I can honestly say, much like The_Guiscard said before, I never expected to win this award. Ever. And I mean ever.
When I realized The_Guiscard (who is the sort of author that should wind this award often) had linked my inkwell page, I raced over to update it (Crovan Clan 2 wasn't on there) and stopped to read The Adventures of King Kamehameha. I'd forgotten what a joy that story was to write (even if the game itself was awful). I am not a great player of Paradox games (in fact, even on easy, they can be a struggle and Normal is as tough as I can handle), so I can't write stories of great conquest, because it just doesn't happen in my games. And that's okay. There are plenty of great players producing great stories. Despite periodic highs, these are mostly AARs of abjact failure. For Every Half-Dan running about and conquering huge chunks of land, there is a Skule hot on his heels and ready to lose it all.
Maybe that is why these characters work for people. Their lives are not great. They do not accomplish fantastic things, though they might have great dreams. They are simply everymen. Granted, often violent, murderous, autocratic, or insanse, everymen. So, maybe they are not "everymen" at all. But they are, at some level and in some way, all failures and the sting of failure is something everyone can identify with.
After several attempts to look at characters and motivations and deleting more than a few pompus re-writes, I shall instead simply say "thank you" to all my readers. Often comments give me insights into characters I hadn't noticed before and the continued comments make me work harder to make each person distinct and true to themselves. I feel like I have gotten better at this over time and it is because of you all. You make me want to populate these stories with new and varied individuals and families, whether it is the violent, sociopathological and monomaniacal Crovans, the well intentioned and naive Kamehamehas or the entire cast of madmen in Kamil Krofta, I am doing it because I want to make you all as happy reading my stories as I am writing them and reading yours.
Also, as you can see, this is why I stick to graphics-heavy formats. I get wordy, long-winded and boring, when given half a chance.
And now, to bask in the sun of undeserved praise for a week!