I cannot tell you how proud (and pleased) I am of the fact that the WoW has continued on in the proud tradition that is, and has been, AARland. This award has been around since 2002 thanks to the tireless efforts of myself (tipping the hat, of course
), Craig Ashley, Lord Durham, Stroph1, 2Coats, Valdemar, Vigilantsldr, Warspite (the originator) and you, the latest recipients. It has seen winners from EU2, HoI, Victoria and then throughout the entire AAR forum.
Because of that, I wanted to go back and make sure that all past winners got their full due. If you go to the first post of this thread, you will now find that all past recipients are listed alphabetically with the date in which they won the award listed after that. This should assist future winners when it comes time for them to pick their successor. It is easy to choose long standing members due to their high quality work, and it can be certainly deserving, but there are also many newcomers who are just as worthy of being considered. Let's not punish either - the old for being well-known and the new for being unknown.
I would ask that those that win going forward try to match that list with the great writing being done along side the past success of our members. There is nothing wrong with winning the award more than once (and we have many that have), but I and others have always envisioned this award as one that not only rewards great work but that also invites new people into the fold. Point being - let's try to spread it around as much as possible while still recognizing the great work being done.
In fact, it would probably be helpful for the latest winner to remind their successor of that fact so that time does not interfere with this ideal. If you remember such, please try to include that suggestion with your pick. As well, you might also include a few of the new winner's past works to place them - i.e. so and so has done this and that before, but their latest work is of such calibre that it cannot be denied that they have excelled in the past week.
I hope that the alpha listing is helpful in not just rewarding great writing but also encouraging newcomers to contribute even more than they already have. After all, this place runs on the blood, sweat and tears of the people who put such onto the virtual page for our enjoyment. Let us try to recognize both new and old - great writers all.
Edit - Oh, and one more thing - remember that this award is for the writing itself - the author's latest acheivement, rather than the specific work they are doing that writing in. That's what the Showcase is for. This award is to single them out and say "Great show! The writing of late is incredible!"