: Please Nominate Now!

[Patrick]

Hello,

Welcome to the eleventh 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 ten years, we have honored 35 different members and that number will grow again this year.

These awards take into consideration all community activity between October 19, 2011 and October 18, 2012. Members must be nominated based upon their activity in this period and articles nominated for Article of the Year must have been published in this span.

To nominate, you must have a KarateForums.com account and must have made at least 25 posts on or before October 18, 2012 (Eastern Time). There are just four guidelines to keep in mind when nominating:

1. Only ONE member or article can be nominated for EACH award. In other words, you cannot nominate the entire staff for Staff Member of the Year. You have to pick one person. One person can be nominated for more than one award, however.

2. You cannot nominate yourself or an article that you wrote for any of the awards.

3. 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. Individuals found to be participating in these activities will be disqualified from nomination in any category.

4. Though it is unlikely to occur, a banned member cannot be nominated.

Please note that you do not have to nominate for 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 that 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!

Here are this year's categories:

1. Member of the Year

This award is intended to acknowledge the non-staff 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

Basically, this award is the same as the Member of the Year award, except that this one is strictly for members that registered on or between the dates of October 19, 2011 and July 18, 2012. 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 passion for this community. A person who is all about the home team - in this case, KarateForums.com. Regular members and staff members (except Patrick) can be nominated for this award.

4. Staff Member of the Year

Basically, this award is the same as the Member of the Year award, except that this award is for current staff members only (except Patrick). Regular members cannot be nominated. 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. This person should have a good, clean sense of humor. Regular members and staff members (except Patrick) can be nominated for this award.

6. Article of the Year

This award distinguishes your favorite article that was published in the KarateForums.com Articles section on or between October 19, 2011 and October 18, 2012. Whether the article enlightened or inspired you, this is the place to recognize it. Here are the articles that are eligible for nomination:

Personal Safety and the 5 Stages of Violent Crime by ninjanurse

The Practicality of Typical Martial Arts Weapons by KarateEd

Martial Arts: Forever in One's Life by sensei8

UNTIL! by sensei8

So, that's all there is to it. Please nominate. You will find a blank ballot at the bottom of this message that you can copy and paste. We need as many valid nominations as possible!

You nominate by sending a private message to the Awards account through this link: http://www.karateforums.com/privmsg.php?mode=post&u=2715 - nominations will be closed on November 2, 2012 at 6 PM ET. Please do not post your nominations on this, or any thread.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to private message me or reply to this thread.

Thank you for reading and for visiting KarateForums.com. Your participation in these awards is a key ingredient to what makes them great and meaningful.

Here is the ballot that you can use:

1. Member of the Year:

2. New Member of the Year:

3. Community Spirit Award:

4. Staff Member of the Year:

5. Funniest Member of the Year:

6. Article of the Year:

[Patrick]

Thank you to everyone who has nominated thus far! If you haven't done so yet, please take a moment to do so. It really helps the process.

Thanks again,

Patrick

[Patrick]

If you've nominated already, thanks! If you haven't, please take a look. We've received a bunch of nominations already and more will only help to solidify the ballots.

I appreciate it.

Patrick

[Patrick]

Nominations are now closed. Thank you to everyone who took the time to participate. Voting will be open soon!

Patrick