How about "The Whiffies"

[philp]

OK, category ideas so far.  Some/all of these may make it to the final list.

Whiff of the Year
Best Alternate Markings
Best Camo
Best Kitbash
Best Scratchbuilt
Best Armor/Armour
Best Backstory (no model required but could add to your chances)
Best Fictional Country (same as above)
Best Model made from Bread Clips
Most Original Concept
Most Interesting NON-Aircraft
Best Sci-Fi
Best Medium other than Styrene
Best Pre-war
Best WWII era
Best Post-War
Best Raspberry Ripple Mig (although I think just Best Raspberry Ripple would work better)
Most helpful member (obviously no model required)
Funniest member (obviously no model required)
Best Profile (no model required but could add to your chances)

And sorry, no one gets to be exempt.  No matter how good you are.

Greg's Point is true of course.  We can have a little fun at Awards shows/Model contests expense while still giving some additional recognition to several of our members.

So far my Judging idea would be to open each category to the general population ala GB voting.  Each member of the forum gets one vote per category.

I also like his foldable certificate idea but beyond my capability.  I still vote for a regular certificate.

Sidenote:  AD is the only person to PM me as a volunteer.  Would like to have some support from the other side of the pond.

[Daryl J.]

Should a trophy be made, it would certainly be of better quality than the Oscars' statue rest assured.    I had the privilege of holding Will Vinton's Oscar for some of his company's claymation work and that statue is one cheapo piece.   Large seams down the sides with huge gaps, overlarge sprue cutoff marks, and the like.    We'd blow the Oscar's quality right off the map!   

However, how about a counter point.    Some of the people here have to operate with a low budget.  In respect of them, let's make the awards strictly electronic.   They could then be printed out and displayed if so wanted.    Each could see them instantly.   They would be distributed worldwide for virtually no more cost than some time involved in the original making.    Etc.


Thoughts?



Daryl J.

[Brian da Basher]

Given the international and financial diversity of the What-If membership, my vote is for electronic awards, Dr. Daryl! I think it'd be cool for members to be able to have them on their profile as a "second avatar". We might have to get Overscan's input to see if that's possible.

Brian da Basher

[HOG]

Hoyhoy`l

While I think this a terrific idea in concept, I wonder if its truly feasable in action.
Trophies winging their way around the world, the recipiant building the next one. This is great but people have accidents etc and may not be able to provide the next one, then someone else has to build it and then the idea gets a little flat.

What I would suggest is a kind of Hall of Fame. A place of honour on the forum to keep all of the varied catagories in on a permanant basis. Somewhere we could go to have a look at these masterpieces of construction. Maybe opening the site on the current winners model shots and award received/achieved. The voting etc would of course still stand as would the nominateing.

As for people standing down this is ridiculous, of course the JHM`s, Eddies, Wolfik`s etc here may win year on year, but imagine the pleasure of beating one of them. Also levelling the playing field by age might be a consideration.
Also If you really need a trophy build one and have it posted with your model pix, same as the `T` shirt for the pub or club

Gary

EDIT Bryan da B`s  idea of a second avatar is also an interesting one

[Daryl J.]

The second avatar idea's great!    And the moderators could assign it so we peon's couldn't fake it.  Then they could change the avatar at random too to keep us all checking it out from time to time.  LoL.


Daryl J.

[LemonJello]

Yeah, the electronic/second avatar seems to be the way to go, maybe with a forum/gallery to post the winner's works with which award was won? 

[AeroplaneDriver]

Phil and I have been discussing things and have a few new ideas.

We want this to have a good variety of categories without becoming unweildy.  A few of the one's I've tossed out are:

Most Improved Modeler-This idea came to me last week when comparing my One Week GB entry from 3 years ago to this year's entry.   I feel like my skills have grown quite a bit, almost entirely due to the advice, inspiration, and encouragement on this forum.  I've seen the exact same progress in a lot of other members too, and I think it would be a nice thing to recognize.

'Comedy Categories'-This is a light-hearted, fun board, and the last thing any of us want is an "award system" that becomes too serious.  While the idea of reconizing and rewarding creativity, skill, and determination is great, we are at heart a silly bunch, so I'd like to see categories like "Least Offensive Canadian" and "Best Use of Twiglets". 

Prizes/Awards-While I personally love the idea of a trophy, there seems to be a lot of feeling that it may not work logistically.  We'll just play that idea by ear as we go along I think.  The idea of printable certificates seems popular, and can be e-mailed so there is virtually no cost involved.  For the "Best Picture" class of awards I'd personally like to see some sort of prize awarded.  If we have people willing to donate prizes that would be nice, as long as we keep them the sort of things that are cheap to ship.  Money's getting tight for a lot of us these days and it's not fair to expect a member in Saskatoon to ship a honking great box of styrene to Belgium or wherever.  I we can get a pool of prizes like decals, resin, photoetch, lightweight reference books, small kits, etc.  If we get regional donors then the prizes can be shipped cheaply.  One idea I really like for the 'big' prizes is giving a gift certificate.  A lot of the bog online hobby shops do e-gift certificates now I think, so there would be no postage involved.  This would allow us to send an area-specific prize too (Squadron for US/Canada, Hannants for UK, etc).  If this idea is popular then we may solicit cash donation to help fund it. 

Participation-I dont think anyone should take themselves out of contention for this.  If Barry wins every year, then so be it.  I would see that as inspiration and a level of skill to aim for.  Scorsese's won a lot of Oscars too, but he keeps getting nominated because he makes great movies.  Same shold apply here.

Phil and I have sort of taken it on ourselves to start some organizing on this, and Phil is working on the nomination/voting process at the moment, but since we are both in the US it would be nice to have a European and or Pacific organizer.  There really shouldnt be too much to the logistics of this if we can keep prizes deliverable online, but it would still be nice to have someone else onboard.  Any takers?

Also, as I said we've taken this on ourselves to do.  Do we need any sort of Moderator approval for this?  A grand blessing with Molson maybe?

All of this is just my thoughts on this whole thing, any and all opinions are solicited. 

[Daryl J.]

Saskatoon?   I almost went to dental school there.   But had that happened, I'd still be wearing a toque and eating poutine and wouldn't have ever come across this place.   It's not all that often that one gets to hang out with a guy who wears fishnet stockings and is straight and builds models.   In other words, getting back on track topically, non-serious awarding and even perhaps on a non-serious schedule sounds great.    Since we're inventing ourselves as we go, perhaps even the awards could change from time to time while still being the same award.   


Daryl J.

[nev]

OK, category ideas so far.  Some/all of these may make it to the final list.

Whiff of the Year
Best Alternate Markings
Best Camo
Best Kitbash
Best Scratchbuilt
Best Armor/Armour
Best Backstory (no model required but could add to your chances)
Best Fictional Country (same as above)
Best Model made from Bread Clips
Most Original Concept
Most Interesting NON-Aircraft
Best Sci-Fi
Best Medium other than Styrene
Best Pre-war
Best WWII era
Best Post-War
Best Raspberry Ripple Mig (although I think just Best Raspberry Ripple would work better)
Most helpful member (obviously no model required)
Funniest member (obviously no model required)
Best Profile (no model required but could add to your chances)

I think you forgot "outstanding achievements in the field of excellence"

[philp]

Still looking for someone (maybe from the What If SIG) from the UK (or anyone else) to join Nick and me in this crazy endeavor.

[lancer]

Still looking for someone (maybe from the What If SIG) from the UK (or anyone else) to join Nick and me in this crazy endeavor.

I might be able to help out.

[philp]

Thanks Lancer,
I will have to get Nick to forward you my emails (as I didn't keep a copy ) to get you up to speed.

I really appreciate your help.

[philp]

Been kind of quite here.

Any other category ideas you think we missed?

[philp]

Time for a quickie, uh, update that is.

The Academy is still working out final categories and other details but I think I have narrowed down the nomination process a little.

The list of final categories will be posted sometime in December.  Starting January 1, 2009 (give or take) anyone who is a member of the Forum will be able to submit up to 5 nominations for each category.  You can nominate your favorites, nominate your own, even nominate the same build for multiple categories. 

The nominations will run for about 1-2 weeks.  Then an independent third party will tally the nominations (ok, just us in the academy again but do you know how much an Accounting firm charges just to tally votes...).  The top 5 vote getters in each category will go on the final ballot and again be posted (if we don't get 5 nominations for any particular category, the academy will pick substitutes or we may go with less than 5, we'll see). 

The Forum members will again vote to pick their favorite in each category.  This will run about 1 week. 

The winners will be announced at our 1st Annual Whiffy Awards Ceremony with full media coverage.  One can dream, can't they?  We will probably just post the winners (maybe in the Gallery) or work out some type of online chat option that if you are awake, you can join in.  That is a wait and see.

The awards will be emailed certificates of achievement with other options as avatars to add to their profiles or even egift certs for places like Hannants and Squadron, etc (this last route would need donations unless someone has an in with the aforementioned companies and can get them to sponsor said event...)

So start thinking about who/what you want to nominate.  Some potential categories have already been listed in this post but that is subject to change (we may make up completely different categories at the last moment just for fun, but that sounds like extra work and this will already be busy enough). 

[puddingwrestler]

However, how about a counter point.    Some of the people here have to operate with a low budget.  In respect of them, let's make the awards strictly electronic.   They could then be printed out and displayed if so wanted.    Each could see them instantly.   They would be distributed worldwide for virtually no more cost than some time involved in the original making.    Etc.

Make it a paper model of the trophy! Then the modeler could print out and build at his/her own discretion and have a three dimensional tangible icon of victory!