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The National Geocaching Awards


Simply Paul

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Reposted from http://www.Facebook.com/groups/Geolympix2016 & http://www.Facebook.com/groups/GeocachingAwards:

 

If you'd like to help shape what's planned as an annual feature of the caching calendar, please get involved. Also, invite your caching FB friends to join either/both group/s or follow @GeocacheAwards on Twitter.

 

"It's time to get your thinking caps on! We need 20-25ish award categories for the National Geocaching Awards, coming to the Geolympix next July [hopefully to become an annual, roving event]. Just award categories at this stage please- we'll come on to nominations & voting a bit later.

 

While some awards may be based on stats - most found cache, most favourited setter? - others need the human touch.

Some suggestions, but feel free to get creative!:

 

Britain/Ireland's Best Cache. (Not necessarily most Fovourited, that's a question of stats, not opinion!) - could be split into Scotland, Wales, Ireland (NI/RoI?) & England's best.

 

Cacher of the Year (Not necessarily most finds, for the same reason)

 

Best (Funniest?) Log.

 

Best (Funniest?) Cache Name.

 

Best Caching Photo (Should be attached to the log).

 

I've notes somewhere of others that are in the Maybe pile, but who'd like to get the ideas/suggestion ball rolling? [Again!]"

 

If you missed talk of the NGAs (can you beat the name 'Golden Smilies' for the awards themselves? It seems a popular suggestion), they'll celebrate the best of British (Inc. IoM & CIs) & Irish caches, cachers & caching. They'll be held at the Geolympix (just published: http://coord.info/gc5xxyy Please log a Will Attend if you plan to come) next July & if successful, elsewhere in future.

 

We want them to be as representative of the opinions of British & Irish cachers as possible, which is why we're calling for your opinions. Thank you.

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Some suggestions:

 

Newbie of the year

 

Best event - could be split according to size/type, eg. Mega/Large (50-500 attendees)/Small (<50 attendees)/CITO

 

Most geo-friendly landowner

 

Best supporting muggle (i.e. a friend/partner etc. who's not a cacher themselves but helps the cacher e.g. in setting/solving/driving to caches)

 

Best trackable

Edited by Optimist on the run
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Thank you for those suggestions. The Geolympix team will be going through all ideas sent to us via Facebook, Twitter, Email and Forums in November to pick the ones which best represent the aims of the National Geocaching Awards - so please, keep the suggestions coming! Don't worry about duplicating earlier suggestions; that would just show there's a lot of support for a particular idea/category.

Cheers again B)

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Announcing the National Geocaching Awards categories

 

(Originally posted on Facebook on Jan 31st 2016)

Firstly, thank you to everyone who suggested categories for the British and Irish National Geocaching Awards. The following list, which we're asking you to nominate cachers, caches, organisations, etc. against, has been created from your ideas, with a few tweaks from the Geolympix team.

 

We received several suggestions for names for the awards being given at the NGA's, but we decided on The Golden Smilies as it seems to fit awards designed to reflect the best in British and Irish Caching, Cachers and Caches!

 

A note on geography: Ireland includes the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland plus Irish islands off the mainland (the same way Groundspeak categorises Ireland). Britain includes England, Wales, Scotland, the off-islands of Scotland, England and Wales (Including Shetland, Flat Holm, IoW, Scillies, etc.) and the non-UK islands of Britain, including the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Sark, Herm and Alderney, plus their off-islands. Basically the NGAs cover anything east of Rockall, west of Ness Point, Lowestoft, south of Out Stack, Shetland and north of The Minkies, CIs - that isn't France. The NGAs exclude other British or Irish territories, such as Gibraltar, Bermuda and the Falklands. A 'British or Irish Cacher' would be someone living the majority of their time in Britain or Ireland, even if they're Dutch. Voting will be limited to them too.

 

Also note: Best means, most innovative, most enjoyable, coolest location, concept and/or container, cleverest, the one that made you smile widest… You know, Best!

 

You don't need to nominate for every category, or make multiple nominations for the categories where that's an option. Nor do you need to have found the caches or attended the events you nominate, although that may make more sense. The choice is yours! You can also nominate yourself or your caches, but don't try to unfairly skew the awards; we will be looking for attempts!

 

A condition of listing an event such as the Geolympix - which is hosting the NGAs- on Groundspeak's site is that alternative cache listing sites cannot be promoted. Therefore only Geocaching.com-listed caches are eligible for the National Geocaching Awards.

 

AWARDS CATEGORIES

 

Caches:

 

1) Best Cache (must have been live at the end 2015. For archived caches, see 'Gone but not Forgotten', below.)

 

2) Best New Cache (as above, but published in 2015.)

 

3) Best Cache Listing (most beautiful, clever, funny, helpful or educational cache page.)

 

4) Best Night Cache (specifically designed to be done at night.)

 

5) Best Non-Physical Cache (includes Virtuals, Webcams, Labs and Earthcaches, excludes Events - see below)

 

6) Best Event (includes all British and Irish Megas, CITOs & regular events - inc flashmobs - but be clear which incarnation of recurring events you mean please!)

 

7) The Gone But Not Forgotten Award for Best Archived Cache (can only be won by a cache once. Must have been archived in 2015 or before.)

 

8) Best Extreme Cache (can only be won by a cache once. Doesn't need to be a 5/5, but should be 'extreme'!)

 

Cache Series:

 

9) Best Individual Series (could be ring/s, power trail, cluster or just a collection of caches on a theme, owned by one cacher or caching account or a small number in a 'geographically discrete series' such as a multi-owner ring.)

 

10) Best National Series (themed caches - often numbered - set by multiple hiders across a wide -national- area.)

 

Support:

 

11) Most Helpful Landowner/Organisation (who's been a great support to British and Irish caching? They don't need to cache or place caches themselves.)

 

12) Most Helpful Reviewer (They give a lot of time and effort to make caching in Britain and Ireland possible, but who's gone above and beyond the call of duty? Must have been a reviewer at some point in or before 2015 to be eligible)

 

13) Best Supplier of Caching Goods (must be based in Britain or Ireland)

 

14) Best Caching Social-Mediaist (includes British/Irish geocaching blogs, vlogs, podcasts, twitter accounts, YouTube channels, Facebook groups/pages)

 

15) Best Caching Resource (could be international, includes stats websites, books, magazines, hints 'n' tips sites, vlogs, podcasts etc)

 

Others:

 

16) Best Online Cache Log (funniest, most inspiring, or pack of lies. DNF, Found, Notes- all log types included)

 

17) Best Log Photo (must relate to the cache it's added to. Includes Webcam log pics.)

 

18) Funniest Cache Name (can only be won by a cache once)

 

19) Most Memorable Trackable (owned by a British or Irish cacher. Can be memorable for being an interesting item, having a cool mission, etc etc.)

 

20) Best New Coin (released in 2015)

 

Cachers:

 

21) Geocacher/s of the Year (could be the most dedicated cache owner, keenest cache maintainer, most inspiring or creative cache owner, most helpful event host, most committed -or should be- cacher who went the extra mile and more… Basically this could be called 'Services to Geocaching')

 

22) Newbie of the Year (must have begun caching in 2015)

 

23) Young Cacher of the Year (Junior cacher who's added something to the game. Must have been under 18 at some point in 2015. So born after 1/1/1996)

 

24) Achievement Award (either a Lifetime Achievement award, or for someone who's Overcome Adversity in the pursuit of Tupperware. Basically, an impressive, inspirational cacher.)

 

Please also nominate for the Hall of Fame - Cachers who contributed to the British/Irish game but are who are sadly no longer with us. This won't be voted on (that would be inappropriate) but the Geolympix team will make a joint decision based on nominations.

 

Next stage: Nominations!

In order to make short-lists of finalists in each category, we're now asking for your nominations. You can suggest a maximum of three people/caches/whatever in some categories, and one in others.

 

The best way to do that is copy the text below, replace the [bits in boxes] with info, and email it to geocachingawards@gmail.com (Please don't use this account for questions - it's not being monitored until late April!) Or, if you don't mind making your nominations public, posting them below would be fine. If you'd like to direct people to the categories, please aim them here rather than copying and pasting them, as if there are nominations being made in too many places, we may not get to see them! The Facebook group for the awards is: http://www.facebook.com/groups/geocachingawards

 

Nomination FAQs - Yes, you can nominate yourself or your caches/series/business, but unless some other people do too, you're unlikely to make the shortlist!

 

We'll award one point to third nominations, two to second and three to each main nomination on categories inviting you to pick three, and then add them up to see which cachers/caches/etc. are most deserving of joining the Finalists for each category.

 

There's two (or more) of you who use the caching account and you'd both/all like to vote? No problem. Duplicate names will only be an issue if it's clearly an attempt to skew nomination results unfairly. A team of six all nominating themselves as Cacher/s of the Year would only be counted once, for example.

 

What then?

Once we have sort-lists of finalists, in May and June we'll invite cachers to vote on them via a secure, cheat-blocking polling website (such as SurveyMonkey).

 

In the meantime, please Copy, Paste, Edit and Send the below to geocachingawards@gmail.com, or post it here:

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Nominations by [your geocaching name]

Caches:

 

1) Best Cache (must have been live at the end 2015. For archived caches, see 'Gone but not Forgotten', below.)

[Nomination 1: Name - GC number

Nomination 2: Name - GC number

Nomination 3: Name - GC number ]

 

2) Best New Cache (as above, but published in 2015.)

[Nomination: Name - GC number]

 

3) Best Cache Listing (most beautiful, clever, funny, helpful or educational cache page.)

[Nomination: Name - GC number]

 

4) Best Night Cache (specifically designed to be done at night.)

[Nomination: Name - GC number]

 

5) Best Non-Physical Cache (includes Virtuals, Webcams, Labs and Earthcaches, excludes Events - see below)

[Nomination: Name - GC number]

 

6) Best Event (includes all British and Irish Megas, CITOs & regular events - inc flashmobs - but be clear which incarnation of recurring events you mean please!)

[Nomination 1: Name - GC number

Nomination 2: Name - GC number

Nomination 3: Name - GC number ]

 

7) The Gone But Not Forgotten Award for Best Archived Cache (can only be won by a cache once. Must have been archived in 2015 or before.)

[Nomination: Name - GC number]

 

8) Best Extreme Cache (can only be won by a cache once)

[Nomination: Name - GC number]

 

Cache Series:

 

9) Best Individual Series (could be ring/s, power trail, cluster or just a collection of caches on a theme, owned by one cacher or caching account, or small group if a 'geographically discrete series' such as a multi-owner loop.)

[Nomination 1: Series Name - GC number for one of them

Nomination 2: Series Name - GC number for one of them

Nomination 3: Series Name - GC number for one of them ]

 

10) Best National Series (themed caches - often numbered - set by multiple hiders across a wide -national- area.)

[Nomination 1: Series Name

Nomination 2: Series Name

Nomination 3: Series Name ]

 

Support:

 

11) Most Helpful Landowner/Organisation (who's been a great support to British and Irish caching? They don't need to cache or place caches themselves.)

[Nomination: ]

 

12) Most Helpful Reviewer (They give a lot of time and effort to make caching in Britain and Ireland possible, but who's gone above and beyond the call of duty? Must have been a reviewer at some point in or before 2015 to be eligible.)

[Nomination: Reviewing Account Name]

 

13) Best Supplier of Caching Goods (must be based in Britain or Ireland)

[Nomination: Name - URL]

 

14) Best Caching Social Mediaist (includes British/Irish geocaching blogs, vlogs, podcasts, twitter accounts, YouTube channels, Facebook groups/pages)

[Nomination 1: Name - URL

Nomination 2: Name - URL

Nomination 3: Name - URL ]

 

15) Best Caching Resource (could be international, includes stats websites, books, magazines, hints 'n' tips sites, vlogs, podcasts etc)

[Nomination 1: Name - URL

Nomination 2: Name - URL

Nomination 3: Name - URL ]

 

Others:

 

16) Best Online Cache Log (funniest, most inspiring, or pack of lies. DNF, Found, Notes- all log types included)

[Nomination: Log URL]

 

17) Best Log Photo (must relate to the cache it's added to. Includes Webcam log pics.)

[Nomination: Log URL]

 

18) Funniest Cache Name (can only be won by a cache once)

[Nomination: Name - GC number]

 

19) Most Memorable Trackable (owned by a British or Irish cacher. Can be memorable for being an interesting item, having a cool mission, etc etc.)

[Nomination: Name - Ref code (not tracking number!)]

 

20) Best New Coin (released in 2015)

[Nomination: Name/version]

 

Cachers:

 

21) Geocacher/s of the Year (could be the most dedicated cache owner, keenest cache maintainer, most inspiring or creative cache owner, most helpful event host, most committed -or should be- cacher who went the extra mile and more… Basically this could be called 'Services to Geocaching')

[Nomination: Caching Name and reason]

 

22) Newbie of the Year (must have begun caching in 2015)

[Nomination: Caching Name and reason]

 

23) Young Cacher of the Year (Junior cacher who's added something to the game. Must have been under 18 at some point in 2015. So born after 1/1/1997)

[Nomination: Caching Name and reason]

 

24) Achievement Award (either a Lifetime Achievement award, or for someone who's Overcome Adversity in the pursuit of Tupperware. Basically, an impressive cacher)

[Nomination: Caching Name and reason]

 

Please also nominate for the Hall of Fame - Cachers who contributed to the British/Irish game but are who are sadly no longer with us. This won't be voted on (that would be inappropriate) but the Geolympix team will make a joint decision based on nominations.

[Nomination: Caching Name and reason]

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks again for getting involved. The more cachers who respond to this call for nominations, the more the NGAs will truly reflect the opinions of British and Irish cachers. We want them to be meaningful and relevant, and that needs your help.

Edited by Simply Paul
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Good news from over at http://www.facebook.com/groups/geocachingawards

 

"For regaining Mega status, the Geolympix team has received eight Premium Membership codes from Groundspeak to be used at/around/for July's Geolympix. Worth £25/€30, if we get over 300 nominations we'll pick one nominator at random to win one of them (using a random number generator).

 

If you're not already a PM, it'll make you one for a year. If you are a PM, it'll extend your existing PMness by an extra year. If you win & don't want to be a PM you could pass it on to someone else, sell it, raffle it, auction it for charity...

 

Please keep those nominations coming- now there could be something extra in it for you! Tell your friends & get us over that magic 300." :)

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Free Premium Membership threshold dropped from 300 to 200 nominations - so keep spreading the word! - and also to let you know, the nominations will close on April 24th at noon. Voting will then start on May 1st, once the nominations have been processed. Please keep those nominations coming until then!

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If cool, cute, funny, interesting or educational cache listings are your thing, thanks for nominating in Category 3 for the best of Britain and Ireland's. Here's a full bookmark list of all those nominated (not a list of finalists!)

 

Also

 

Night Caches, best of, full list of nominations Bookmark.

 

And

 

Best Non-Physical Cache bookmark list (excludes events and a Wherigo tried to sneak in too...)

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Well, this is exciting. Voting is now open at SurveyMonkey, where you can vote for 24 awards. We hope you will as the more Britian and Ireland-resident cachers who cast their votes, the more 'accurate' the awards will be.

 

Some history: Begun in mid 2015 as an offshoot of the 2016 Geolympix, the British and Irish National Geocaching Awards started as an experiment; how representative could a community-lead caching award programme be?

 

So, we began by asking the cachers of Britain and Ireland to suggest awards categories and made a list of 25 from those suggestions - as well as naming the awards themselves 'The Golden Smilies' - before asking for nominations against those categories from February to May 2016. Lastly, we used a well-known survey website (link above) to gather votes...

 

Being nominated is a huge deal, given how many cachers, caches, etc are out there, but making the finalists is an even huger deal! Only the best of the best make the finals.

 

To actually win... Well, fame at last. You even get a 'cache prize' - A Golden Smilie to keep forever, safe in the knowledge it's meaningful and deserved!

 

Please help us by voting. It's one vote per device (so if you cache as a couple, you can still both vote if you've a phone and computer) and we've a maximum of 1000 per month. Voting closes at the end of June. Happy to answer any questions! :)

 

ca76af72-2211-441e-9833-9d4987dfe606_l.gif

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We've now exceeded 940 votes which, across the 24 categories being voted upon, adds up to over 11,500 votes cast! The geocachers of Britain & Ireland are awesome - Without your support, the NGAs would be nowt.

 

If you've already voted, thank you very much. You've helped these experimental awards be something the caching community can be proud of.

 

If you've yet to vote, please do (assuming you're a resident cacher of the UK/RoI/IoM/CIs). You can only make the awards more representative and thus more relevant. See http://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ngas

 

Please note, when we hit 1k votes there may be a pause until our June allocation of votes cuts in. Cheers!

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Well, I counted them (totals for 24 categories) and added them together, and so, yes, it's well over 12,000 individual votes now, thanks.

 

Which is the best coin? Links take you to photos of them all. Which is the best cache? Links take you to the cache page to read the description and more importantly, logs. It's the best we could do without magic & teleportation :)

 

(We can't vote for the UK entry in Eurovision but you're right, winning was never an option in the current climate.)

 

The National Geocaching Awards have now passed 1020 votes (12,300+ across the 24 categories) which we thought would mean we hit a monthly cap, but that's not happened, so keep going folks - they're your awards, after all! B)

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Latest update on the NGAs - Voting ends at midnight on June 30th!

 

Remember, you need to be a resident cacher of the UK, RoI, CIs or IoM to vote. One vote per cacher (or device, so if a caching couple, one use their phone, one the pc) and there's no need to vote in every category. Just pick the ones you've an opinion on :)

 

We're currently at 1,183 votes, or about 14,500 individual votes across the 24 categories. One of which was a dead heat when I last took a peek at the stats (without looking at names. No point in quizzing me - I don't have a poker face and don't trust myself not to give away anything I know - so I know nothing!)

So, if you don't think your vote counts, it really does at this scale!

 

To make a difference, please visit the SurveyMonkey voting page and help shape the future... of someone's evening anyway. We're not trying to change the world. We're patting backs for hiding great caches, writing great logs, uploading great pictures, running great social media stuff about caching, picking great cache names, making great cache pages, conceiving great cache series, etc etc etc.

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