Play by Mail/Post Origins Award
As taken from the unofficial promotional material (Wikipedia) "Origins Game Fair is one of North America's most prominent annual gaming conventions, second in size only to Gen Con. Origins takes place each year in Columbus, Ohio at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, in late June or early July."
One of the activities each year is to pass out various awards, including an award for the "best" Play by Mail/Post game of the year. While most categories have some criteria related to when a game is published to be considered for an award for that year, PBM gaming is different in that the same game(s) can be nominated, and win, repeatedly. As I understand it this is because the award is not purely for the game, but for the game moderator/company and the gaming experience that a player has while playing the game. Are turns processed in a timely manner, are they correct, and problems resolved quickly and correctly,, etc, etc. Over the years we've used different criteria, sometimes it works well, sometimes not so much.
Recently I received my annual invitation to participate in the selection process for the Play By Mail/Post Origins award. For this process five jurors and one alternate play each of the game, sometimes up to 15 different games, to select the top five that will be presented at Origins as the nominees for the award. This year Rick Loomis has put out a request for replacement jurors.
Rick wrote: "The jury consists of 6 pbm experts - 5 members and an alternate. Unfortunately three of those folks have said they can't do it this year. So I need three volunteers. Do you know anyone who would like to do this? The only qualification is that they know something about pbm, and they are willing to play in 10 or 15 pbm games for the next year in order to rank them, and they are willing and able to answer emails about the awards! I could ask my customer list, but that would end up getting people biased in favor of my games. I just want someone conscientious enough to do a thorough job and talk with the other jury members about the games. If you'd like to try it, email me and let me know. If you know someone else who might be a good choice, please ask them to contact me. Ask them to put "Origins Award" in the subject line. (And no, I am not on the jury.)"
I do not want to give out Rick's email without his permission, so I will ask that if you're interested you email me instead if you're interested and I will pass your request on to Rick.