Spring - Bustin' Out All Over!
For the first time in several years, there was no site-wide Springfest in early 2007 - but, if anything, there were MORE individual world festivals than ever! This edition will summarize major celebrations occurring in nearly every world since our last edition on February 1, and at times the tourist traffic thundered and the CommPanel nearly collapsed!
For every festival and celebration, there are many people who do not perhaps get their names up in lights, but who did the research, designed the graphics, coordinated the timing, and created the links so that we could enjoy a 'visit' to their worlds. To all those volunteers, and the scribes who usually end up doing some major heavy lifting, our thanks and appreciation. Most of the spring festivals were member-driven and, as always, that is the best sign of a healthy community. Congratulations to all!
The "Best Places" Awards
It's been too long since our last "Best Places" site-wide contest, but this year, like spring flowers, beauty is popping up all over. In the two months during which any citizen could nominate a 'hood as one of AW's "Best Places," the nominations showed an amazing range of design, content, and humble and fancy residences that are breathtaking. Take a moment to honor the infinite amount of work our citizens have done to have created so many individual, exciting 'hoods! Beautiful winner plaques were created by Shanti Ashoka, and for those who did not actually win one of the top three site-wide prizes, but were still considered "extra special" achievements, Damon Harmodios designed individual world plaques extolling our "Special Places."
The winners, announced on April 2, delighted multiple nominees! as follows:
Celtia's Province of Meath - Gold Medal
North America: Ancient Pueblo Region - Silver Medal
Rome's Italia: City of Rome/Mons Aventinus - Bronze Medal
Plus, the judges were so pleased with ALL the nominations that they are all awarded the "Special Places" plaques for their various worlds, as there wasn't a weak nominee to be seen. Congratulations to all our AW places!
Welcome New Scribes!
Sometimes it happens. A scribe signs on in good faith, and then somewhere along the line, RL takes a hand and they must resign because life is eating up their spare time. Sometimes in the old days, the AW pool of talent was small enough that our worlds had to limp by until Changeover with only two scribes - or even one! Luckily, Germania and Orient were both able to field superb talent to replace Eirikr Knudsson (Germania) and the beloved Shanti Ashoka (who's served one and a half terms as an Orient powerhouse). Join us in welcoming Germania's new scribe, Freyja Scylding, and Orient's new talent, Feiyan Zhou.
