Awards Ceremony, 2007

Presented by Rear Admiral Jessa Anassasi Welcome to the Awards Ceremony for 2007. The Executive Council would like to thank all our members for a stellar year! It is through your creativity, enthusiasm, and hard work that we are able to continue to promote both quality writing and a quality leadership training program that develops and enhances the skills of our members to be used both within this club as well as the real world. For those of you who are with us for the first time, the Awards Ceremony is our community's way to thank our fellow members for all the effort they have put into this club during the last year. So without further adieu, let us recognize these individuals for their efforts. We begin this ceremony with the presentation of our Duty Post awards. The recipients are nominated by their peers, and voted on by a panel of judges. From Tactical to Counseling, each of these individuals sims exceptionally well for their assigned post: Captain Sisko Tactical Cross - Tactical Officer of the Year: Rode Mitchell (Discovery) Natasha Yar Pin - Security Officer of the Year: Tal Tel-ar (Constitution-B/Eagle) Pilot's Sextant - Helm Officer of the Year: Alex Swift (Challenger) Voyager Medallion - Operations Officer of the Year: Toni Turner (Challenger) Cochrane Award - Science Officer of the Year: Stephen Carmody (Ursa Major) Phoenix Award- Engineering Officer of the Year: Seph 647 (Constitution-B/Eagle) Prantares Ribbon - Medical Officer of the Year: Dr. Julia Harden (StarBase 118 Ops) Order of the Valiant Heart - Counseling Officer of the Year: Emirry MacGowan (Constitution-B/Eagle) Congratulations everyone! You are truly gifted writers and we hope that you will continue to inspire us during the coming year. Next I would like to recognize an outstanding writer within our club. Her enthusiasm for the written form is demonstrated in the many characters she sims for as well as by the short stories she continual composes for the bi-monthly Writing Challenge. It is only fitting therefore, that Lieutenant Commander Toni Turner is this year’s recipient of the Data Artistic Award, presented to those officers who has made a consistent effort to enter each of the challenges, even if their submissions were not picked as the winner, thus sticking with the challenge and always giving other something exciting to read. Congratulations, Ms. Turner! This year, we are pleased to present the Sarpedion Award to Seph 647 for his contributions to the Wiki. Congratulations! Our next aware is the Xalor Clan Xifilis Award. This award has a long history in our group. Originally named the Rachel Garrett award for the first female Captain of the USS Enterprise-C, this award was renamed in the 2377 ceremony to honor the memory of a respected simmer in UFOP: StarBase 118 who passed away that year. This award is given to any recipient who overcomes a serious, real life challenge while keeping up simming. This year's recipients are Lt. Reid and Lt. Satscher. We thank them for their dedication to this club and wish them a better year this year. Moving on to the Staff Awards, our next presentation is the James T. Kirk Cross. This award is presented to new Captains who show "out-standing potential" in the field of Command. This couldn’t be truer of Captain Idril Mar. Captain Mar works closely with her crew by providing coaching and suggestions to help them strive for Command. Around the fleet, she serves as one of the Forums Global Moderators, leading by example while keeping the boards a fun and exciting place to visit. The same must be true of the Ronin where sim rates are averaging more than 260 sims during the past three months. This all goes to show that Captain Mar is a perfect recipient of this year’s award. Congratulations Captain! We look forward to seeing what next year will bring for you! With our next award, we are pleased to be able to present the Strange Medallion once again to a small group of recipients. First presented in 1999, the Strange Medallion is awarded to the First officer(s) in our fleet who "perform above the call of duty." The recipients of this award have certainly done that. Of Lieutenant Commander Riley, her crew has this to say, "She has always been a guide and conscience, who despite her numerous hats, can still find time to sim daily and remind us all she is one of our best and brightest simmers as well as a leader." Of Commander Stone, her crew offers this insight, "She has been a cheerleader, a friend, a leader, and an inspiration to this crew when we needed it most." This year, we honor LtCmdr. Sidney Riley and LtCmdr. Cura Assanti-Stone for their dedication to their crews, their Captains, and this club. They are our rising stars and we look forward to seeing what they will accomplish in the years to come. Our next award is the Andorian Battle Star. The Battle Star is awarded to a Commanding Officer who demonstrates superior tactical ability in a combat situation. This year's recipient definitely fits that description. Along with other great names such as Admiral Kelly and Fleet Captain Hutton, Captain T'Pen now joins these ranks for her brevity and tactical ability during a recent sim that took place in the Romulan Neutral Zone. During the sim, the USS Challenger, along with a fleet of vessels, encountered a band of rogue Romulan war birds. With their back against a rock, and a Federation station in decaying orbit above a populated planet, Captain T'Pen ordered the destruction of her ship to save day. It is our pleasure to award Captain T'Pen the Andorian Battle Star. Congratulations Captain! In addition to this award, it is our pleasure to announce that Captain T'Pen has been invited to serve as Captain-At-Large on the Executive Council. We welcome his presence to the council and look forward to an another active year in the fleet. We recognize Captain Tyr Waltas next. During a recent sim, the USS Discovery traveled through time to a pivotal event in history. During the course of their mission, the Captain and crew conducted delicate negotiations with the Q continual all while attempting to stay within the boundaries and guidelines of the Temporal Prime Directive. The Federation Peace Medal is awarded to those who help foster respect, cooperation, and peace within the Federation and Starbase 118 Community. It is a pleasure to award this year's Federation Peace Medal to Captain Tyr Waltas. Congratulations, Captain. For the final award, to Fleet Admiral Wolf: "Today we acknowledge Vice Admiral Hollis with a long-overdue award: the Christopher Pike Pendant, a commendation which speaks to the candidate's strength as a quality Commanding Officer. Hollis has been a Captain for many years now, and writes on the vessel with the longest standing, continually used archive in the fleet: the USS Ursa Major. Throughout his time as the leader and facilitator of the Ursa Major, and previously the Kodiak, Hollis has made a name the fleet's pre-eminent storyweaver and plot creator. Similarly, he has been a strong presence among the staff, acting as a voice of reason and wisdom. While he will be stepping down from his duties on the Executive Council, he remains our group's second highest-ranking individual, and now the longest serving Captain in our group. Congratulations, Hollis." As we draw near to the conclusion of this year's ceremony, I would like to take this opportunity to promote one of our finest officers in the fleet: Captain Rocar. Captain Rocar has served this fleet first as Captain, then as the Captain's Council Magistrate, and most recently as Captain-At-Large. In addition to his Executive Council duties, Captain Rocar not only maintains an active site despite recent Real Life intrusions, but also serves on the Writing Challenge Team as a regular judge. For all his hard work and diligence in our group, it is my great pleasure to promote Rocar Drawoh to Fleet Captain and introduce him as our newest, full member of the Executive Council. We look forward his continual service in the years to come. This concludes the 2007 Awards Ceremony. We thank you all for your hard work and dedication to our club. We wish you all a wonderful 2008 and look forward to your participation in next year's Ceremony.