The 'Shroom talk:Issue 140/Awards Director Election

Awards Committee Director Election

Here is where you can post your campaign! Have fun.

Anton / Turb
Heya peeps, Turb and I are running again for next year to keep with the groove we've got going with how the whole host of events are structured and streamlined, constantly working to refine aspects that could use some tweaks or changes, while holding firm to ideas that worked well.

To briefly introduce us if you aren’t too familiar, both Turb and I are two people who have been members of this community since 2008/2009 and have been involved in many aspects of this community, most relevant to this being having been Awards Directors in the past, including our partnership in the last couple of years. Outside of Awards, we are both active in Chat as members as well as admins, which is where you will likely find us at any given moment of every day.

We intend on maintaining the current flow we've had in managing all of the Anniversary events, in terms of structure and layout of meetings and the ceremony, as well as the persistent focus on keeping the award categories fresh and relevant. The largest changes we anticipate currently revolve around tournaments and how they're structured, namely tokens and prizes. You can read more details below.

Our goal for this year is to maintain the tone and strength we’ve helped develop in the last couple of years, all while keeping both staff and the community interested and active without requiring an oppressive amount of attention and work, and instead prioritizing the focus on fun and creativity. We are looking forward to your support if you wish to give us that chance.

Both of us have years of experience directly involved in running the Awards Committee and ceremony events, but below you'll find a more expanded list of our qualifications, kept brief to what's relevant to the position, as well as a basic outline of some thoughts and plans for the upcoming year.

Relevant Experience
Anton (Director):
 * Current Director of the MarioWiki Anniversary Awards Committee (Mario Awards X (2016) – Mario Awards XII (2018)), Co-Director (Mario Awards IX - 2015)
 * Awards Committee member (2011 – 2018 (Mario Awards VI – XII)).
 * Current 'Shroom Critic Corner Director (Issue 112 – Present); 'Shroom Contributor (Issue LXXXVII – Present)
 * Current #mwchat Founder (June 2014 – Present) and Admin (3 November, 2010 – Present)
 * Current Userpedia Steward (18 November, 2012 – Present)
 * UP Awards Host (2014, 2015)

Turb (Sub-Director):
 * Current Sub-Director of the MarioWiki Anniversary Awards Committee (Mario Awards X (2016) – Mario Awards XII (2018)); Former Director (2012 – 2014)
 * Current Fail Awards Host (2016 – 2018)
 * Current Sysop (19 March, 2014 – Present) and former MarioWiki Patroller (30 April, 2013 – 19 March, 2014)
 * Former ‘Shroom Sub-Director (October 2013–January 2015)
 * Current #mwchat Admin (5 July 2010 – Present)

Plans
Major changes we made last year and intend to continue included:
 * Ensuring that there is a 3 week work period (2 weeks normal, 1 after soft deadline) for presentations, as shifting calendars can create situations like in 2016 where, while our general schedule of events doesn't change, the allotted time for creating presentations ended up being only 2 weeks. This tighter focus on scheduling in 2018 made a noticeable difference in alleviating stressful impending deadlines, within reason.
 * Generating award categories for an ample and appropriate amount of Super Mario Odyssey coverage. Their continued relevancy will be evaluated for 2019 and beyond.
 * Continuing to keep older awards in check for relevancy, including creating annual rotating award categories for Wario, Yoshi, and DK representation to cycle various aspects of each brand (levels, characters, etc.) to maintain their level of inclusion while still providing fresh and interesting poll results.
 * Maintaining an Awards Committee application system to help create a more focused and responsive group, which we found to be successful with plenty of applicants who were willing, motivated, and active.
 * Reworking the Tokens system, helping to curb rising inflation of prize prices and to work towards a more fair allotment of prizes relative to player participation.
 * A formal partnership with the Poll Committee to balance Main Page space and rotation for our Mario and Fail Awards Polls to guarantee a high amount of exposure to keep up our consistently high polling numbers as of the last few years
 * The forming of an Awards Record Keeper position to help maintain consistency, accuracy, and quality of information and documents. While it was an extra layer of red tape, it allowed for a vastly lower amount of late-stage minor errors that chip away at tight deadlines and nerves.

There are some improvements and changes that could be made, of course, which we plan to work with the AC to develop and implement:
 * Prizes:
 * A financially sustainable prize list must soon be generated, complicated further by updates in Steam regulations. While other websites, such as Humble Bundle, offer alleviation, gift cards are increasingly the most popular and easiest option to select as they are generalized and can function outside of most region-locks, which comes with the downside of them being objectively more expensive and thus a burden on the prize donors.  Whether this calls for different plans for prize distribution procedures, such as larger prizes being available only to winners and top placements in awards to ease the financial burden, or for a complete retirement of the prize list, we must find a way that is inclusive and fair to everyone else in some shape or form, including participants, hosts, donors, everyone.  Such plans will be actively sought and discussed.
 * This was in our plans for last year, but it never became large enough of a focus to implement anything in time. We intend on making this a primary focus right at the start to get a solid answer on which direction to take, as this will heavily shape discussion on tournaments in the later months.
 * Rework the F11 - Biggest Missed Opportunity award, which has been routinely inconsistent, into something like Biggest Disappointment so the write-ins can be more open and valid, or just remove it entirely.
 * Take a look at F9 - Worst Direction of Series, as it is becoming too nuanced for an award that forces generalization.
 * Make a solid decision on M10 - Favorite Song on whether to include instrumental songs or not, and if not, decide whether an award for them should be generated.
 * We plan to continue working with experienced Awards Committee members and consultants, upon personal confirmation, to provide technical support, advice, and information management.

As always, this is a general list of plans and will be expanded upon as time moves forward. The Suggestion Box from the Awards Board before and after the Ceremony help shape our agenda and direction, and will continue to be used as a resource of our community's priorities and interests. If this sounds good to you and you trust us with the handling of the Mario Awards XIII, we will be delighted to have your vote!

Thank you very much, and here’s to another successful awards celebration in 2019!