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*The S42 Gemini Media Awards - Baron1898 - 07-29-2023
The S42 Gemini Media Awards
Recognizing Merit in the League
Recognizing Merit in the League
Welcome to the S42 Gemini Media Awards! My name is Baron1898, and I am thrilled to once again present some recognition for the best works of media created during the past season.
I must apologize for the delay in getting this put together; although I've gotten it out within a day of the Ultimus in seasons past, I am rather overloaded at the moment with real-life work, modding a game of Werewolf, and wrapping up my media magnum opus. It shouldn't become a regular occurrence. I'd also like to wish a very belated happy Pride Month to everyone. The world may be burning alive, but at least we have sim football!
Unfortunately, there was a noticeable slowdown in the media landscape this year compared to seasons past – fewer articles, fewer series, fewer authors. This thankfully does not entail a lack of quality. There were a lot of great pieces put out, many recognized in this awards show and many unfortunately not, so I encourage you as always to peruse through the media forum at your leisure and read something new you didn't catch before. Who knows, you might find something you really connect with!
While I welcome any and all competitors fellow media fans who wish to make their own awards, the benefit of going first is that I do have official league sponsorship. Every Gemini winner will add an extra $3 million to their bank accounts as a reward, courtesy of Head Office and the ever-lovable Joe. Combined with the increased media pay that has recently been rolled out, there really is no excuse not to get cranking out whatever fun article ideas might be laying around. Media always needs new voices to stay fresh and relevant. Let the money be your motivator, if nothing else.
Here are the rules to the competition as per usual.
- Any piece of written media published during Season 42 is eligible for an award. This runs from the end of Ultimus 41 to the end of Ultimus 42, or from May 26 to July 21. While pressers technically count, the nature of a presser means it would have to be truly exceptional to even register. Graphics and podcasts do not qualify; I know nothing about the former and do not have enough time for the latter.
- There are four award categories: Best Article (Limited), Best Article (Series), Best Author, and Best New Author. Best Article (Limited) and Best Author have ten nominees, while Best Article (Series) and Best New Author have five. For this season only, and for reasons explained later, the Best New Author category will have six nominees.
- An article can only be considered for one of the two relevant categories. Any article published as part of an ongoing series, regardless of whether that series was started in Season 42, is only eligible for the latter category. The exception is any article intended to start a series that so far is the only entry.
- Articles published by groups (for example, the SFWG) are not eligible for awards. Articles that are just lists of statistics or players with no added contribution by the author are also ineligible. Finally, my own articles are ineligible for the obvious conflict of interest. (Tune in next double media period…)
- Any author can qualify for Best Author. Quality as well as quantity of work is heavily rewarded. Only authors who joined the league in the last three draft classes (for this year, the S42, S43, and S44 classes) and who have never won Best Author or Best New Author before are eligible for Best New Author.
- Remember that this is all one gal's opinion. Every piece of media has creative value and brings something new to the table.
Best Article (Limited)
This category honors the media pieces from the past year that have risen above the competition to bring creative and professional content to the league at large.
And the nominees are…
@goblin jr., "What Each DSFL Mascot’s DnD Class Would be if you put the DSFL Mascots into the DnDU"
- If the media trend of last season was long gambling series, this year's zeitgeist was a resurgence in the "every team as X" genre. The best one of the bunch, in my opinion, is this visualization of the DSFL team mascots as characters in DnD, largely because its thoroughness, uniqueness, and personality stand apart from the crowd. Goblin jr.'s writing style is charming and engaging, showcasing obvious wit while also creating reasonable explanations for the choices he makes regarding traits and classes.
- It's easy to sort team strength solely by the Total TPE and Average TPE numbers in the tracker, but this Jumbo-sized dive breaks it down much further. Jumbo explores which teams have the strongest positional corps, using multiple tables and qualifications to zone out outliers and show off the units with the most combined effectiveness. It is a clear, well-written analysis and (spoiler) it almost won this award.
- Mossed26 already had an interesting two-part series on the relative rankings of Hall of Fame quarterbacks, but they stepped it up in all aspects with their dive into the league's best-ever running backs. Scoring each player based on their achievements comparative to their others, the article combines context and hard numbers to convincingly argue which players are best in an easy, intuitive format.
- Even though this S39 Best Author winner has apparently taken his talents to the fanfiction world (nicky, hit me up, I'd love to read it) he still has some magic left over for sim football. Nicky's draft is, as always, well-written, well-formatted, and well-researched, and it's a pleasure to read his writing in what I consider to be the best single-article mock draft of this media cycle.
- Brandings rankings may indeed be the "easiest, laziest, most boring type of media", as overdoo alleges, but his take on the genre is far above the standard. It's easy to overlook just how far clear formatting and images can take a tired topic; it gets even better when combined with overdoo's analysis and critiques, which cover the brandings in their totality of positive and negative aspects with sharp, casual language.
- Overdoo's pet peeve might be brandings rankings. Personally, my biggest media blindspot is the player profile, a genre that to me tends to blend together and very rarely stands out. This outing by the rookie author is a great exception. It is long without dragging, it feels professional and realistic without sacrificing authenticity, and it concocts a wonderful narrative that blends storytelling and interviewing seamlessly. This is the sort of media you could envision actually reading in real life.
- Creating a quarterback is incredibly risky for your future prospects unless you survey the environment carefully. Or unless Thor does it for you. True to the article's name, this piece examines the state of signal callers across the league, analyzing teams' current starters and backups, their windows for replacement, and how their TPE factors into the long-term plan. It is a narrow focus of analysis, but that allows Thor to dig properly into the subject and to present it very clearly to the reading audience.
- In lieu of the SFWG fantasy write-ups that may never return, Tuba is back after a few seasons with his own breakdown, one even more comprehensive than before. Whether his predictions ended up being prescient or not is irrelevant to the quality of the writing, where the amount of effort and research shines through in every thorough reasoning given. The quality of the prose and presentation is, of course, great as well.
- If you have any interest in remembering the Season 41 DSFL, or even if you don't, then wizard's article is well worth the read. The breadth of this article is commendable, condensing an entire two months of events both on and off the field into a clear story using different focal points of player overviews and game recaps. As a result the writing flows extremely well from one section to another, aided by a wonderful job of formatting and organizing the information.
- Short, sweet, and to the point, Zodiac's article on DSFL offenses and defenses looks at each team's performance in the red zone, a statistical topic untouched by the sim and rarely discussed at length. Their findings are laid out wonderfully into tables that deliver the necessary information and that are supplemented by insightful commentary on why the results turned out the way they did. Zodiac's writing is smooth, transitions well, and crystal clear on getting their points across.
@wizard_literal!
The wizard is back for his second career Gemini! You could not ask for a more elegantly constructed recap article than this one – the pacing and quality of the writing, plus the pitch perfect formatting, do wonders to create an enjoyable read. One could enter the piece not knowing a thing about the DSFL and still find it a great summary, and for that it deserves the award.
Best Article (Series)
This category recognizes the media that has been published as part of an ongoing series of articles. United in theme or in branding, these media collections can tell stories and capture an audience through the use of sequenced publishing.
And the nominees are…
@Big Edd, "Eddle"
- No disrespect to Big Edd, but I never expected him to ever qualify for a Gemini. The series in question borders on not being media at all, but there is no rule against multimedia submissions, and the titular Eddle game deserves recognition for the coding work that went into getting it up, running, and functioning correctly. It's even fun to play until you realize that you don't know who most of the players in the league are.
- After the rise and fall of the long gambling series of Season 40, CROney3's version was the only one left standing this year in a substantial capacity. Less competition choking out the same niche gave this series room to breathe, and it definitely deserves to be lauded in its own right. The writing is casual and funny, the structure of each installment is intuitive to grasp, and the quality remains consistent week to week, at least for the weeks he remembers to write it.
- Lemonoppy's sequence of evolving first-round mocks improved in quality with each installment, doubly impressive when you learn that the last one was apparently written on a plane. These mocks combine analysis of team need and user activity with the normal structure of most mock draft media, but added value comes in the hints of lemonoppy's personality that shine through and the addition of possible trades in the later two articles.
- I know nothing about Pokemon, I have no interest in ever learning about Pokemon, and I am therefore unqualified to know whether Mojo's decisions here are sound. But the writing is rock solid like a rock gym (or something to that effect), the choices of mascot, stadium, and leader are elaborated and explained in appropriate detail, and all aspects of the write-ups fit cohesively with one another enough that a complete Pokemon ignoramus can follow and understand.
- Ztarwars already ranked every franchise against each other, so why not run it back with only the Ultimus winning squads? This Berlin-less series features some good analysis of the context of each team and why they might be better or worse than they first appear, and while the barebones construction does tend to drone on after a while, the actual writing on each team works well.
@lemonoppy!
It was a weak crop of series this year, but that takes nothing away from lemonoppy having the best of the bunch. Each draft they wrote evolved from the last in interesting ways, and the way they found their own unique voice within such a saturated genre creates a very digestible experience. Lemonoppy will take home the Gemini right in time for them to start up their own media awards.
Best Author
This category honors authors whose work in the past year has contributed significantly to the media scene. These individuals have proven to consistently provide quality content for the press and include some of the most inspired and dedicated members of the community.
And the nominees are…
@Chicken Lips
- Lower volume across the board means a lot of these authors only wrote two media pieces across the whole season. Both of Lips' submissions, a mock draft revision and a conclusion to the S41 Gemini-nominated Lips Picks series, justified his nomination here regardless, showcasing a great talent for conversational, engaging writing and superb visual clarity.
- The jewel in Crodyman's crown this season was the first part of a planned three-part series describing the teams of both leagues as gargantuan, kaiju-fighting mechs, another unique spin on the X as Y concept with oodles of creativity evident in every zany ability. While you patiently wait for these robots to fight (go Concrete Rampage!) you can also check his player profile and Ultimini retrospective, breezy reads that show off Crody's storytelling.
- The copycats died, but the original lived on. Unlike last year, the vast majority of CROney's work came from the nominated series in question, with just a memory lane article standing on its own. The series is still good enough to get him on this list and more consistent than it was in seasons past, benefitting from the fact that CROney has nailed the art of gambling longform writing down to a science.
- There was a lot of DSFL content this year courtesy of the many rookie Best Author nominees, DoubleDub included. Their eclectic variety of media output ranged from weekly and season recaps to previewing the Norfolk v. Tijuana playoff matchup. In my opinion, their best work was the "DSFL Season Spoilers", which best evidenced the maturation of their writing over the season and showed both quality structuring and a vaguely sardonic tone.
- If article title length were the only qualifier, goblin jr. would easily take the Gemini. They've got a good shot anyways, since their two articles this year consisted of the Best Article-nominated DnD profiles and a recap of a random regular season DSFL with no right to be as interesting as it is. The game walkthrough accomplished its goal perfectly and provided expansive detail without ever becoming flavorless.
- The most prolific of the rookie authors, lemonoppy's articles go beyond the series that they took home a Gemini for. That same personality and eye for arrangement can be seen in their name power rankings, DSFL draft recap, and all-rookie team, a grouping of articles that is often funny and even more often well put-together in basically every aspect.
- Another Best Author candidate with only two authorships to their name. The rankings of the Hall of Fame running backs were obviously excellent, seeing as they were nominated for a Gemini earlier, but the second half of their earlier series on the quarterbacks in the Hall had the same polish and analysis on a smaller scale. Whether they continue their journey through the position groups or branch out to new topics, I hope Mossed26 continues putting out media as good as what they already have.
- The low volume of output this year kneecaps wizard's odds of becoming the first three-time Gemini winner. However, it does make a funny pairing to read his Best Article winner and contrast with his other effort, the Wizard's Orb breakdown of Lloyd "The Wheels" "Banhammer" Bannings and his rushing exploits, which is humorous in all the right ways and still carries the same excellence of aesthetics as his more serious work.
- Zodiac's work contributed greatly to the DSFL media machine, led by the stellar piece on red zone statistics that was up for an award earlier. They have a wonderfully clean, minimalistic presentation that complements great writing in all their pieces, writing that only increases in substance over time. I particularly enjoy their last two works, a comprehensive roundup of the DSFL towards season's end and a very serious mock draft.
- Even ztarwarz took the writing down a notch this season, more of a testament to the length of their team rankings series last year than anything else. Their penchant for pulling from league history continued not just in their Ultimus series but their winless team examination of the Second Line and its semi-sequel at the end of the season. Personally, their recaps of the ISFL at different points throughout the season feel even better than their output last season in overall quality and volume, not to mention the aforementioned series or the playoff scenario recap.
@ztarwarz!
Yep, it's a repeat winner. While their volume of work remained higher than almost anyone else in the league, this is not simply a matter of tallying articles – ztarwarz's work covers interesting topics, is written in an accessible manner, and combines this quality with a laudable output rivaled by very few. They join the rapidly-less-exclusive club of double Gemini winners for good reason.
Best New Author
This category recognizes the newcomer authors on the block, whose early dedication and hard work shines through their content. Because six of the ten nominees for Best Author also qualify for this category, those six will be the automatic nominees here.
And the nominees are…
@Chicken Lips
- "To anyone that followed my advice and won money, don’t forget to send the 3% commission to my bank account. For anyone that lost that is just a skill issue."
- "While there you have it the rest of the season laid bare and now you don't have to watch the rest of the streams - you're welcome."
- "I know nothing about the ISFL, it’s history, it’s culture. Nothing. So what could I possibly write about? And then it hit me like a wave of water rushing into a DIY submersible 12.5K feet underwater."
- "I’m also in the air right now so no WiFi so I’m relying on my outdated spreadsheet, that’s how you, the reader, can tell this is gonna be quality."
- No sarcastic quotes to pull from, sorry.
- "Wheel wanted to put all the GM picks in the first round so that I sound like a broken record, and cruelly it's going to a team that already will be needed to move a draft pick. Maybe this whole wheel thing was a bad idea? Nah... couldn't be."
@ZodiacEXE!
The last few seasons have had a bounty of inspiring new media writers joining the scene, and Zodiac is a prime example. From their first rookie article to now, their pieces were all fun, investing, and creative, with charming language and an easy to read visual style. For the consistent quality of their work, they are a worthy recipient of a Gemini.
Congratulations to @wizard_literal, @lemonoppy, @ztarwarz, and @ZodiacEXE for your Gemini victories, and congrats to everyone else who was nominated or who contributed to the media scene in any fashion this year. I encourage anyone who hasn't read any of the media pieces mentioned above to take some time out of your day and peruse. I promise it will be time well spent.
And for all the new people who recently joined the league, or anyone who hasn't written media in a while, I hope you are inspired in some capacity to write something of your own. This award could soon be yours.
I'll see you in Season 43!
RE: The S42 Gemini Media Awards - zaynzk - 07-29-2023
Edd Really got more Gemini nominations then most of you bozos
RE: The S42 Gemini Media Awards - nickyvmlp - 07-29-2023
If you want to see that fanfiction, here it is so far. It's a rescue mission in space with F-Zero characters: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46897804/chapters/118133287
RE: The S42 Gemini Media Awards - goblin jr. - 07-29-2023
Hyped to be nominated and congrats to all the winners!
RE: The S42 Gemini Media Awards - Crodyman - 07-29-2023
Just happy to get the nomination. I gotta get around to that tourney.
RE: The S42 Gemini Media Awards - slumped64 - 07-29-2023
Left out what ISFL/DSFL mascots I could beat in a fight :0
But congrats to all the winners
RE: The S42 Gemini Media Awards - ztarwarz - 07-29-2023
Well this was unexpected. Thank you!
Next time I go for the threepeat with a bit more effort?
RE: The S42 Gemini Media Awards - Thor - 07-30-2023
I love this media awards series and am honoured just to have been nominated, especially among so many other wonderful articles/authors!
RE: The S42 Gemini Media Awards - Chicken Lips - 07-30-2023
Honor to be nominated again. Maybe I'll start writing media again.
RE: The S42 Gemini Media Awards - 18situaseans - 07-30-2023
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