03-27-2024, 02:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-28-2024, 09:54 PM by wetwilleh. Edited 1 time in total.)
Recognizing Merit in the League
S39 | S40 | S41 | S42 | S43 | S44 | S45
Welcome to the S46 Gemini Media Awards! My name is Baron1898, and I'm here to present some recognition for the best works of media created during the past season.
A presentation that is far, far overdue. I am quite upset with myself for taking so long with this installment, longer than any other entry by far, but there's nothing to be done for it now. And it has been frustrating in particular because this media season has been a great rebound. Fueled by both veteran efforts and the energy of a new crop of rookie authors, volume has risen year-over-year from Season 45 and the quality has been positively sparkling. I am, of course, still so very happy that the Gemini Awards continue to be a coveted commodity and that people find it a worthwhile enough incentive to make some more media. Hopefully I can retain that enthusiasm into the future by releasing future season installments on a more reasonable, timely, not-halfway-through-the-first-week schedule.
The Rules
- Any piece of written media published during Season 46 is eligible for an award. This runs from the end of Ultimus 45 to the end of Ultimus 46, or from January 12 to March 8. 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.
- The winners of each award will receive a $3 million prize from Head Office.
- 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 46, 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.
- 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 S46, S47, and S48 classes) and who have never won Best Author or Best New Author before are eligible for Best New Author.
- This is only my 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.
Honorable Mentions
The Nominees
It should be entirely unsurprising at this point in his career that caleb is very, very good at writing media. Not only does this article tackle material in his forte of team-by-team statistical analysis with an excellent efficiency of formatting, it also centers on a beautiful and very effective visualization of those efficiency statistics with radar charts, communicating so much even with a paucity of written analysis. What could have been relegated to a dry recitation of numbers is given so much life with the presentation here.
Caleb could have simply structured his preseason rankings with his ratings and predictions alone and it still would have been an engaging read (just look at his Dominator Power Rankings). But here he turns the spice up to eleven by enlisting guest contributors from each team to provide subjective analyses of their expectations for the season, predictably ranging from the spartan to the Zen-ian, adding a dimension of breadth to complement his own ranking of the teams and making a cohesively excellent experience as a result.
The worst new thing to come out of the media landscape this year…
…was the Discord image hosting changes that made plenty of articles unintelligible, including a number of my favorite past Gemini winners. It speaks volumes, then, that even with the images missing lemon still writes an engaging examination of the tight end position through the case study of Bread Bowl. He breaks out every statistic in the book to present a well-rounded case and create a clear, convincing thesis that ties together the unique premise of the piece in such a satisfying manner.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, here lemon uses the statistics of a player not to make a wider point but to rightfully knock down the villain of the league, Zenzeroni Xystarch II, a peg or two. It is incredible how lemon can tread similar ground in entirely different ways, wielding a tight mastery of presentation with clear arguments and evidence (with working images!) to deconstruct the Zenzeroni mythos and prove him a mortal kicker like any other.
I know lock is fuming after everything I just said about him, so I'll toss him a deserved compliment. In his feud with the Weekly Mirror, lock churned out this monster of a takedown that channeled his heel status into an anti-heroic crusade of journalistic integrity. As to be expected from a media writer of his talent, the surgical rage of lock's prose is incredible to witness and read even for those approaching the conflict with zero outside knowledge. Even though half of the evidence is now lost to the sands of Discord images. (Use Imgur.)
Standing in stark contrast to the media veterans that have heretofore populated the list of nominees, omg's very first article in the league deserves mention among them. This is one of the most uniquely structured player introduction articles I have read in a long while. Omg displays a wonderful intuition here for making an aesthetically pleasing structure, one that showcases their creativity and a written voice that drips with character.
Resources like lemon's position tracker can be helpful for rookies deciding what they want to play, but this article by Tuba is an incomparably valuable counterpoint that could save plenty of new users from future heartbreak. Tuba's writing here lays out perfectly the realistic expectations and requirements that come packaged into every position, and the utilitarian and easy-to-understand format he employs makes this an easy recommendation to any impending create in need of guidance.
If I want to be technical, this is the second article I could disqualify on this list because of my own (miniscule) contribution to its contents. But this piece is all wiz. It is a hilariously satirical categorization of the ISFL community filled to the brim with inside jokes, images that complement the sardonic tone, and writing that is both funny and painfully accurate. If only the world could see what the New York locker room saw with the example users wiz and others picked for each role. You could probably guess some of them very easily.
It takes a lot to overcome my well-known apathy for anything related to the DSFL. This article is a lot. Yonggarius puts forth a very compelling survey of how the offseason's call-ups and roster turnovers project to affect the DSFL teams and how they might respond in the draft. The analysis here is efficiently organized and well-argued, thorough in the scope of yong's investigation and evidence of quite a bit of hard work and knowledge of the subject.
Statistical explorations are always fascinating reads, even when the ventures appear to end on an inconclusive note, and Zodiac's dive into line yards and their applicability to league offensive line analysis is a wonderfully constructed example of such. This article has such an effective and focused direction, combining a trove of raw data with regression efforts to tell his story of curiosity and investigation with a real earnest sense of presentation. It makes a great read out of a dense topic.
@ZodiacEXE!
S42's Best New Author finally has another Gemini to his name. Zodiac's article is such a perfect example of short and sweet, doing its job to perfection and making a fascinating addition to the league's existing statistical literature. From the first read, this piece immediately captured my attention, and the solidity of the craft displayed within is well deserving of 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.
Honorable Mentions
The Nominees
Perhaps not since the influx of gambling picks series in S41 has a rookie genre overtaken the media zeitgeist like the periodical this season. Woof's DOGHOUSE was the first to enter the scene and it became easy to see the appeal – the tabloid essentially spins Discord discussions and minor squabbles into rumor mill gold, infusing the language with plenty of wit and a self-serious tone that complement the inherent humor.
Twice the bridesmaid and never the bride, this perennially-nominated series from caleb remains as sharp as ever for the third year running. The eponymous Dominator Score is still a compelling and unique backbone on which to build a power rankings series, which caleb supplements with his own insightful analysis and tried-and-true excellence of presentation.
With all due respect to THE DOGHOUSE (and to the Daily Prophet), this tag-team effort proved both the most prolific and the most controversial of the rookie periodicals. And while lock's dismissal of the "WEAKly Mirror" may have been a fantastic piece, the real Mirror stands out on its merits regardless, covering league happenings with the appropriate formatting touches, length, and tone to perfectly imitate drama tabloids combined with the fantastically evocative cover page graphics that accompany every regular edition.
Oh, speaking of lock. In what turned out to be his coda year for media authorship for the time being, lock dived right back into the format, humor, and viscerally explosive intent that defines much of his career catalog. GIven the context, the Year of the Joker almost reads as a celebration of everything that came before. There is scant formatting and even scanter working image links (with the thankful exception of the Zen Za's graphic by @homercrates) but, true to form, none of that really diminishes the heart of the series.
A deceptively simple conceit is here spun into gold by negs, whose analysis of league trades is chock full of thorough analysis. Everything is elevated by the humorous language deployed throughout, especially when negs is dunking on the birthday boy from Honolulu, and by a visual style that grabs the reader’s attention and lays out every transaction in a comprehensive, comprehensible manner.
@griis and @jreed12!
For the first time in eight seasons, two authors have split the Gemini. In style and in substance, in the written form and the visual complement, the Weekly Mirror made an incredible impression on the media landscape this year. I would be both surprised and delighted if jreed and grits manage to keep this tempo going forward, but for now they are fantastic and worthy winners of a very competitive category.
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.
Honorable Mentions
The Nominees
There are certain unforgivable sins, and one of them is coloring most of your text white so it is entirely illegible on light mode without selecting it. So it says a fair bit that agorka made this list anyways, specializing in both a DSFL mock draft and end-of-season draft review that both cover the S46 prospect pool with a wealth of scope and understanding that is frequently punctuated by some dry humor. Both are structured well to boot, a minor miracle considering the aforementioned white text.
The tragedy of a long-running awards show is that I begin to run out of ways to describe the greatness of certain perennial contenders. As always, caleb shined, notching three combined Best Article nominations and barely missing the cut on a fourth with an inspired and breezy summary of the Week 1 games using the Discord gameday chat. He knows so well how to make beautiful, engaging reads that demonstrate some statistical or analytical measure with serious polish.
Nominated as a pairing for the second category running, griis and jreed's only duo effort happens to be the tabloid/beacon of truth that won Best Article (Series). It is impressive that every entry stands up against previous rookie drama savants like Zenzeroni and Triceracop and even two similar publications in this same class by embracing a style all its own. And while this is not, and will never be, a graphics award, every magazine cover included in the Mirror brings me pure, unadulterated joy.
Jadda's catalog can somehow be split among two entirely different narrative tacks: the supernatural, magically-infused drama of her player's journey through the DSFL and the revolutionary calls to arms of rookies against Head Office. Both of these divergent tones make for crackling, entertaining reads. Jadda's voice powers through their writing with great energy and a deft hand for vivid narrative flair that show great promise for future media endeavors.
What an evolution. JJ started his author career with a super short player background and a massive, unformatted, unstructured version of that same background chock full of ludicrous details of his tragic backstory and hilariously overpowered college career. By the end of the season, JJ was turning in a shortlisted series on DSFL power rankings and a comprehensive ISFL mock draft whose quality, detail, and formatting were simply unrecognizable from his earlier work while still retaining some of that early charm.
Lemon was perhaps the most prolific author of the season, especially when considering every article was standalone, and while many of his submissions weren't really media as opposed to general tools, the content he put out was always supremely put together. Standouts aside from his pair of nominated Best Article (Limited) contenders include a rundown of creative potential player tag ideas and a review listing for Zen Za's Italian Pizzaria, both of which are flawlessly put together, easy to read and engage with, and really funny in the case of the latter.
This guy's media may be good, or whatever, but I am dedicating this space to questioning what on Earth his deal on Discord is. Why does he change nicknames more frequently than even me? Whatever happened to the Prodigal/Peasant/Person/Player #7 of 56? Why was he a pirate for a day as the name of the day, abandoned that, and then came back as Blackjack Jerky with an all-new profile picture and dedication to screaming in all-caps? I worry that the end of the Year of the Joker in title game heartbreak has doomed lock to a complete breakdown of mind, body, and soul, and I hope he can find some measure of absolution in his future.
Oknom had a small but effective selection of articles from early in the season that well deserves a nomination. I particularly adored their shortlisted article on defensive line prospect outlooks, analyzing team needs and recent draft histories with an effective sense of concision and tone that really communicates their familiarity on the subject; their DSFL mock draft was also superbly constructed and written, and I sincerely hope they eventually dip their toes back into the media scene.
Most years we must be content with Tuba's output being restricted only to his (great, comprehensive, endlessly helpful) yearly fantasy guide, since the SFWG has forgotten the definition of a joint article. But this season bore witness to not only their "slightly" late edition – been there – but a nominated article entry on positional expectations that will undoubtedly become just as invaluable a resource through stellar writing and understanding of the league environment.
Ztarwarz's content follows the same reliable standard of quality and inquisitiveness that this two-time Best Author has always shown, whether he is surveying every playoff team throughout history with negative point differentials, power ranking the ISFL teams, or even just describing the pandemonium after a particularly controversial playoff game. Everything he writes is well thought out and put together, and his style allows for a frequently-impressive depth of research to really stand against the crowd.
@lemonoppy!
Finally, lemon can leave the waiting room. He went above and beyond to win Most Dedicated Member with many of the resources he introduced this season, but even his pure media content was diverse and expansive enough to win him the edge over the competition. Lemon shows no signs of slowing down after seasons of high-quality media production, and so this self-titled Triple Crown winner can now also claim his third career Gemini.
Best New Author
This category recognizes the newcomer authors on the block, whose early dedication and hard work shines through their content.
Honorable Mentions
The Nominees
"However for now, what stands true is that there are winners and there are losers..... so many losers."
"You have proven to be the gum under my shoe, the mosquito in my ear, the thorn in my side, the cold water in my bathtub, the wrinkle in my jeans, and the scum in my swimming pool."
"╎ ꖌリ?∴ ∴⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ||?⚍ ↸?...||?⚍∷ ⎓ꖎᔑℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ᒷ∷╎ᒷᓭ ∴╎ꖎꖎ リ?ℸ ̣ !¡ᒷ∷ᒲ╎ℸ ̣ ||?⚍ ℸ ̣ ? ᒷᓭᓵᔑ!¡ᒷ ⋮⚍↸⊣ᒷᒲᒷリℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ?↸ᔑ||"
"JJ and UC swept through the rest of the tournament. Winning every game handily. SoGringo even got JJ a father’s day gift because of how much he had carried him and his legacy."
"Im stopping the mock there as my fingers hurt and everyone is bullying me to finish. Are you happy now?!?"
@JJ5!
Whoever drafted this shining talent must surely be very pleased with their pick. (Sorry Chicago.) JJ’s maturation from Scorp-level screeds to his later output has been dazzlingly impressive, with an eye for both style and substance that permeates the later entries in his already-voluminous output. Such a debut undoubtedly merits a Gemini.
Congratulations to @ZodiacEXE, @griis and @jreed12, @lemonoppy, and @JJ5 for your Gemini victories, and congrats to everyone else who was nominated or who contributed to the media scene in any fashion this year. These were some tough decisions. 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. (Soon being a relative term, given how long this one took.)
I'll see you in Season 47!
Transgender lesbian, S15 veteran, and media extraordinaire. Fascists and bigots are welcome to fuck off.
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For Your Reading Consideration:
Before the Butchers | The Jungle
The Giving Tree | Volume II | Volume III
A Winter of Discontent | Volume II
The Rockiest Road | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | Finale
Two Essays on Unfree Agency: On Agents | On Contracts
Eclipse of the Honey Moon | Volume II
Gemini Media Awards:
S39 | S40 | S41 | S42 | S43 | S44 | S45 | S46
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For Your Reading Consideration:
Before the Butchers | The Jungle
The Giving Tree | Volume II | Volume III
A Winter of Discontent | Volume II
The Rockiest Road | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | Finale
Two Essays on Unfree Agency: On Agents | On Contracts
Eclipse of the Honey Moon | Volume II
Gemini Media Awards:
S39 | S40 | S41 | S42 | S43 | S44 | S45 | S46
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