EDIT: This is now old information: see the last post for the results of SSA 2005.
It's that time of year again, folks. The Sonic Stadium, an affiliate of Sonic HQ, is holding...
The Sonic Site Awards 2005
(More Detailed Information)
Results
Up until the 2004 awards HQ was nominated quite often, but now is part of the Sonic Elite Awards division of this event. It's still never won though, so if you want to show your support, now's the time. ^_^
Site nominations begin Friday 15th July, so bear this date in mind if you have a site or a piece to nominate - the categories are varied, including Best Sonic Remix of the Year and also Best Fangame, so it isn't strictly a site-pimping event.
[END ANNOUNCEMENT]
How do we nominate a site? I know what I'd put for fangames."
Site nominations haven't started yet.
Graaaaaaaah this is making me feel bad for not having a site to be voted on there anymore, even though I should just look cool by pretending not to care. *goes to do that*
*laughs* Maaannn, I haven't seen an awards site type thing in what seems ages. Totally reminds me of the olden days when "Rings" or whatever they were called were the thing to do on interwebs.
Totally keeping my eye on this. 😛
Nominations begin today, folks. What will you be nominating?
On the subject of best Sonic Remix for the Year, which do you think was the standout piece in the past year?
I like the whole "Small sites only" rule, however, as I never visit anything smaller than the MoFo or GHZ, I wont bother wasting their time with nominations, but I'll be sure to vote when the time comes.
EDIT: Nominations are now closed. =/
To vote, you need a TSS account though - voting has been abused like mad in previous years, so this prevents it from being (as much of) a popularity contest.
(Yargh, nominated HQ in the Elite Section I did. n_N)
That was nice of you. 🙂
How nice of you all not to care. 😛
NEVERTHELESS, I SHALL DO MY SELF-ENDOWED DUTY AND BRING THE RESULTS TO YOU! :O
Full roundup of winners
Funniest Sonic Site: Sonic Wrecks
Information Station: The Sonic World
Evolving Forum: Mystic Forums and Sonic Vegemite MB
Sonic News Award: The GHZ
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Most Impressive Layout: SonicVerse Team
Most Evolved Site: Sonic Yoda and Sonic the Hedgehog Information Treasury
Best Webmastering Effort: Shadow Master
Worth It Award: Knuckles Chaotix - The Unofficial Homepage
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Best SAGE Booth: Sonic and Mario
SFGHQ Fangame Tutorial: Dark Sonic Ultimate Tutorial
Fangame of the Year: Chaos Control
Fangame Developer: Sonic Vegemite
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Artist of the Year: JK Whitaker
Sonic Hoaxer: Space Tails
Fan Fiction Writer: Hogfather
Hand Drawn Comic: Sonic Adventure 2 Fan Comic
Sprite Comic: Sonic Wrecks
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MIDI Composition: John Weeks
Sonic MP3 Remix: Memories Frozen In Time
Fan Music Video: Emerald Generations
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Most Dedicated SSMB Roleplay: "The Sonic Stadium"
Biggest SSMB Event: 1 Millionth Hit
Best SSMB Skin: Shadow the Hedgehog Edition
Best SSMB Discussion Topic: Shadow the Hedgehog Topic
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Best Established Sonic Website: Shadow of a Hedgehog
Biggest Contribution to the Community: Sonic CulT
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Sonic Site Award of 2005: Sonic Vegemite and Sonic Wrecks
So, there you have it, you apathetic gits. 😛
So, there you have it, you apathetic gits. 😛
Should we be excited that a bunch of sites we may or may not visit have been awarded a sentance of bold text?
SOMEONE CLOSE AND LOCK THIS THIS IS A POPULARITY POST I AM OUTRAGED WHY ARENT I IN IT
SSMB?
Super Smash Mrothers Belee?
Space Station Manned Base?
MY LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF THESE ACRONYMS GREATLY OFFENDS ME.
Some Stupid Message Board...
Sonic Stadium Message Board, actually. 😛
(This topic makes me wonder - when exactly did SHQ become so disconnected from the rest of the Sonic fansites out there, and why? o_o)
Sonic News Award: The GHZ
Yay, we won something, what an honour, etc. We should have got Funniest Site, though, if not for the Forum banter alone.
And as for why we didn't win anything...I'd place my guess on the fact that SHQ has been embarrasingly unfinished since it was first made. I'm not attempting to sound spiteful, because I love you guys, but it's the truth. There's a billion and one sites out there with a game database and Archie scans. To stand out, you need to do something fresh and interesting which, as of me last checking, SHQ has unfortunately thus far faild at.
Boss Velotix, your avatar looks like this guy.
And also, what Velotix said; how come SHQ isn't on any of these award lists? o.o
See above, dude. See above.
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when exactly did SHQ become so disconnected from the rest of the Sonic fansites out there, and why?
Personally, it's not so much that we got disconnected from the fansites as we were never connected with those fansites to begin with. Those sites grew on their own.
SHQ still gets its usual traffic. I still also get my usual amount of emails with a major spike during the annual April Fools Day prank. ;p
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There's a billion and one sites out there with a game database and Archie scans.
Game database: Yes. Archie scans: No. If there's one thing I know Sonic HQ has on other sites within the community, it's the Archie comics section. Having scans for 10 or so issues isn't the same as having scans for nearly 200 issues combined with the other information. You won't find another website with the detailed info Sonic HQ has on that front. If there's one reason for the continued traffic to the site, it's definitely coming from the Archie fans who let me hear it whenever I skip a couple of months in terms of updating it. ;p
Well I'm quite glad SVT managed to pull off the best layout award, I am kind of depressed that I didn't get the best fan fic writer, but I am glad I finally got nominated this year for the award.
As for my opinion on SHQ, yeah some of the staffers, me included, kind of tend to laze off and disappear for times on end and then come back. ^.^' I do plan on finishing Sonic X eventually, right now though full time job + full time college studne = not enough free time for the Ron.
How can you have a full time job and a full time college course? Do you time travel?
I completely miss the fact there's a site to this place, the only thing I have to do with the site, is to occasionally (I'm talking once in two months) check the news. Apart from that, I completely ignore everything else. I think the site needs some changes, for people to bother to look around the site, it's best not to have everything hiding RIGHT at the top, I suggest you make the font bigger or move the menu to the side. But then again, I'm not running the place, 'twas only a suggestion =X
Sonic HQ is the best place for information about the Archie Sonic comics. It should be expanded to cover the other comics too, there have been a lot.
Last I looked, the games section was a little out of date.
Mind you, that was some months ago.
You're not seeing the work other ppl have been doing on the comics front. The covering "other" comics stuff has actually been the main addition of 2005 to the site. ;p
And the games probably will stay that way as long as I don't play them and Vec is too busy working with the new board to handle it. Most of the games work in terms of responsibility has been on revamping the old archives--not adding the "latest" games.
I take 12 credit hours worth of classes (4 classes) which counts as the minimal as full time student. And then I work on average 38 hours a week, with the majority of the time racking up ont he weekends, I work 5 days a week. ^^'
Clarification! 
The SSA used to allow the established Sonic sites (like CulT, HQ, GHZ, etc.) to be eligible for all the awards but they ended up hogging them all. SHQ itself was therefore only eligible for the Best Established Sonic Website award anyway.
I often hear Sonic HQ being used as a benchmark for other sites to exceed - though less and less frequently as time goes on. It's like HQ more and more wants to just do its own thing. The site itself is practically a ghost town now - the only thing keeping it going is this board. :/
I remeber you spoke of the restrictions earlier, BV. ^_~
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I often hear Sonic HQ being used as a benchmark for other sites to exceed - though less and less frequently as time goes on.
Thank goodness. I got sick of that a long time ago.
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It's like HQ more and more wants to just do its own thing.
Umm, it always has. Every site does. o_O
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The site itself is practically a ghost town now - the only thing keeping it going is this board. :/
Then why does the site still get hundreds of hits a day? Don't say it's the board because most everyone that visits the board has it bookmarked and does not visit the website. The site, despite its horrible pop-up ads, is far from a dead site. It gets plenty of visitors who check/submit news, questions, and look to it for information on different subjects. The site is fine. Remember, Sonic HQ has two completely different sets of visitors: Website visitors that don't post at the board and MB visitors that for the most part ignore the website. It's been that way forever. ;p
Anyway, you're putting a lot into a contest. ^_~
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Then why does the site still get hundreds of hits a day?
Like you mentioned, I'm guessing the things keeping it afloat are its reputation, the Archie comic section, and the Q&A section, as well as new people looking at the information for the first time. Frankly, I haven't visited the site itself in months, so I wouldn't know for certain.
A suggestion, though: although SHQ does have a news section, it's very well-hidden: you have to actively look for it. Perhaps bringing that into the spotlight would help a little?
The site's not dead, no, but it's not exactly going anywhere fast either. It's like it's stuck in first gear pulling out of a muddy driveway. Not that it bothers me, just saying.
I'M just suprised by the results.
