The 2021 Defender Awards | The Award Ceremony

by **The Glorious Hypetrain** » Mon Nov 01, 2021 7:38 am

Welcome to the Fourteenth Annual Defender Awards!

Another year has passed us by and with it came new tales of herculean efforts and legendary deeds. The Defender Awards serve as a yearly celebration of the defender cause and its heroes. The Defender Awards date back fourteen years when their longtime host, The Founderless Regions Alliance, first introduced them. All members of the NationStates community are welcome to take part in one of its greatest traditions in recognizing the nations most committed to keeping free regions free. I'm your host, Kade Vasentius of The Union of Democratic States.

The Voting Process

The UDS forum is hosting an easy-to-use form to submit your vote https://forum.theuds.org/index.php?form/the-fourteenth-annual-defender-awards-ballot.18/select . All registered accounts should be able to access it. Please telegram me or phoenix_coalition if you have problems with the site.

If off-site participation is an issue for you, please telegram me your votes using the ballot below and I will ensure it is counted.

This thread will serve as the announcement hub for the awards. In the voting stage, votes will be accepted via telegram to The Glorious Hypetrain as is the norm or via the UDS forum.

The Ballot

Defender of the Year
- Tim
- Grea Kriopia
- Luca
- Quebec

The Ananke Award
- Sulenia
- New Makasta
- Kanta Hame

The Anarchotopia Award
- The Grey Wardens
- League Defense Force
- Ten Thousand Islands Treaty Organization (TITO)
The Blackbird Award
- Lone Wolves United
- Lily
- The Onionists
- Plastic Plant in the Corner of Max Barry's Office

Sir Lans Award
- Luca
- Haku
- Sulenia
- Grea Kriopia
- New Makasta

Operation of the Year
- Chaylia
- Operation Choppy Waters
- Genua, May 15 2021
- Trovons

The Best Newcomer Award
- League Defense Force
- New Makasta
- Moonfungus
- Luca
- Salem
- Quebecshire

The Worst Invasion/Operation Award
- Whatever Greater Cesnia did // Union of Rightwing Nations
- Equestria

Quote of the Year
- [9:38 AM] DYP: I end up in the history channel looking for people I know, typical
[9:41 AM] björk, not work:
[10:15 AM] Kanta Häme: why to read history when could make it
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... nknown.png

- [TGW] Tim — 05/17/2021
10 detags??? wtf y’all we need to ration those

- [TGW/UDSAF] moe — 06/29/2021
tim do you work at olive garden
Salem — 07/27/2021
benevolent thomas tomato sandwich asmr

- Nakari — 09/29/2021
safe switching only has a 99% chance of protection - the most responsible method is abstinence

- "Cope and Seethe"

- [9:03 PM] [TITO] Kanta Häme: Frat loves everyone
[9:03 PM] [TITO] Kanta Häme: correct term is EVEN you
[9:05 PM] [FRA/SPSF] W&S: the question is does he outwardly express it to you
[9:05 PM] [FRA/SPSF] W&S: if he does that, then you've truly made it
[9:09 PM] [TGW/Val] Benevolent Thomas: Fratt expressed it publicly in a room full of the most respectable players in NationStates.
[9:10 PM] [TGW/Val] Benevolent Thomas: and Guy

- [6:08 PM] [TGW] Sir Merlin: just got home too
[6:09 PM] [TGW] Haku: hey it's crystal falls
[6:09 PM] [TGW] Haku: actually they might be done
[6:09 PM] [TGW] Sir Merlin: fuck off
[6:09 PM] [FRA/SPSF] W&S: i think they might be out of puppets
[6:09 PM] Luca: To be fair, it *has* been ten minutes.

- [7:09 PM] [THA/EPSA] Andy: Quebec is packing
[7:09 PM] [THA/EPSA] Andy: i promise there's VC context
- [2:39 PM] [UDSAF/FNDA] the python: [challenges Luca’s catgirl nation]
[2:39 PM] [UDSAF/FNDA] the python: [flawless victory]
[2:39 PM] [RRA] Jamie: ikathink:
[2:40 PM] [TGW/SPSF] Luca: I truly have never been more devastated by a thirteen year old boy
- [TGW] Luca — Today at 11:34 PM
Oatmeal raisin is what you grab on your way to the shuffleboard game or on your way back the physical therapy for your hip replacement.

The Lifetime Achievement Award for Dedication to Defending
- Deadeye Jack
- Tim
- Numero Captain (NuCa)
- Kanta Hame
- Dyr Nasad

The Meltdown of the Year
- Cormac
- Union of Rightwing Nations
- Sedge & CG in the TRR mute button thread

The Numero Captain
- Numero Captain (NuCa)
- Tim

The Belgium Award
- Moonfungus
- HumanSanity
- Grea Kriopia
- The Partnership for Sovereignty

The Worst Invader Group
- Holor
- Incan Empire
- TBH
- Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army

The Karputsk Award
- Quebechsire
- Tim
- HumanSanity
- Luca
- Grea Kriopia

The Eluvatar Award
Luca

The Best Defender Mentor
- Jack
- Benevolent Thomas
- Grea Kriopia
- Kanta Hame
- Frattastan

Click this spoiler for the previous announcement about the defender awards

by **Grea Kriopia** » Mon Nov 01, 2021 8:04 am

So exciting, thanks for agreeing to host Kade!

by **The Noble Thatcherites** » Mon Nov 01, 2021 9:21 pm

Kade is officially the GOAT

by **Quebecshire** » Mon Nov 01, 2021 9:53 pm

Huge thanks to Kade and the UDS for hosting this for us! Looking forward to seeing people get some well-deserved awards!

by **Sandaoguo** » Tue Nov 02, 2021 6:59 am

So I have until next Monday to deliver a meltdown so intense and epic that I can finally win one of these GP awards :]

by **The Glorious Hypetrain** » Tue Nov 02, 2021 12:48 pm

Sandaoguo wrote:So I have until next Monday to deliver a meltdown so intense and epic that I can finally win one of these GP awards :]

That's the spirit

Thanks to GK, Thatch, and Quebec! Exciting to host this time around

by **Emodea** » Wed Nov 03, 2021 12:36 am

Sandaoguo wrote:So I have until next Monday to deliver a meltdown so intense and epic that I can finally win one of these GP awards :]

We believe in you, Glen

by **WayNeacTia** » Wed Nov 03, 2021 4:44 am

Sandaoguo wrote:So I have until next Monday to deliver a meltdown so intense and epic that I can finally win one of these GP awards :]

Tough competition this year. May want to wait until next year.

by **The Glorious Hypetrain** » Wed Nov 03, 2021 9:09 pm

As a reminder - nominations are open through 2021-11-08. Please send nominations to my TG inbox or https://forum.theuds.org/index.php?thre ... koff.1072/

by **Tim** » Sat Nov 06, 2021 12:00 am

Looking like it’s gonna be a great contest this year!

by **Witchcraft and Sorcery** » Sat Nov 06, 2021 10:56 am

Very exciting! Finally got around to posting my massive quote dump

hope yall enjoy

by **The Glorious Hypetrain** » Sat Nov 06, 2021 4:51 pm

As a reminder - all nominations and seconds are due by Monday, 8 November. Happy to take them on the UDS forum, by telegram to this nation~~, or even carrier pidgeon if that floats your boat~~.

by **The Glorious Hypetrain** » Wed Nov 10, 2021 8:47 am

Apologies for the doublepost, but the ballot is now up in the main post! viewtopic.php?f=12&t=511749&p=39104952#p39104952

by **HumanSanity** » Wed Nov 10, 2021 10:23 am

Thanks to Kade for hosting! It's been an exciting year for defending, and the diversity of people and organizations on this ballot and depth of all of their contributions reflects that.

by **Ikania** » Wed Nov 10, 2021 1:03 pm

I request credit for the image of Kanta's quote

Very thrilled to fill out my ballot, can't remember if I've voted in this before.

by **Tim** » Fri Nov 12, 2021 11:41 pm

Not even gonna deny it, I’m shamelessly bumping this.

Lots of people haven’t voted yet, I bet, and it’d he a shame for it to slip to Page 2.

Go vote folks!

by **The Glorious Hypetrain** » Mon Nov 15, 2021 8:30 am

You've got until this Friday to vote! You can do so via telegram to me or at https://forum.theuds.org/index.php?form ... .18/select

Thanks to the 30+ people who have voted so far!

by **The Glorious Hypetrain** » Thu Nov 18, 2021 9:19 am

This is your last call for votes! Please telegram to me or send via the UDS Form. Results to come probably Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

by **Great Algerstonia** » Fri Nov 19, 2021 9:32 pm

The Glorious Hypetrain wrote:This is your last call for votes! Please telegram to me or send via the UDS Form. Results to come probably Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

Call? How did you get my number

by **The Glorious Hypetrain** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 3:32 pm

The Results of The Fourteenth Annual Defender Awards!

Thank you everyone for another wonderful year of this delightful little slice of hell we call NationStates Gameplay. The Defender Awards serve as an opportunity to reflect on the past year while recognizing those who played a large role in getting us where we are today. I am pleased to say that the nominees, voters and winners of this year's awards are a reflection of the diversity of the defender faction of NationStates. No one nation nor group swept the board this year and no defender has been wrongly denied their moment in the spotlight. Thank you everyone for participating this year in good faith. And without further ado... The Awards!

Defender of the Year Award
The nation who has helped the defender cause the most in the last year.
There are many ways in which one can contribute to the defender cause. The other awards will highlight each area where one can make a difference for the betterment of NationStates, but this award is reserved for the defender deemed above the rest in total contribution to the cause. This user's contributions in the last year have gone above and beyond in their unending efforts to maintain defender narratives, publicize and market defender successes, and bridge FA connections between defenders and indies/others. Another community member remarked "he can pull updaters out of his ass like those weird magicians can pull that colored rope out of their mouths" and boy does it hold true. We'd like to recognize the master of hype himself, Tim as this year's winner!

The Ananke Award
The nation who is the most effective at looking out for any invasions that are taking place.
The most traditional way one participates in the defense of another region is by moving their World Assembly Nation in order to repel invading forces. But how do we know where and when our nations are needed? The Ananke Award highlights individual achievement in the realm of spotting and reporting invasions in progress. Those nominated have scanned the world countless times over the past year, searching for and snuffing out suspicious activity. It is on their eyes and instincts that we deploy and all would be lost without them. But would you believe that one of the best has done all of this from mobile? We'd like to congratulate Sulenia with this year's award.

The Anarchotopia Award
The organization which has proved the most successful in preventing invasions.
Anarchotopia is unique in that it is awarded to a organization rather than a specific individual. Every member of said organization can take pride in the fact that they played a role in winning this award with the knowledge that they've had a positive impact on NationStates in the time they've played it. The Grey Wardens are this year's winners.Their incredible ability to turn out over 50% of the active defenders in Libcord over any given week is nothing to sneeze at. Included among the wardens are arguably the fastest players on NS, which have made conventional raiding all but impossible. Keep up the good fight.

The Blackbird Award
The best invader group.
The Blackbird Award was created to recognize the Invader group we deemed the best at what they do. It’s tough to reward a region for destroying communities, as it stands counter to everything we believe in, but I believe it is a very important award as it gives us an opportunity to pay a bit of respect to those we share this game with. This award also serves as a way for defender regions to signal to one another, and to those abroad, which invader group is currently the most dangerous and should have more eyes kept on them. This year's nominees saw a few perennial powerhouses along with a brilliant flash in the pan and another region that is somewhere in-between. This year's winners have proven time and time again that they can negatively impact a massive amount of regions all at once, should they choose, leaving us all on the edge of our seats. With out a doubt, we are talking about the Plastic Plant in the Corner of Max Barry's Office!

(If the plastic plant is unable to accept their award, we'd like to congratulate Lily for being our runner up for this year's Blackbird Award)

Sir Lans Award
Updater of the Year
The most traditional way one can contribute to the defender cause is by using their World Assembly nation to protect vulnerable regions from invasions. This can be done at any point throughout the day or night, but it is at its most effective during the two daily updates on NationStates. Players nominated for this award are renowned for their consistent presence during these updates. They make the most of their WA nations, and, as a consequence, defend more regions than all others. Their contributions to the R/D game have certainly not been negligible, and I'm talking about Luca! They've been simply wonderful ever since they started defending, providing vital behind-the-scenes support to major operations and being arguably the fastest R/Der playing right now. Plus, they've got the art of triggering down to a tee.

The Operation of the Year
Winners of the operation of the year feature defenders at our best, exceeding expectations and wowing the world in the process. This nominee barely made the cutoff for this year's awards. But if you had to pick just one operation to go in the history books, you'd be hard pressed to find a dissenter for Trovons! Confidently overcoming a force of 95 raiders with 115 liberators and native aid marked a high point for operational success this year.

The Best Newcomer Award
This award has been given to both individuals and groups and is quite self-explanatory. A nation or region who newly takes up arms in the defender cause and quickly rises and establishes themselves as a leader within the movement. We’re tempted to treat it as a baby Sir Lans Award, but the nominees this year represent the potential this award was created to recognize. Ever since making their return to Libcord early on this year, they've been a constant force in updates, providing crucial support and leadership in countless operations. You can always bet on having at least one of them attending update, and community members state it's fair to say that 2021 has been their year. It's none other than The League Defense Force!

The Worst Invasion/Operation Award
Welcome to the other side of the Operation of the Year Coin! Nominees for this award are the most memorable defending operations of the year for all of the wrong reasons. This could be due to defender incompetence or invader excellence. From faction in-fighting to 3 failed raid attempts, Union of Rightwing Nations wins this year's award.
tl;dr "Get your foreign affairs house in order before fucking with other peoples' regions under dubious pretenses"

The Best Defender Quote
Sometimes the defender sphere achieves comedy, and this year's winner is no exception.
Nakari — 09/29/2021
safe switching only has a 99% chance of protection - the most responsible method is abstinence

The Lifetime Achievement Award for Dedication to Defending
This is the big one. Each year, one defender is chosen to join the most exclusive group in NationStates. This award recognizes individuals for their cumulative contribution to defending throughout the time they’ve been on NationStates. The legacies of each recipient of this award have stood the test of time and will continue to be felt in our world until it comes to an end. To be nominated for this award means that you are in the “Greatest of All Time” conversation and is a high honor itself. Incorporating everything stated earlier about this winner, we'd like to invite Tim to join the Lifetime Achievement circle!

The Meltdown of the Year
I’m at a bit of a loss as to how to describe this award. I guess I’d say it’s a snapshot of a less-than graceful moment in the past year that we all recognize as one that could have been handled better. I'm also at further loss to describe just how this year's winner got here, so to quote: "[a] toddler tantrum-esque deliberate attempt to get banned from the site" it's none other than Cormac.

The Numero Capitan
The nation who has best served the Intelligence cause.
One way a defender can contribute to the cause is by gathering and sharing intelligence gained on invaders and their plans. Formerly known as “The Dipes Award”, the Numero Capitan recognizes the outstanding intelligence contributions made by an individual over the past year. Most operatives will never have their efforts be brought to light, so this can be a tricky award to give out. Occasionally, word about such an operation becomes public. Normally, this means the operation was a failure, but every now and then it spells the final act of a job well done. We'd like to congratulate Numero Capitanwith this year's award.

The Belgium Award
The nation/region that furthered our cause in the World Assembly Security Council the most.
The World Assembly Security Council has a very important role to play in gameplay. It can be used to Commend a defender, showcasing them as an international example to be followed. It can be used to Condemn invaders, dissuading some from following in their footsteps. Most importantly, it can be used to remove an invader imposed password on a founderless region. Named after a famously invaded and then Security Council liberated region, The Belgium Award is given to those who have excelled in the WASC. This year's winner is not just a person, but the powerhouse security council bloc The Partnership for Sovereignty!

The Worst Invader Group
If you’re nominated for this award, you know what’s up. For one reason or another, you’ve been deemed ineffective at invading. There’s a variety of ways an organization can end up as a nominee for this award, but at the end of the day, you’re not living up to your potential. Or, maybe, defenders are just being petty. Anyway, this year’s winner will likely take you by surprise... The Black Hawks are back (to claim their prize).

The Karputsk Award
The nation who has excelled in leading liberations.
If defenders were initially unsuccessful in defending a region, an invading force can then occupy a region. Unseating an occupying force for the benefit of its native population is known as liberating. There are many moving parts of a successful liberation attempt and taking on an aware, reinforced delegate is one of the most daunting tasks a defender can undergo. One has to wrangle the forces necessary to topple the invader delegate. They then have to direct everyone to jump into the occupied region at the same time and have them either endorsing a native nation or a defender. Timing this jump exactly right is crucial. If all of these things go right, you’ve saved a region from destruction. This award, named after this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner, is given to those who have excelled at the noble art of liberating. Each nominee have had their heroic moments in the sun this year, but none shined brighter than Luca! Luca has been at the forefront of nearly every major operation this year and has not gone un-noticed.

The Eluvatar Award
For best tech contributions.
The final path to excellent defending that we’ll be covering tonight is one that has gotten increasingly important as time’s gone on. This award is named after a defender turned site-staff member whose coding work has been making everyone’s lives both easier and more difficult interchangeably. You love them when their tech works, but you quickly realize how much life sucks when it inexplicably stops working. Our dependency on coders has never been higher and NationStates is creating them at a greater rate than the myth that video-game developers make worthwhile salaries. If you didn’t know why people constantly ping Roavin, Haku and Kortexia on Discord before, you do now. They are the code-dealers of our faction and you already need another fix, you junkies. This year's coder-supreme has been found in Luca!

The Best Defender Mentor
Back from the grave this year is The Best Defender Mentor award. The mentor award gives us a way to show thanks towards those players who developed us into the defenders and gameplayers we are today.

It is a rule at these awards that Benevolent Thomas must receive an award in some way of fashion or he will go ballistic. This year is no exception as they are the recipient of the Best Defender Mentor award! From having founded The Grey Wardens to a list of accomplishments so long I'll just link you to it https://www.nationstates.net/page=WA_pa ... /council=2, BT has left an impact on nearly everyone in the defender sphere and his many mentees.

I'd like to give a great many thanks to the 40+ participants of this year's awards. From nominations to voting, your input has been greatly appreciated. I can't wait to see what next year's awards will bring us.

..kade

by **Minskiev** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 3:36 pm

Lovely. Thanks for hosting this, UDS!

by **Grea Kriopia** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 3:39 pm

Congrats all, what a fantastic year for everyone!

by **Great Algerstonia** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:13 pm

These awards were rigged and I do not recognize the legitimacy of the winners

by **The Noble Thatcherites** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:35 pm

Well done, Kade! Congrats to all leaving with awards!

by **Queen Yuno** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:49 pm

The Noble Thatcherites wrote:Well done, Kade! Congrats to all leaving with awards!

I agree, congrats on winning!

The 2021 Defender Awards | The Award Ceremony

The 2021 Defender Awards | The Award Ceremony

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