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Hey guys,

Voting for the Middle-earth Fanfiction Awards ended a few days ago, and I've told all the competing authors who received awards, what awards they received. You may have already seen blog posts or other notes from authors sharing their results. I'll be announcing the full results later tonight, but before we get there I did want to thank our many volunteers. People often thank me at the end of these awards, since I'm the one making the announcements and handing out good news to authors. But the MEFAs are really and truly a team effort, and I want to give a HEAR, HEAR! (hear what?) to some of our most invaluable volunteers.

First and foremost is Aranel Took. She wrote this year's website from scratch. She also handles a hundred routine technical things, helps members who have a hard time with the awards, and on top of that helps me sort through policy issues and generally keeps me sane. That last point alone is more than enough of a contribution to these awards *g*. I would be offering her miruvor and choco-lembas right about now if such things existed, but as reality is, my heartfelt thanks will have to suffice.

I'd also like to thank everyone who used our awards. I'm thinking specifically of reviewers, since as an author I've been enjoying reading all those reviews the last few days. But our nominators and authors are key, too, since there wouldn't be any stories to review without it. Thank you, all of you.

Other key volunteers:

1. The CATEGORIZERS helped sort all the nominations into the groups they would compete in, and even after that was over helped me work through issues that came up. Thanks to Elliska, Inkling, Dreamflower, and Linaewen. (I was also a categorizer.) They also all took on special projects, along with Tanaqui and Aranel.

2. Elliska served as our USER MANAGER. She's the one who sets up accounts for everyone, and who also checks to make sure they don't already have accounts under a different name.

3. Levade POSTED REVIEWS to LJ and an email listserv, so people could see them without logging in to our website. Thanks for all the effort!

3. The PROMOTERS made announcements about the MEFAs at other listservs and websites, helping to get the word out beyond our circle. Thanks to Branwyn, Cathleen, Dreamflower, Dwimordene, Ellie, Larner, Lissas Elves, and obsidian.

4. The AUTHOR LIAISONS worked with authors to get their stories ready to compete, which of course helped everyone use the website effectively. (Like being able to pull up all the stories set in Doriath, or the friendship fics? These volunteers make that possible.) Thanks to Adonnen Estenniel, Angelica, Dreamflower, Elliska, Fiondil, Foxrafer, Inkling, Linaewen, and Maethril.

5. BANNERS were made (and will still be customized) by our banner creators: Elena Tiriel, Elleth, Ellynn, Esteliel, Maethril, and Nath.

6. The RATINGS PANEL looked over stories where the author wasn't sure what rating to give them, or where readers thought the rating might be inappropriate. That meant reading stories, often quite long ones, and looking at them objectively to see whether they fit into our ratings scheme and where. Thanks to Maethril, NeumeIndil, Oshun, Sulriel, and The Lauderdale.

I am sure there are other people who helped out as well. If I have forgotten to mention you, that's only because you do your task so well I don't notice there's a problem. Whatever the capacity, I really appreciate everyone's help this year.

Marta
MEFA Admin.

I'd also like to add a big THANK YOU to the Beta Testers. There were quite a few people who braved the bits and pieces of the proto-site, and I'm very grateful for every little bit of help. I'd like to especially thank Dwimordene, Fiondil, and Inkling for their assistance.

Aranel

On 1/3/2012 8:48 PM, Aranel wrote:

>
> I'd also like to add a big THANK YOU to the Beta Testers. There were
> quite a few people who braved the bits and pieces of the proto-site,
> and I'm very grateful for every little bit of help. I'd like to
> especially thank Dwimordene, Fiondil, and Inkling for their assistance.
>
> Aranel
>

This is just what I meant about forgetting to mention people who did
their job a bit too well. A big thanks to them as well.

Marta




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

<<<--- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, "aure_enteluva" <marta.fandom@...> wrote:

>
> Hey guys,
>
> Voting for the Middle-earth Fanfiction Awards ended a few days ago, and I've told all the competing authors who received awards, what awards they received. You may have already seen blog posts or other notes from authors sharing their results. I'll be announcing the full results later tonight, but before we get there I did want to thank our many volunteers. People often thank me at the end of these awards, since I'm the one making the announcements and handing out good news to authors. But the MEFAs are really and truly a team effort, and I want to give a HEAR, HEAR! (hear what?) to some of our most invaluable volunteers.
>
> First and foremost is Aranel Took. She wrote this year's website from scratch. She also handles a hundred routine technical things, helps members who have a hard time with the awards, and on top of that helps me sort through policy issues and generally keeps me sane. That last point alone is more than enough of a contribution to these awards *g*. I would be offering her miruvor and choco-lembas right about now if such things existed, but as reality is, my heartfelt thanks will have to suffice.
>
> I'd also like to thank everyone who used our awards. I'm thinking specifically of reviewers, since as an author I've been enjoying reading all those reviews the last few days. But our nominators and authors are key, too, since there wouldn't be any stories to review without it. Thank you, all of you.
>
> Other key volunteers:
>
> 1. The CATEGORIZERS helped sort all the nominations into the groups they would compete in, and even after that was over helped me work through issues that came up. Thanks to Elliska, Inkling, Dreamflower, and Linaewen. (I was also a categorizer.) They also all took on special projects, along with Tanaqui and Aranel.
>
> 2. Elliska served as our USER MANAGER. She's the one who sets up accounts for everyone, and who also checks to make sure they don't already have accounts under a different name.
>
> 3. Levade POSTED REVIEWS to LJ and an email listserv, so people could see them without logging in to our website. Thanks for all the effort!
>
> 3. The PROMOTERS made announcements about the MEFAs at other listservs and websites, helping to get the word out beyond our circle. Thanks to Branwyn, Cathleen, Dreamflower, Dwimordene, Ellie, Larner, Lissas Elves, and obsidian.
>
> 4. The AUTHOR LIAISONS worked with authors to get their stories ready to compete, which of course helped everyone use the website effectively. (Like being able to pull up all the stories set in Doriath, or the friendship fics? These volunteers make that possible.) Thanks to Adonnen Estenniel, Angelica, Dreamflower, Elliska, Fiondil, Foxrafer, Inkling, Linaewen, and Maethril.
>
> 5. BANNERS were made (and will still be customized) by our banner creators: Elena Tiriel, Elleth, Ellynn, Esteliel, Maethril, and Nath.
>
> 6. The RATINGS PANEL looked over stories where the author wasn't sure what rating to give them, or where readers thought the rating might be inappropriate. That meant reading stories, often quite long ones, and looking at them objectively to see whether they fit into our ratings scheme and where. Thanks to Maethril, NeumeIndil, Oshun, Sulriel, and The Lauderdale.
>
> I am sure there are other people who helped out as well. If I have forgotten to mention you, that's only because you do your task so well I don't notice there's a problem. Whatever the capacity, I really appreciate everyone's help this year.
>
> Marta
> MEFA Admin.
>>>>

I was trying to list all the wonderful and talented people who helped put the 2011 MEFAs together, and my computer lost the post. So I'll say a broad THANK YOU to everyone; and raise a glass of proper 1420 for pulling off a complex operation in great form!

And I wanted to thank everyone who was able to do what I couldn't this year, and
read most of the stories and commented on them. With new bosses and schedules,
I've been much restricted this year. It was a pleasure to take part in the
awards in 2011.
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large

"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends." LOTR

"Don't go where I can't follow."