KarateForums.com Awards 2015: Nominate Your Favorites!

[Patrick]

Hello,

Welcome to 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. Over the last 13 years, we have honored 128 different members with a nomination and 44 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. These awards take into consideration all community activity between October 19, 2014 and October 18, 2015. 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.

2. To nominate, you must have a KarateForums.com account with at least 25 posts made on or before October 18, 2015.

3. 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.

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

5. Your nominations will be kept private. We do not publicly reveal who nominated for 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 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!

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, 2014 and October 18, 2015. Eligible members must have made at least 50 posts by October 18, 2015. 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 in that section in the past year.

7. Jiu-Jitsu and Grappling Martial Arts Contributor of the Year

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.

8. Equipment Contributor of the Year

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.

9. 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 in that section in the past year.

10. 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 in that section in the past year.

11. Article of the Year

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 articles that are eligible for nomination, in order of publishing date:

How Not to Get Hit by Nathaniel Cooke (Book Review) by Lupin1

The Martial Arts: Where Egos Go to Die! by sensei8

Traditions by Dave Lowry (Book Review) by Wastelander

Karate by Hidetaka Nishiyama and Richard C. Brown by sensei8

5 Ill-Advised Things Every Brown Belt Should Do by Lupin1

The Art of Shaolin Kung Fu by Wong Kiew Kit (Book Review) by Zaine

Lessons in The Art of War by Martina Sprague (Book Review) by DWx

Martial Arts Nutrition by Teri Tom (Book Review) by ninjanurse

The Secrets of Kalis Ilustrisimo (Book Review) by tallgeese

Taekwondo by Kevin Hornsey (Book Review) by bushido_man96

Ulu Knife Techniques and Lessons from How It Is Used by cathal

Please note: we have decided to remove the Korean Martial Arts Contributor of the Year award, due to a lack of activity in that section. Hopefully, in the future, we will be able to bring it back.

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 2, 2015 at 9 PM ET. 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:

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. Karate Contributor of the Year:

7. Jiu-Jitsu and Grappling Martial Arts Contributor of the Year:

8. Equipment Contributor of the Year:

9. Health, Training and Fitness Contributor of the Year:

10. Instructor Central Contributor of the Year:

11. Article of the Year:

[Patrick]

We now have a little over a week until nominations close. Please submit your nominations soon. Thanks!

Patrick

[Nidan Melbourne]

I have nominated and was a tough choice this year of whom to nominate.

[sensei8]

I have nominated and was a tough choice this year of whom to nominate.

I wholeheartedly agree with you, Nidan Melbourne!!

[Patrick]

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

Patrick

[Patrick]

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

Thanks,

Patrick

[Nidan Melbourne]

Have many people nominated? I look forward to seeing if someone put my name forward

[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

[JR 137]

When do the polls open? Vote early, vote often!

Kidding about the often part.

[Patrick]

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

Patrick