I don't think that I've ever written an "Awards Nominations" post before, I don't really know why. I suppose one reason is that by selecting somebody as "the best"/"my favourite" at something, you're inadvertently upsetting those that you didn't choose - Invariably by selecting winners, you're also selecting a lot of losers.

But having considered all of this, I've decided to nominate somebody for best author and contributor, as well as best community anyway. In selecting my winners, I'll avoid mentioning all of the losers that I considered - if you've ever received a comment from me which hasn't asked you to stop being a dick, then I probably consider you to be one of the better losers.

So let's do this...

Best / Not the Losing Author

When selecting my nominee for this category, I've primarily focussed on my "Friends Feed" as well as my personal User Interface which filters out a huge amount of bull shit (and also highlights other favourite authors of mine). Within this feed, there are always a handful of authors whose content I'll be drawn towards. Whether it's because they write about a subject that I'm interested in or because their content is well written, a nice length and easily digestible (in a relatively short period of time). Mood will also dictate where my attention will be drawn but despite the highly complex and irrational selection process, @kiwiscanfly is an author that I probably read and comment upon more than any other.

He manages to produce light, easy to read content even when exploring on his pedalo and finds the time to reply to the comments he receives, including the bullshit received from the much muted steem.history. (Hang in there kiwi, he'll notice you someday.)

Best Contributor

For this category, my thoughts are based around users who make me want to stay on Steemit - they spend more time commenting and engaging users in conversation rather than entering the latest contest or engagement challenge. They don't look at Steemit as a "set of rules" that have been defined by the Steemit Team and irrespective of how you want to use the platform, they'll engage with you and your content like you're a person - not a sheep.

Whilst there's a clamour to get developers to improve the platform, we don't stay around for the latest technology, we stay around because we've made a connection with others and it's those others that keep drawing us back in.

As I write each nomination, I'm consistently torn between a handful of people to choose from and I somehow think that in rambling on for a little while, one "candidate" will become my winner, and by writing "we've made a connection with others and it's those others that keep drawing us back", I've made my decision.

Therefore, my nomination goes to @chriddi. Of all the people here on Steemit, she's the one whose thoughts about Steemit seem to align with mine and is always willing to ignore the herd and do what she believes is right. It's extremely difficult to put into words what I mean by this - I'm fairly sure that through a look, and a nod of the head, she'll know but I'm nominating her for an award here - perhaps ironically, an award which takes the form of an upvote 🤣

Let's try to find a few words though... With a comments to posts ratio in the region of 50/1, her engagement is meaningful and memes aside, often long and thought provoking. The continuation of Scrabble in the Deutsch community always gives me somewhere to go if I want to waste an hour or so and I'll often find entertainment in her replies. Even when I don't feel the energy to write something myself. Her presence on Steemit is meaningful, it's deep, not superficial and this is reflected in those that surround her.

Best Community

This will be for the most active and successful Community.

Whilst this introductory line grates on me (you could run a script and get a load of data if you want a hard FACT), I'm going to search for ambiguity in the word "successful".

For me, success isn't about the number of contests or the rules that their members follow. It's not about a reply, rating a post for use of tags, exclusivity, rules, Rules, RULES!! It's not about a community being set up to grow and eventually get Booming support... to heartlessly reply to every post, giving them a grade like they're 6 year olds new to class - quite the contrary. The BEST communities on Steemit aren't even the most successful. If anything, success brings the herd and it's the herd that no longer makes them the best even though it might make them "successful".

For me, the best communities are those that stick to what they believe in, irrespective of what the Steemit Team "suggests". They would sooner shun Booming support than simply become more sheep in the herd. The sheep have their fields, and plenty of them to graze on with plenty more lambs joining each day.

Once again, I'm torn between my winner and losers but it's hard to ignore the only community that I've continued to remain a Moderator of since being asked to join many years ago - World Of Xpilar.

There's a lot to highlight here so I'll start with...

the people - a variety of opinions from a variety of backgrounds - a wide range of views and approaches to Steemit, joined together to reflect the variety of perspectives across the platform. A variety which is able to engage with a huge number of posts on a daily basis, helping users to feel involved and that they're a part of something special.

Our ability to combat abuse through some of Steemit's most-experienced "watchers" which gives our users the confidence that what they're reading, and the authors are genuine. Which given the size of the community, is no mean feat.

A strong curation account and following trail that supports over 100 different authors each month, selected by the many aforementioned moderators - often venturing outside the World Of Xpilar community.

The creation of @wox-helpfund which has helped nearly 30 people since its inception a couple of years ago, to the tune of nearly 14,000 STEEM.

I'm sure there's so much more but my brain's given up on me now so that's it from me.

the-gorilla's Club Status Tool

In case you didn't know, I've created a tool to help users review their club status - showing them where their power's coming from, how much they're powering up and transferring out amongst other things.

Please use it wisely.

👉 View Club Status Tool 👈