Golden Apple Awards 2016

In the Golden Apple Awards 2016 there were only small tweaks to the overall structure; the main thing that changed majorly was the jury. Only roope (head juror) and Markku continued from last year, and adi, Ruben and Sla joined as newcomers to the jury. The Team category was removed, as there was not enough significant team activity during 2016. The dedicated GAA site by ville_j was again used for voting, and as in the preceding GAA, everyone could vote in the last phase. This time there were enough voters so jurors' votes were counted as part of the community and didn't have any more weight (see the last addition to fifth step).

The show was held on IRCnet #gaa on February 19th 2017, at 20:00 EET. The GAA period was from January 1st 2016 to December 31st 2016.

Winners

The following is a list of GAA winners for 2016.

#	Category	Winner
1.	Internalist	Spef
2.	Externalist	adi
3.	Battler	Zero
4.	Designer	kuchitsu
5.	Breakthrough	Sla
6.	WR	Zig-Zag 52.73 by Spef (#385)
7.	Style	Tre547zerDONE.rec by Zero http://www.recsource.tv/r/wtdnziqhjb
8.	Replay	VOU004adiJES.rec by adi http://www.recsource.tv/r/bgtivuheoc
9.	Saveload	SL51Mad3291.rec by Madness http://www.recsource.tv/r/kacwzdfxmv
10.	Level	SkypeC05 by Ramone and Zero
11.	Contest	World Battle Cup II by niN
12.	Art	World Cup 6 movie by iCS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42N-wl5znQ0
13.	Contribution	nick-o-matic for organizing FEM and making an awesome femquiz once again
14.	Achievement	adi for finishing 2593 pipe levels in one month
15.	Juror's Choice	(not awarded; see the speech below)
#	Category	Winner

Speeches

Note that the categories were actually presented slightly out of order in the final show: Replay was followed by Art and Contest, after which the show continued normally with Saveload.

1. Internalist, Spef
-

2. Externalist, adi:
adivanced: Thanks!
I still enjoy battling and even internaling occasionally. However, externals are closest to my heart.
Last year was crazy.
I probably ended up piping even more than in 2008, thanks to mawpi project in the spring/summer and pipe stats later in the autumn.

3. Battler, Zero:
roopemies: and now we have Zero in the house, do you have anything to say regarding your Battler win?
Zerodat: so
I really want to thank you all
I think battles are a extremely meaningful to this scene
they are what keeps it active and so accessible for all of us
and I'm just glad to be a part of it
last year was full of memorable and enjoyable battles and I want to thank the designers who took the time to create the levels
and all the players as well. We shared many interesting moments :)
also. grats kuchi for winning GAA
i love your battle levels
always nice to play :)
thanks again.
i'm done
adivanced: Well said! We really need to keep the battle scene alive.

4. Designer, kuchitsu:
kuchitsu: Thanks a lot people!
I'm quite satisfied with what I've been making this year myself. Cool to know that other people like my stuff too.
I just want to say that it's totally you guys who made this award possible.
I enjoy making levels too of course.
But the biggest joy is sharing them with others.
It's always a pleasure to see other people play my levs, maybe rage at them :D, get inspired by them, etc.
And also I want to say that I'm very pleased with the design scene at the moment.
We still have people developing new tools, coming up with fresh ideas, etc.
And looks like we have a lot of cool stuff to look forward to in the future.
So I'm very optimistic at the moment. :)
And, finally, if you aren't making many levels, I really suggest that you try it once in a while.
As I said it's a great pleasure, and it is also probably the best and the easiest way to keep the scene going.
So thanks again and let's see what the future will give us!
I'm done. :)

5. Breakthrough, Sla
Sla_Alan: hey coal!
8>
Thanks you so much to all who voted me!
Ill write something then
Internals are the best levels ever, after 15 years we keep discovering new styles again and again. Many of them are really crazy and i managed to do some of them and i just didnt know i had the skill to reach such tt. After some years of absence,
i wanted to go for 37tt, it sounded very cool to reach it. Then after some improves on old personal records, i quickly got close to the legandary 36mins club, teh impsy.
I dont know why, but reaching this tt was very easy (and fun), surprisingly.
Then, the total impossible thing came, a WR. I never thought this could be possible for a player like me. Having a WR (present or past) is one of the most awesome things i live/d with Elma.
Checking the Wr Table and looking at my nick there, feels so weird, like if i was dreaming. I woke up several times and said "Wow, really? I have a WR O:"
And its awesome to have it! Thats all 8>

6. WR, Spef
adivanced: probably no speech this time either
roopemies: congrats, too bad Spef hasn't really been up for speeches the last few years(
Ze_Rubenator: his driving says it all

7. Style, Zero
Zerodat: Thanks :D
I'm very glad about this
This level was just amazing
Ramone was quite upset when he started it as a battle since he noticed its potential
this could have been a great pack or cup level
but in the end it definitely got some recognition :)
I think there were 4 different routes that you could drive a good time with
and I had a great time hoyling and perfecting them
thanks for voting!
done.

8. Replay, adi
adivanced: I'm actually very proud of this level. I created it in order to improve mans head first piping skills.
After all I ended up hoyling it myself.
Done.

9. Saveload, Madness
-

10. Level, Ramone and Zero
Zerodat: wow!
Zerodat: I think it's safe to say that we have never spent as much time making a single level than we did making SkypeC05
RamoneIRC: Zeros idea to make lev. He gets the credit imo. I just added some vertices here and there.
Zerodat: Lmao
Zerodat: Not true Ramone and you know it :D
RamoneIRC: No, but really. We spent shitload of time on that level. Sending back and forth and backl and forth, testing to death, and giving feedback and so on so on.
RamoneIRC: Didnt think ppl liked lev so really surprised. THANKS ALOT! and thansk to Zero, would nto be possible without you :D
RamoneIRC: No someone need to go beat Zeros time also! GOGOGO!
Zerodat: yeah. thanks everybody!
Zerodat: I had a great time making the lev ram :)
RamoneIRC: *Now
RamoneIRC: unrealistic ammount of time went into that :D
Zerodat: My replay is in recsource in case you haven't seen it
Zerodat: PlatinIum time
RamoneIRC: http://www.recsource.tv/r/psfyzxilej
Zerodat: Well. thanks for voting! Was a great battle

11. Contest, niN
niN: A big thanks to the arrangers of this show and to the community for thinking WBCII deserved a GAA. I want to give a shoutout to umiz since he was the other organizer of this cup. He helped me pick the levels and covered for me during some events I could not start. Also insane_guy helped out with that. This cup was hosted by HotHorses really. Also a thanks to the designers who deserve a piece of this GAA. I'd like to direct a subtle apology to kuchitsu for using his event in a way that made it seem less worthy. The truth is I thought it was such a good level that I really wanted it in the cup, but there were already many long events so I didn't want to put it as a normal event. Also, my ambitions were higher with the bonus event and I hoped for more players and a bigger stage for that event; which didn't happen.
I was very surprised to be given this award! It warms my heart. I've been very inactive lately. nindex.se will always be up and I will host a few more projects there in the future. Trek tracks competition 2 is the next. The levels are more or less done for that but don't hold your breath! For now, go beat some records at nindex :)
Very cool that Wcup is being hosted now! I won't be able to play but it looks so proffessional! The website is amazing, the special event and overall management is outstanding. Good job, very original and ambitious!

12. Art, iCS
-

13. Contribution, nick-o-matic
nickomat: just finished posting this kind of thing to lauta: http://mopolauta.moposite.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9615&p=253833#p253833 :)
i guess that is the best way to thank for this gaa, that is to arrange fem2017
so the cabin has been booked now and dates are set
also it is very nice that the femquizes are included
arranging fem is quite easy, just have to book the cabin and then do a bit organizing
Sla_Alan: hope all mans on list can go
Sla_Alan: looks awesome
roopemies: agreed
nickomat: the femquizes are something to which i have been putting some effort and creativity
i will now try to organize all three quizes and answer sheets and results to lauta
thank you :)

14. Achievement, adi
adivanced: Thanks a lot!
I probably got a bit too much into piping when pipe stats was released.
At first it was quite innocent...just cruised some of my favourite pipe packs like Kpapi but soon I already had obsession to finish all pipes in that excel sheet.
Anyway it was fun and interesting to explore all kind of pipe packs including many old school pipes.
Also big thanks to Pawq for making and updating the pipe list.
Hopefully ppl will continue hoyling pipes
Done

15. Juror's Choice
roopemies: I'm sorry, no juror's choice this year. We just couldn't come to an agreement on anyone that truly rises above others, which might be a good thing in the end.
Would have liked to give it out but no can do :>
and with that, the awards are over! Thx everyone for participating, thx to jury mans, gz to winners :)
Ze_Rubenator: and let World Cup 7 commence!
roopemies: yeps, 1 hour to wcup

Jury

• roope
• Markku
• adi
• Ruben
• Sla

Rules

First step
The community can make suggestions for the categories. Making suggestions in the first step is no longer necessary for voting in the later steps, but (especially a wide range of suggestions) is still highly appreciated and needed. Make these suggestions in this topic.

Second step
The jury will choose candidates for each category. The jury members will choose the candidates according to their experience and knowledge (they will also be reading, and strongly taking into consideration, the community's suggestions).

Third step
Now we have the top candidates for each category available and the Elma community can vote. If you want to send your votes via Mopolauta, your Mopolauta account has to be registered before the start of the first step. You can also send your votes via IRC with a private message to roopemies @ IRCnet. You can also send your votes with a private message to roope's profile in elmaonline.net, or to @roope#7292 in Discord. You don't have to vote in every category but if you do vote in some category you must pick a full top 5. The point is: choose top 5 or nothing. The voting happens in the GAA voting website. After voting the website will give you a key, which you should send to roope with some of the aforementioned ways before the deadline. The votes have to be given in ranked order, from 1st to 5th. Each 1st position will give 5 points, each 2nd position will give 4 points, etc. The jury will assemble these points when the voting process has ended. You can only vote and send a PM once. Do not make your votes public.

Fourth step
The jury will collect the top 5 for each category according absolutely to the community votes. The point system will be as follows: 5 points to every first position, 4 points to every second position etc. This will be the top 5 to be used in the final show.

Fifth step
Details regarding jury voting: The different jury members will vote over the different categories, and the community will also give 2 votes to the candidate who got most points in the second step, and 1 vote to the candidate who got the second-most points. The different jury members' votes will not be public. In the event of a tie, the candidate who got most points from the community in the second step will win. If there still is a tie, the one who got most 5 points will win, then 4 points etc. If the winner cannot be resolved by this, the jury will come together and discuss the matter to declare a winner. (However, IF the voter turnout in a category is 30 or more: The results are then calculated directly from the third step points. The jury members will participate in the third step as members of the community. Last year we got way over this limit, and we're hoping we'll get to that again!)