It’s been more than a year since the last major awards were presented. Here is our fourth Special Commendation Medal, which is awarded for achievement above and beyond the call of duty at the crewmember level.
Special Commendation Medal
Awarded to Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T’ghann-Travis (previously known as Shoniara T’ghann Dex before her marriage in-story) of the USS Washington for sustained superior role playing. Using her encyclopedic knowledge of Trek, she effortlessly writes detailed posts and collaborates with others to tell truly immersive stories within the canon. In the nearly two years since her first post on August 19, 2021, she has tallied 9.33 total awards, good for 13th place all-time, which includes one MVP and five Most Posts.
As many of you already know, the 30th anniversary of the premiere episode of Star Trek: Deep Space happened earlier this year. “Emissary” introduced us all to an entire new style and world of Trek. However, today is also a fairly important day in the history of DS9, and we have a special guest to fill you in:
Great way to start a mission–with the Obsidian Order bashing your door in. Good luck!
MVP
Commander Jonathan Grayson Executive Officer USS Washington
Commander Grayson had a great month leading a new mission, working closely with a new player, and keeping the story moving with inputs from everyone. Great job!
Most Posts
Commander Jonathan Grayson Executive Officer USS Washington
For writing 10 posts.
Most Improved
Lieutenant Callisi Veera Chief Operations Officer USS Churchill
Really stepped up to fill in while the Captain was unwell to keep the sim moving after having zero posts the month prior.
Lieutenant JG Patra Rommel Chief Flight Control Officer USS Wayfarer
Excellent writing and teamwork! She stayed engaged and found ways to help the plot even though her character wasn’t with the rest of the crew on Risa. True talent!
Most Posts
Commander Jonathan Grayson Executive Officer USS Washington
One of the newer members of the Sunfire, Thenis steps up with month some quality posts and helping others get involved.
Rookie of the Month
None this month.
Recruitment
None this month.
I also want to comment on the retro version of the IDF website earlier this month. While our website no longer looks like this, it’s amazing to think that these awards that we started in month one of July 2001 are still going strong today thanks to all the great writing from YOU!
If you visited our website yesterday, you probably noticed that it looked like it was straight out of 2002 (or 2001?). And you would be right! Using records from the Internet Archive, we reconstructed our Angelfire site from the days of yore using the current fleet line up, creating a mash up of then and now. The simming world was quite different back then–and so were our web development capabilities! In case you missed it, we’ve archived the 2023 retro site here.
But why now? Fast forward to April 14-16, 2011–it was exactly 12 years ago that IDF hosted the first modern SciWorld Online Convention, which incidentally was 12 years after the original SciWorld in 1999. In early 2011, the Simming League was largely dead and the community had drifted apart over the previous few years: Clubs rarely interacted with each other anymore. SciWorld 2011 changed all of that by serving as the genesis for a new era of cooperation and celebration. In addition to SciWorld, we also now also have FallFest, Khitomer, and Babel. SciWorld renewed interest in the Tournament of Simulations and the Simming Prize as well.
On a related note, a few of you have pointed out that we missed our typical April Fools’ Day joke this year. While we can’t go back in time to fix that, we hope this blast from our past was still fun nonetheless. Until next year…
Great post that pushes the plot forward that also could have won a Funniest Post.
Best Post (Joint Post)
Capt. Akeno Misaki & Cmdr. Mashiro Munetani “Shiro” & Lt. Cmdr. Raelyn Mckenzie & Lt. Cmdr. Mark Johnson & Lt. Luna Eclipse of the House of Martok CO / XO / CSTO / CMO / CFCO USS Wayfarer
Less than a month later and we already have another new sim joining us: the USS Eclipse officially launched on January 16, 2023. This is a brand new sim focusing on science and exploration that takes place in a post-Nemesis timeline. Take a look and consider joining today!
With 2022 in the books, it’s high time we checked in with the latest version of the IDF Record Book over on our About page. As it turns out, we have a new all-time leader in monthly awards. Lieutenant Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell of the USS Sunfire now has a grand total of 29.83 awards, passing the previous leader, Jenna Ramthorne (of a prior version of the Sunfire), who has 24.83. What’s even more incredible, is that both characters are played by the same person!
Best Post
Funniest Post
Genesis
MVP
Most Posts
Most Improved
Recruitment
Total
Durnell
5.05
5.78
4
14
1
29.83
Ramthorne
4
.83
4
15
1
24.83
Prolific across multiple award categories, the two stat lines seem to mirror each other. However, the difference is clearly Durnell’s five plus Funniest Post awards to Ramthorne’s zero. See what adding humor to your game can do! Congratulations to Lieutenant Durnell on this incredible accomplishment!
As it turns out, we have quite a few current or recent members who have moved up leader board since we brought the Awards back for March 2020:
Active Member — received an award within the last year or confirmed to currently be on a sim Hall of Famer
All characters with five or more total monthly awards
In addition to all those who’ve won awards, I also want to thank each of our sim Commanding Officers for submitting nominations month-in and month-out and to Rear Admiral James “Rook” Mirtoh for running the program and selecting winners. Without their tireless efforts, the awards simply wouldn’t be possible.
I’ve long been of the opinion that the monthly awards are one of the absolute best features of this fleet, and they’re a key bonus that really distinguishes us from other groups out there. The numbers speak for themselves: Through the end of 2022, we have 969 total documented awards presented to 506 different individuals through 1,226 different award records. Each one is permanently part of our continuing history, starting all the way back with the five original awards presented for our very first month of July 2001 going up through today and beyond.
