Officer Awards
The Officer Awards are annual awards that recognize outstanding service during the past year. They are mid-level awards between Members' Choice and Amyrlin's Awards. They are split into the following categories:
- Administrator of the Year
- Staff Member of the Year
- Initiative of the Year
The recipients of the first two categories are awarded Gold Merit Badges, and the recipients of the third are awarded Silver Merit Badges.
Prior to 2023, they were named Keeper's Awards.
The awards were a result of the 2012 Admin Meeting and the first person to receive the award was Morrighan Daghdera. Back then the awards were divided into the following categories:
- Membership Administrator
- Non-Membership Administrator
- Staff
- Extraordinary Service
Contents
2024
The 2024 Officer Awards were announced on March 26, 2024.
Administrator of the Year
This recipient is serving her second consecutive term in the Department of Membership guiding our Novices and Recruits into the Tower and aiding them as their journey begins. In addition, she has been a strong and passionate advocate for our Tower Initiates and a central catalyst of change in our ongoing efforts to revise our Mentorship Program. She has been dedicated, thoughtful, and a genuine pleasure to work with so it is my absolute pleasure to present Lithiel Morn with this Administrator of the Year Award.
This recipient has a long history of dedicated service to our community and has been a critical asset to numerous departments. With her role as Tower Historian in the Department of Research and Record she has not only ensured our library maintains the highest standards, but she has updated every raising, bonding, and staff change without error or delay- think lightning fast! As a Tower Gatekeeper she has again been on top of changes and kept us all, including myself, organized with smooth transitions and more lightning fast service. Further still she recently wrapped up a successful term as Head of the Brown Ajah. For her dedicated service and because she continually steps up to get (all) the jobs done I am honored to announce this Administrator of the Year Award to Tallan Daar.
Staff of the Year
Who remembers the adorable Tree stuck in jail lamenting her lost crowns? I may be bias on this one, but I loved watching this recipient evolve that project from concept to final product. Since joining out Graphics Development Team in 2023 she has continually turned-out high-quality work in rapid succession meeting both our community’s needs and exceeding our expectations. Additionally, she keeps stepping up and volunteering with dedication and fervor and is quickly. All my crown thieving personal bias aside I am excited to award Elleria Sevrinde with this 2024 Staff Member of the Year Award.
Volunteering for the Safety Committee at any of our live events entails a commitment wherein volunteers are asked to give of their time- during a party! During our most recent Anniversary Party, 2023 in New Braunfels, Texas one of our volunteers went above and beyond giving consistent care and time away from the action to keep another one of our members alive. She began her service at lunch prior to Anni kicking off and continued through the entire event, using up an entire drugstores’ worth of gauze and countless hours taking care of what I shuddered to look at- Nurses for the WIN. It is with a deep sense of gratitude that I get to award Anika Forsyn with this 2024 Staff Member of the Year Award for her gracious dedication with the true spirit of a Yellow.
Initiative of the Year
This year our Initiative of the Year Award is very special as it recognizes an organic and member driven initiative that has set a new standard for our community. The two recipients of this award have given us as an organization a new path in how we can put our best selves forward as Servants of All while also honoring our membership in an unprecedented and meaningful way.
Something we have done for many years at our RL events is focus on a local charity or general good cause. It’s something nice that we can do for the locals after we show up (and ravage the place) and something we have seen many evolutions of over the years. Now, we are aging as an organization and the sad reality is setting in that we are beginning to see more of our members leave us under the most tragic circumstances. We recognize with extremely heavy hearts that this trend will continue and increase as time goes by. Last year we saw several difficult losses and from one of them stemmed a member driven initiative that grew to by our charitable focus for Anni 2023, and has established a new tradition.
This year myself and all the Officers are humbled and honored to present Dovienya el'Korim and Alexr al'Petros with the Initiative of the Year Award for their development, creation, and execution of the Rand Run at Anni 2023 supporting the Boy Scouts of America in honor of one of our most beloved and fallen members, Randalren. His loss met us all with shock and great sorrow but from that loss a new tradition of honoring our fallen members through charitable activities aimed toward their most treasured causes and organizations has been born. This was a member driven event that is now an institutionalized practice we are sorrowfully looking forward at continuing.
Thank you Dovi and Alexr for honoring Rand in a beautiful way and giving us all a path forward in working through our collective grief. The road taken to put this event together was not an easy one but your dedication to making it happen serves as an inspiration to us all.
2023
In 2023 the Keeper's Awards were renamed to Officer Awards due to the fact that the Keeper position got split in late 2021, so it was only appropriate that the awards be combined and renamed. Another category was added to the awards - Initiative of the Year, which is meant to appreciate staff team efforts of teams who do great things for the community.
The 2023 Officer Awards were announced on May 6, 2023 at Spring Fling 2023, and some of them even got awarded on the spot. The awards are given for work done during 2022.
Administrator of the Year
This award is given to Arella for her work as Mayor.
All of our membership groups deserve the best leadership we can provide them and as our Mayor Arella has continually been there to welcome our newest members, aid our Citizenry, and advocate for their needs. Arella is continually stepping up, presenting out-of-the-box ideas and volunteering to spearhead projects amongst her peers. She leads and motivates our City Council, empowering them to run with big ideas and advocating for broader community support for their initiatives. Arella, you have been amazing to work with, have been everything and more for our Citizenry, and I cannot thank you enough for stepping up time and time again.
-Tree
This award is given to Polegnyn for her work as Marketing Project Manager.
I'd be lost without Nem. She does a lot of the graphics work herself, and she keeps me organized. She's put in countless hours into making designs and giving pointers, comments and resources for every other team member. Nem is truly dedicated to the community and really does want the best for TV in every way.
-Siera
Staff Member of the Year
This award is given to Kelgan for his work as a Forum Moderator.
"In a conversation with Kelgan shortly after taking this role he shared with me that Moderation continues to be near and dear to his heart. If not those exact words, that was the sentiment. Before then, after, and up to today that has been evident in the care and work Kelgan has continued to provide to our community as an active member of our Moderation staff. It is my belief that our volunteers are what make this community work, and Kelgan's passion and care in this role underscore my point. The opportunity to recognize his work in this capacity is my honor and privilege. Kelgan, I want to take an official moment to put it on the record and tell you again that I appreciate everything you do for our community and thank you for the wisdom you have freely shared with me."
-Tree
This award is given to Viktara for her work as Barkeep, as part of the City Council.
In her service on the City Council, Viktara had an idea, regular Discord hangouts accessible to members across the globe. So, she did it. Viktara spearheaded and hosted twice monthly Barkeeper Chats and Barkeeper Brunches to provide a space for our members to come together and create real-time connections. As a community based on connections and friendship I can think of no way better to strengthen the fabric of our community and promote our organizational goals. Aside from stealing your formula Viktara, I appreciate both your dedication to this community and your solid reminder of why we are all here. Cheers to the Barkeep!
-Tree
Initiative of the Year
This award was introduced with the Officer Awards in 2023 and the first team awarded it was the TarValon Talks podcast team.
2022
No аwards were handed out in 2022.
2021
The Keeper's Awards were announced on March 28, 2021, and awarded for work done during 2020.
Administrator of the Year
Barmacral has been a stellar Master of the Watch. He is on top of everything, quick to respond and has developed a deep familiarity with our permissions system. He is always quick to help out and has been an essential part of the team throughout 2020!
Jahily took the role of Mayor to a whole new level with her fabulous ideas. She has provided extraordinary support to the Citizens during her term, and we are thankful for the path she has set us on!
Thaddius been the driving force and impetus behind the current crop of Game Masters for months. Always super positive and happy to help, he has been a shining star in the Department of Community Outreach.
Stasia rocked Marketing Project Manager - we increased the workload and she continued managing everything to be delivered on time, she managed the logo redesign project which is a huge effort and it was done so efficiently, and she re-organized the marketing Dept Google drive so well it made the rest of us jealous and now we want her to do ours.
Staff of the Year
Polegnyn has worked tremendously hard in 2020 for the Department of Community Outreach and the Department of Marketing! She worked to help make Qaato Nag a success. She also has stepped up tremendously in assisting our new Servant of All Team. During her time on the Graphics Development Team, she made a large impact by putting a ton of effort into designing some of our products in the Store. Every single thing she does, she puts a lot of time, heart and dedication into and turns out work of the highest quality.
If I could name someone Mistress of Graphics, it would be Siera al'Cere. She is always willing to help, she does gorgeous work and somehow she does all of this very quickly! The Graphics Development Team had a lot of new requests in 2020 and we could not have gotten through them without her. She spent a ton of time and energy on some very large projects, and we appreciate all she's done for us!
2020
No Keeper's Awards were handed out in 2020.
2019
No Keeper's Awards were handed out in 2019.
2018
- Membership Administrator of the Year: Barmacral Tigana
Our Membership Admins are the threads that hold our community together- every individual who takes on this position is volunteering to be part of our team within their own membership group, and those experiences can (and have) run the gamut between hibernation and bee-hive. Handling the range of what-might-happen takes someone who works well not only within their group, but with Admin to boot, and it is my pleasure to present the 2018 Membership Admin of the Year award to Barmacral Tigana, Company Commander, MDD. Thank you for your time and dedication to your company!
- Non Membership Administrator of the Year: Jeffan Caliarthan
Our Non-Membership Admins are every bit as critical as our Membership Admins for the success of our community both inside and out. They handle the daily 'care and feeding' of the community, whether that be as part of Tech making sure that the site is running smoothly, part of Outreach planning site-wide festivals and helping us help our communities, or even other departments like Research and Records and Marketing. I'd tell you all about the great things our 2018 award recipient has done to help our site grow and reach new friends and WoT fans, but he's already done all the work for me here. Our 2018 Non-Membership Admin of the year goes to Jeffan Caliarthan, for Social Marketing Manager. Thank you for your hard work in sharing and growing our community!
- Staff Member of the Year: Tallan Daar
There are various areas of the community that we have staff volunteers pitching in to bring the ideas and goals of the community at large to life in such ways as being part of the Online Activities team for online site events, members of the Outreach team researching organizations that let us give back to the world around us, graphics and tech work to make our online home a great place to spend time, and 'tending the stacks' in our Library. This year's recipient has been part of multiple teams as staff, often at the same time, until her recent change of roles has focused her in a new direction (not that she's given much up from what I can tell...). The 2018 Staff Member of the Year Award goes to Tallan Daar, for staff contributions to Marketing, R & R, Mods & Ops and Outreach. Thank you for your versatility and availability!
- Extraordinary Service: Rhed al'Tere
The Extraordinary Service award is designed to help recognize people in the community whose efforts don't neatly fall into one category or another, but their contributions to the site deserve recognition and awareness. This person has been an active member of the community for really about as long as I can remember, and has been involved in lots of different ways prior to their current role, but always with the goal of making our community stronger and more open for new and seasoned members alike. To say much more would make it obvious, so I'll just follow their example and announce the 2018 Extraordinary Service award for Rhed al'Tere, Amyrlin Seat. Thank you for putting your heart and soul into our community.
2017
- Membership Administrator of the Year: Asandra al'Terra
Asandra stepped into the role after our prior Mayor had to step down unexpectedly due to RL circumstances- without missing a beat, she dove headfirst into her new role, tackling her responsibilities with a wonderful enthusiasm and bringing some really great ideas for interaction with her membership group to bear. She makes our newest members feel right at home, and has been a great asset to the Membership Admin community!
- Non Membership Administrator of the Year: Alor Sionn
Alor has been our Outreach Activities Coordinator for about a year now, planning and coordinating all of the fun events and little details that go into online events, such as Shaoman, Bel Tine and Feast of Fools, but the little touches as well, such as birthday greetings from our favorite Trolloc Narg and visits from the various fairies and characters that go along with our festivities. She is a bright, energetic part of our Outreach team, and we're glad to have her in this role!
- Staff Member of the Year: Elanda Tonil
Elanda has been part of the OATS team for a few months now, and most recently made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of her team and the community by tackling the counting of the Spamathon threads for Shaoman. This, along with her dedication to the community by also serving as Soul of her Ajah and as part of the Moderation team contributes to the overall betterment of the community, and we are thankful for all of her efforts!
- Moderator of the Year: Aduiavas Ida
Aduiavas has been part of our Moderator team in the Library Forums- specifically, in the Book Discussion forums- for about two and a half years now, and is one of our more seasoned Mods. During her tenure, she's been wonderfully efficient and diligent with keeping things running smoothly in those fora, which is definitely important for a community that was built around, well, books, and we're always glad to see her reapply each term to continue on!
- Extraordinary Service: Erin al'Denael
Erin has been a long standing member of our Tech department, serving in pretty much every capacity one can in the department, most recently as one of our Masters of the Watch. During our migration from vB4 to Xenforo, she was one of the key architects of the project, working extra hours both with Mendo and on her own to help make the transition as seamless as possible. (Along with being a member of our Community Outreach team!) Her extensive experience throughout all her roles within our Tech department are very much appreciated!
2016
- Membership Administrator of the Year: Kassidy Rose ni DaiShan t'al'Kalin
One of the many ways folks can volunteer their skills and time here in the community at TarValon.net is as one of our Administrators, both Membership and Non- Membership. Both are important in keeping the day to day activities and requirements of running our site ticking along seamlessly. Our Membership Administrator of the year is a member who has been part of the community for over five years now, and she's not hard to find, especially for our newest members of the site. She's always been drawn to roles in the community that help make new members feel welcome, including Welcoming Committee, Online Activities team, and currently as our Mayor.
- Non Membership Administrator of the Year: Reniel Killan
One of the many ways folks can volunteer their skills and time here in the community at TarValon.net is as one of our Administrators, both Membership and Non- Membership. Both are important in keeping the day to day activities and requirements of running our site ticking along seamlessly. Our Non-Membership Administrator of the year ironically has a role that requires a lot of interaction with a big swathe of our Membership. However, her responsibilities are some of both the most fun and stressful kinds- bringing folks together for fun filled weekends with friends. She's been on point in her position for nearly for years, and doing a fabulous job at it.
- Staff Member of the Year: Selvyn al'Aran
There's lots of different ways to serve the community here at TarValon.net, and our staff members are the inner gears of each department, meeting the needs of their Admins, Directors and through them all the members who call our site home. This Staff Member of the Year recipient has made a great impression in our Marketing department, jumping in wherever needed to help get things done- whether it be TVT banners, signature requests for members and logos for events.
- Staff Member of the Year: Kerwin Thaumiel
There's lots of different ways to serve the community here at TarValon.net, and our staff members are the inner gears of each department, meeting the needs of their Admins, Directors and through them all the members who call our site home. This Staff Member of the Year recipient has been a sounding board to their Director, volunteering time and ideas to help advance the projects in the department that make our website overall a more functional and enjoyable place to be.
- Moderator of the Year: Leira Galene
Our Moderator of the Year award is a chance to recognize the behind-the-scenes folks that tend our forums and threads with attention to detail, an eye to keeping the flows of conversation organized and the peace kept when needed. Being a Mod means having a good sense of balance and being able to know when action is needed, and this year's selection has had a fair bit of practice. Most forums almost manage themselves, but others require a more delicate touch, and none more so than our Current Events forum. This Mod has served multiple terms in this capacity, and keeps coming back for another round, while keeping an eagle eye out for anything needing a guiding hand.
- Extraordinary Service: Sa'areah Britthorn
Extraordinary Service awards are always unique in that they give me some flexibility to recognize those who are making great things happen, but perhaps don't fall into one of the other standard categories as a staff member or Administrator. This year's selection is no different.Oftentimes, volunteering for a role that's responsible for a large group of others can be a myriad of things: rewarding, exhausting, exciting and frustrating- yes, often at the same time. It can be difficult to strike a balance as one works to put themselves in the shoes of diverse personalities from all over the world and make sure that their experience on the site as is pleasant and welcoming as it can be. Yet she does so with a metaphorical (and quite probably literal) smile, and puts her heart into her work every day.
2015
- Membership Admin of the Year: Andra Mikolan
Being a Membership Admin here is a role that has a lot of personal involvement- oftentimes people selected for this role are chosen for specific characteristics that make them ideal leaders within their groups. As the case often is with this type of role, there are good days, bad days, and days you just breathe a sigh of relief over when they're done. Those are also the days that I'm glad to have leaders of this caliber in our organization, and this leader in particular.
Within the tight knit communities on our site, people find places to go to share happy news and sad, to congratulate a Brother or Sister or give them a shoulder to lean on, or to just share in what it means to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. Sometimes that means sharing in a great deal of joy, and other times, it means being a source of inspiration in times of hardship and sorrow. I've seen this person do all that and more, both for herself and her Ajah.
- Non Membership Admin of the Year: Maibella Rhoiden
There's a pretty wide range of non Membership Admin folks in our community- some, I hadn't even realized were Admin roles, even though they obviously HAD to be for the kind of work they do. They are the leaders within the community that see to all our needs outside of being HoAs and CCs- entertaining us, teaching us, involving us and finding new and engaging ways to keep us coming back. They write for us, they research for us, they share with us and inspire us to see the world, both on and off the boards, in whole new ways. This year's winner is someone who took on her role by stepping up when her predecessor had to unexpectedly step down. Since then, she has taken on working with her staff to bring our community some pretty fabulous reading a d involvement in the form of our monthly editions of your TarValon Times.
- Staff Member of the Year: Enelya al'Morna
One of the many ways in which TarValon.net is working to expand its outreach to our membership and beyond is through the use of our external communications- our social media presence has been steadily growing and will be continuing to do so for the foreseeable future. Our Tower Voices have been a big part of carrying this along and posting both in the community and outside of it, and that responsibility has fallen somewhat recently on the shoulders of a very capable individual who has been carrying it admirably. I look forward to the continued exploration and growth of our social media avenues, and will hopefully see this year's third Staff Member of the Year as a part of that.
- Staff Member of the Year: Belgareth Kiarc and Melearlin Valar
There's quite a few folks in our community that serve as Staff in our various departments, working together within their team to help drive a common goal for the benefit of the site and its members as a whole. From the members of the Hall to the graphics team in Marketing, our data crunchers in Administration, many of our Mods and Ops in that department, and so on- but of all our departments, I don't know if there's two folks that work more in tandem than these winners of Staff Member of the Year. They keep the steady streams of traffic flowing all throughout the community groups, allowing our members to move about and learn more of what it means to be part of our wonderful community and the various membership collectives we have here. Maybe one day we'll change one of their titles to Keymaster just for fun.
- Op of the Year: Mendo Cath
Our Ops- the unsung heroes of our IRC space, where those of us that might not be huge on forum posting can congregate and converse in our regular community chat channel, #wheel, along with a host of other more specialized channels dedicated to our individual needs. And sometimes, the needs of our IRC community are bots that are named after horses, and let us do all sorts of random things in the middle of conversations with a simple combination of keystrokes. This year's Op of the Year has helped look after our stable of IRC bots, and been an asset to his department.
- Moderator of the Year: Eluial Aldaran
For our 2015 Moderator of the Year, the winner is someone that has taken on a special type of moderating role- it was a newly developed position, designed for a specific need in the community. Because of its uniqueness, it left a great deal open to allow it to be molded to the need of the people that populated its particular forum- also unique within the community. This person has taken on the task of getting the environment up and off the ground, rules organized and implemented, and logistical and user based issues addressed all while being involved in the more entertaining goings on within the forum. For her role in helping shape and build the Mafia forum structure and her diligence to making it a world-within-our-world, I'd like to recognize Eluial.
- Extraordinary Service of the Year: Pol Rohanson
Sometimes there's a person who deserves some extra recognition, but doesn't fall directly into one of the other categories. In this instance, this person has been a solid, reliable and efficient member of Administration, lending his particulate statistician skills to our surveys each year. He's been a member of the team for three years now, and is always ready and willing to assist as and when needed.
2014
- Membership Admininistrator of the Year: Xander Silverstar
A member of San d'ma Shadar, Xander is currently serving as our Captain of Recruits. Having also previously served as our Captain of Soldiers, along with a variety of other roles within the Tower across several departments, he’s been very involved in every aspect of the progression process for our Junior Members on the Gaidin path. In both roles, he worked to streamline the documentation process for mentoring and membership information for his folks, as well as being involved with activities designed to help get our Junior and Senior Members interacting in fun ways for everyone.
- Non Membership Administrator of the Year: Siera al'Cere
Siera (formerly Hanajima) also comes to us from the Gray Ajah, and has been our Marketing Project Manager for the past three years, after having served the community in a variety of other roles, both Marketing-related and not. Most recently, she tackled the enormous task of overhauling our Company and Ajah logos, working directly with members of the Senior Member community to tailor these symbols of our membership to each group’s specifications. No easy task to do, she added this in on top of a variety of other ongoing projects for our CafePress and Zazzle stores, as well as graphic design work by request for other departments. Her love for what she does is evident to anyone that works with her, and is greatly appreciated.
- Staff Member of the Year: Megana Vallentin
Megana, a member of the Gray Ajah, was part of our Tech Department before becoming our new Site Designer at the beginning of 2014. Since then, she’s jumped in and tackled the task of overhauling and updating our ‘face’ for the boards- a feat she managed not only for our current iteration of the boards, but for the short lived transition to vB5 as well. Her creativity coupled with her technical knowledge have given us a great look for the Tower, and I look forward to seeing what all she has to offer in the future.
- Moderator of the Year: Ty al'Djinn
Ty, a member of San d'ma Shadar, is currently serving his second term as a Moderator for Current Events Forum, one of our more challenging forums to navigate, let alone moderate due to the nature of the commentary and conversation handled in its demesne. He’s been involved not only in the moderation of the forum, but in working to help find ways to make sure it continues to be a viable and active part of the community and allows those that participate there to keep the debate-like atmosphere along with a respectful demeanor while discussing some of the world's more polarizing topics of conversation.
- Extraordinary Service: Defen Estrator
A somewhat reclusive member of Dai M'Hael, Defen has been one of our Tower Masters of the Watch for over seven years, hosting and maintaining our server environment over this period of time and more. Ready to jump onboard to assist whenever there’s a database or server issue, he has taken calls at just about every time of day or night, and maintains a very laid back and friendly personality throughout all of the wonderful vagaries our environments have endured over the years. I think it’s probably safe to say that without him, we most likely wouldn’t be the site we are today.
2013
- Membership Admininistrator of the Year: Valadilene Aldieb
Vala has been involved in the TarValon.Net community for many years and has held many positions. She's always been even-keeled, which is a blessing, as this year she was faced with managing our group during a unique task in her position as Head of the Red Ajah: the addition of the first Gaidin to our ranks. Through it all, Vala conducted herself with decorum and set an example for all Reds by keeping a level head in the face of a very challenging situation for a very particular group of ladies. I know that all Ajahs and Companies go through changes. Red is not much different - the Red Ajah is fiery through and through, and Vala was a big part of helping our group to work out the kinks during this radical adjustment to our way of life. She's an open, welcoming person and there's never a question too small or too big for her to take the time to answer.
- Non-Membership Admininistrator of the Year: Isarma Maracanda
I can’t even begin to express my gratitude to Isarma and her amazing dedication to her work. Isarma is our Annual Report Project Manager - she gathers all of the information from the Administrative team to assemble the Annual Report that we release every year to the community. The amount of work that goes into making this happen is pretty incredible, and not always the easiest when working with deadlines, assembling pieces from a team of people with incredibly diverse schedules and needs, and fitting it into her own schedule at the same time. She does this with incredible professionalism, dignity and grace, and her work is always top notch!
- Staff Member of the Year: Ibon Caseï
For her staff work throughout both 2012 (after the Keeper Awards cycle) and 2013 with the Servant of All Program. She has nearly single-handedly put the program together and worked to keep the Admins and Director of Community Outreach on track with this program, pushing it forward despite utter neglect and on the tough issues. She has also added an invaluable international perspective to the process since the very beginning. I cannot sing her praises enough. She has been amazing!
- Staff Member of the Year: Amarande al'Kalin
For his work within the Outreach Activities Team. Throughout 2013, and with the absence of our Outreach Activities Coordinator at the time, Amarande continued his role on the OAT staff as the Birthday Team Captain without missing a beat. He ran the team (of three people) to ensure that everyone on the birthday list continued to receive their well wishes from Name Day Narg. Amarande also has been the Apples-to-Apples go-to for OAT festivals, running the activity in #owah for quite a long time.
- Moderator of the Year: Halan Leion
A multiple-term Moderator for Current Events Forum, Halan has always demonstrated a reliable, steady hand and level head in his duties - something that can be incredibly difficult in this particular forum - and has often had helpful input on various issues. His presence in this capacity is always most welcome whenever he chooses to volunteer.
- Operator of the Year: Deoan Kakarot
Not only was he extremely helpful to our Director of Moderators in transitioning to his current role, Deoan has worked tirelessly behind the scenes making sure that our channels remain up and running and working to get all chat functionality (particularly with the bots) consolidated under Tower control. When our channels went down in December 2012, Deoan is the one who worked with the IRC admins to get everything back up and running. He's been invaluable in this setting.
2012
- Membership Administrator of the Year: Bryce al'Mara
Our Captains of Recruits and Captains of Soldiers have an unfortunate series of incidents happen to them that result in real life sucking them away in the middle of their term. Not only has Bryce managed to avoid that curse, he's been an excellent and steady presence for our Recruits. In addition, he's overseen the creation and implementation of a new mentor system for our male Junior Members that has been very successful. Bryce has been a fantastic addition to the Department of Membership.
- Administrator of the Year: Azi al'Thone
Azi was our most-nominated person this go-round, and with good cause. Azi has put in countless hours of work migrating our posts/threads to our new forums, troubleshooting, and in general being a Technology badass. He's always ready to help out more and manages to do it all while still being nice. I'm not quite sure why we haven't burned him out yet, but I can only be grateful that he continues to donate his time and talent to us.
- Staff Member of the Year: Miya Kiyoshi
Miya has been an outstanding member of our Outreach Activities Team for a while now. She has been consistently active in that role and is always bringing her creative thoughts and talents to the team. At the beginning of 2012, she stepped up in to the staff role of Outreach Activities Graphics Coordinator. For those of you who aren't familiar with that position, Miya is in charge of making sure that all the graphics needs for our online events are taken care of. She not only personally works on projects, she coordinates other graphically-minded people to make sure all the work gets done. From graphical greetings to site headers, she helps take care of it all. She's done an exceptional job and she's done it consistently.
- Staff Member of the Year: Venric Methalion
I'm thrilled to finally be giving this award to Venric as he has worked so hard this past year. For starters, Venric took over the Merit Badges project and finished it this year. You can see his work here. While lots of people brain-stormed, provided ideas and did initial drafts, Venric was the one who looked at the project and said "Yeah, I can do that!" and then actually got it done! The Merit Badges are fantastic and well-made. He also created our gorgeous 2012 Anniversary Party logo. We are always in need of good graphic designers around here and Venric has knocked it out of the park this year.
- Staff Member of the Year: Taelinn Dolivras
Taelinn has done an exceptional job this past year. She's been a fantastic reporter for the Tar Valon Times having written 20 articles, she pre-codes her articles (greatly reducing the workload of the Editor), she's done on time with few grammatical errors and she's always willing to help pick up slack or make sure deadlines are met. Taelinn is an absolute joy to have on the TVT team and we are beyond fortunate that she has recently agreed to become the Assistant Editor of the Tar Valon Times, continuing to donate her time and talent in a more official capacity.
- Staff Member of the Year: Loraella Melodie
Loraella served for over a year in the position of our Tower Voice, wherein she was a constant presence updating our Facebook, Twitter and social media feeds. She was always an active presence in the Marketing forum and even kept up with her job when her computer had problems. I speak from personal experience when I say posting or doing anything site-related from one's phone is not easy, but she managed it! In addition, she's done excellently serving in the Hall and she recently joined the Department of Administration staff as well. She is always a hard worker and willing to lend a hand.
- Moderators of the Year: Morrighan Daghdera
Morrighan was nominated for her outstanding work as one of the Moderators for our Book Discussion Forums. Moderating the Book Discussion Forums is a particular challenge. Not only does it require that you "handle drama;" it also requires that you keep up with spoilers and make sure people aren't posting something from Book 6 in the Books 1-4 forums. It can be daunting, but Morrighan handles the "drama" (yes, it happens in book forums!) and keeps up with the tangle of spoilers superbly.
- Moderators of the Year: Kelgan al'Moranwin
With the exception of about 3 months, Kelgan has been a moderator in one of our most-difficult-to-moderate forums, Current Events, for the past year. He has kept a cool head and a sense of fair play and has been fantastic in the position. I am not alone in recognizing his work: he won a Member's Choice Award (voted on by the community at large) earlier this year for Most Discerning Moderator. What isn't apparent to those not in the Mod Squad forum, however, is just how much work Kelgan does. When I went back reviewing the forum deciding on winners for the year, he was in almost every thread, bringing up issues not only in Current Events but in other forums. He kept an eye out and alerted other mods and he was always willing and able to provide good advice when people had questions about whether and how mods needed to deal with something.
