awards

Welcome to day two of our annual awards ceremony!

Today we start with our Staff Awards, reserved for those who have achieved the rank of commander or higher. These awards recognize the hard work of those who command ships and help administer our community. They do the behind-the-scenes work required to keep the engine of our community running, and smoothly at that! They help foster the fun simming environment we all enjoy. Just like with last year’s selection, the first officers of the fleet were empaneled to vote on the nominations for each staff award, providing recommendations to the EC about who should receive each award. We’re delighted to say that all their recommendations were accepted this year without modification!

And we continue by announcing our General (Ship) Awards list, which have already been presented by each captain to their crew directly. This is your chance to see how each of the other ships did and see who picked up what award. The winners this year, as in previous years, were chosen by the fleet’s commanding officers (or in cases where the commanding officer was also nominated, the first officer was called in to decide) from the nominations made by you!

Find out who won each of the nine staff awards, and all general awards, by heading to the forums. Don’t forget to congratulate the winners!

While our group was founded in 1994, our first ceremony was held in 1996, bringing together the whole fleet for an In Character celebration. Since then, we’ve seen the addition of dozens of new awards, a transition to Out Of Character presentations, and a move from the traditional December presentation to June, to coincide with the yearly anniversary of our founding. We’ve come a long way!

Today begins our 2017 Awards Ceremony, and over the next few days we’ll present to the fleet the winners in five categories of awards:

• General: Honoring the members who’ve won this year’s General, or ship-based awards
• Staff: Honoring the work of our fleet’s staff members
• Duty Post: Honoring the best simmer from each duty post
• Special: Honoring specific aspects of simming or OOC work
• Length of Service: Honoring members who have been with us for a year, all the way up to 10 years and more

It’s time to don your awards outfit and get ready for the fun to begin. Head to the forums to read the introduction and learn how to change your forum avatar.

Welcome to the final day of our 20th annual awards ceremony!

After celebrating individual achievement across the fleet for the past week, we finish the ceremony with a celebration of why we’re all here: the stories we tell together. The 20th annual awards ceremony marks the beginning of a new award presentation: the Featured Missions of the Fleet.

Just as the Featured Bio Contest highlights the best character pages from our wiki, the Featured Missions of the Fleet showcases the best missions as chosen by you and your fellow shipmates. Each ship’s crew voted among the past missions of 2015 and the first half of 2016 to choose the mission to be featured from their ship. Then, players nominated sims from the mission to be selected as the Featured Sim of those missions, with the sim receiving the most “likes” in the forum presented with an excerpt for the ceremony.

Thank you to all crews who voted and nominated during the process. And now, UFOP: StarBase 118 proudly presents your selections…

Head to the forums now to see which missions and sims were chosen to be featured!

Welcome to day five of our 20th annual awards ceremony!

So far this week we’ve announced the winners of the Staff Awards, Length of Service Awards, Special Awards, and Duty Post Awards. Now we’re delighted to share the General (Ship) Awards, which have been presented by each captain to their crew. This is your chance to see how each of the other ships did and see who picked up what award.

This is another category that has seen new awards added including:

• The Laudean Commendation, awarded for achievements in exploration with new lifeforms. The recipient will have shown great creativity in many facets of species creation or expansion, including physiological, psychological, cultural, social, and more, and their creativity will inspire their fellow simmers. It can cover many aspects of species development, but should primarily be based in IC simming.
• The Khan Award recognizes a simmer who thoughtfully develops a three-dimensional villain over the course of a mission or more.
• The Q Award is given for continually surprising their crew with unexpected, devious plot twists throughout the year, replacing the Kalendra Award from the Special Awards category.

The winners this year, as in 2015, were chosen by the fleet’s commanding officers (or in cases where the commanding officer was also nominated, the first officer was called in to decide) from the nominations made by you!

Head to the forums now to see who won each of the General Awards from each ship across the fleet, and be sure to congratulate the winners!

Welcome to day four of our 20th annual awards ceremony!

So far this week we’ve announced the winners of the Length of Service Awards, Special Awards, and Duty Post Awards. And now we’re very excited to present the Staff Awards, which are only for those members who have achieved the rank of commander or higher. These awards recognize the hard work of our staff, who do the behind-the-scenes work required to keep the engine of our community running, and smoothly at that! They help foster the fun simming environment we all enjoy.

This year we have one new awards to add to our list: The T’Pau Cluster of Distinction, which is presented for long-term achievement in leading the Training Team. In previous years, the Shuvalis Diamond of Recognition recognised long-term commitment and achievement in the Training or Publicity teams, but since both teams are so important we decided they each needed their own award.

We’re also very happy to announce that the first Kathryn Janeway Award in six years will be presented to a very worthy recipient! This award recognises those commanding officers who have made a great impact on their crew and left an indelible legacy on our community history – they may have retired and taken a break but they will not be forgotten.

The winners this year, as in 2015, were chosen by a panel of all the fleet’s first officers, from the nominations made by you!

Find out who won each of the nine staff awards by heading to the forums, where you can read about and congratulate our talented award recipients.

Welcome to day three of our 20th annual Awards Ceremony!

Yesterday we announced the winners of the Special Awards, and before that the Duty Post Awards. Today we are proud to present the Length of Service Awards, which are presented to members who have been continuously active for at least a year. There are also tiers for three, five, and ten years of continuous service, marking our most dedicated and long-serving members.

This year, 28 players have reached a length of service milestone. Of those, 12 are celebrating their first milestone, having picked-up the award for one year’s active membership. Another 7 have achieved three year’s active membership and 8 more have been here for five years. One player has reached the incredible 10 year milestone, joining the list of 14 other players who have also reached this milestone in previous years.

Find out who won each of the length service awards, presented to 28 very worthy players, by heading to the forums. Be sure to congratulate our talented award recipients!

Welcome to day two of our 20th annual Awards Ceremony!

Yesterday, we announced the winners of the Duty Post awards, where 10 simming superstars were recognised for the extraordinary talent they have in simming their duty posts. Today we are recognising specific aspects of simming or OOC work with the Special awards. Only the very best are chosen so they are highly coveted awards that every player has a chance to be considered for by getting involved and giving it their best.

There are two new Special awards introduced this year:

• The Luminary Award: For those who show great promise in their future endeavours in UFOP: Starbase 118 RPG. Given to members holding the rank of Ensign, Lieutenant Junior Grade, or Lieutenant. This is a counterpart to the Rising Star award, which is only for Lieutenant Commander ranked players, and higher.
• Quark’s Bar: Awarded to members who are regularly active on the forums and have been supportive and involved in conversations enhancing the overall forum experience.

Just like with the Duty Post awards, only one of each Special award is given a year, with one notable exception: The Xalor Clan Xifilis award is given to any player who has overcome any sort of disadvantage while simming. We don’t compare and weigh one person’s struggles against another but rather award this to all eligible and deserving candidates who are nominated for it.

Find out who won each of the eight special awards presented to very worthy players by heading to the forums, where you can read about and congratulate our talented award recipients.

This year is our 20th annual Awards Ceremony! And we’re planning on making it grander and more member-focused than ever before.

As part of the festivities, we’re inviting everyone to change their forum avatar to match the spirit of the awards. And that means: Get spiffy. Just like the Oscars, we’re planning on really classing up this place and changing into tuxedos, gowns, and other eye-catching dress-wear.

Our ceremony will begin in late June, which means you have a few weeks to get ready. But if you decide to dress your character in formal attire, and that requires some image manipulation, we’re encouraging you to get your request in to the Image Collective Graphics Requests forum early, so they have plenty of time to take a look and let you know what’s possible and what’s not.

Click here to go to the Graphics Requests forum now. Open a new thread with the “character” prefix and make sure you provide a link to your current character portrait, as well as some examples of formal attire you’d like to consider.

Please be aware that not all characters will be able to be transformed if they’re an alien species. In that case, you may want to consider bringing the actor behind your character portrait to the event, instead of your alien character.

I’ve already had my fitting — what do you think?