2012's Jammer Of The Year

by Crazy Ivan

It's been a tradition in Myachi now for 6 years.  Every year in January and February we undertake a small process designed to recognize the contribution that Myachi Maniacs all over the country and the world make to our movement.  Obviously Myachi Man, Kid, Maverick and the other Myachi Masters (including me) work pretty hard every day to spread the word of Myachi and keep the game going strong, but if it wasn't for the contributions of the Myachi Maniacs, we never would have gotten this thing off the ground.

That's why, way back in 2007, we decided to start this little annual celebration and in the intervening years it's kind of taken on a life of its own.  I know that a lot of our long-time maniacs look forward to it all year and as the arbitrator of the whole ordeal, I can say honestly that it's one of my favorite responsibilities as a Myachi Master.

The coolest thing about the awards is that they're all decided on by the Myachi Maniacs themselves.  It's up to you to pick the nominees and once the nominees are in, it's up to you to vote for the winner.  And as MMFL has pointed out in the past, if you want to win one of these awards, it's up to you to earn it all year long.

The nominating process began yesterday on the Myachi Forum and is only open to members there.  Of course, if you're not a member of the forum and want to nominate someone, it's not too late to sign up and send me a nomination via private message.  Just sign up, go to "General Discussion" and look for the JOTYA 2013 post toward the top of the page.

Keep in mind, it's only the nominations that are restricted to forum members.  Voting will be open to anyone who wants in on it.  The more votes the merrier.  I'll be putting plenty of info here on the blog as well so that even if you're new to Myachi you might be able to make an informed vote.

There are three award categories this year:

• The STWAKOJ Award: This award goes to the Myachi Maniac who has done the most to help spread the word of Myachi over the country and over the world in the previous year.  Past winners include Halestorm (China), A Guy Called Will (England), Mach 3 (England), DGH (USA) and Myachi Max (Switzerland).  So as you can tell, this is a pretty international award.
• The TRICKSTER Award: This award goes to the Myachi Maniac who has done the most to help expand the game itself by inventing new tricks, games and styles in the past year.  Past winners include A-Train, Dragon, Kickstand and the only two time winner, Mantis.
• The FORUM Award: This one goes to the member of our online forum who has done the most to help make it an inviting and hospitable place for veterans and people new to the game.  Past winners include Jedi, Champ, Downtown and MMFL (The latter two shared the award once and won it solo as well)

Twice in the past we've also included a "Lifetime Achievement" Award, but this award is so coveted that we've decided only to give it out once every 5 years.  The next time it will be awarded will be in 2017 (for the calendar year of 2016).  Past winners include MMFL (2007) and Downtown (2012).

I'll be posting a lot more about the JOTYAs over the next couple of weeks, so be sure to check in regularly and get your fix.