JOTYA History: The STWAKOJ Award

by Crazy Ivan

I know, I know... you know.  But I still have to say it.  There are a few people reading this that might be really, really new to Myachi so I have to say it.

STWAKOJ is a Myachi acronym that means "Spread the Word and Keep On Jammin'".  It's been a part of the movement since at least 2005 when Myachi Man shortened the usual closing line of his email and we've used it internally ever since.  I guess it was late 06 when the phrase made it's way out into the Myachi community and it's been synonymous with Myachi ever since.

In 2008, it also became one of the categories we decided to honor each year in our Jammer of the Year Awards.  In fact, when we originally started kicking around the idea of a Jammer of the Year Award, we only planned on giving out one award each year and the criterion for that winner would have been the criterion that we use now to judge the STWAKOJ Award winner.

Ultimately, of course, we decided that there were too many factors involved in being a Myachi Maniac for any one award to properly weigh all of them so we split it into a few different categories.  Now, I've already explained how, in a sense, the Trickster Award is the most important in all of Myachi and how, in a sense, the Forum award is the most important in Myachi, but in truth, the STWAKOJ Award really is the most important.  Or at least, it awards the most important trait.

Take Myachi Man as your example.  If he exemplified the things that would win the Trickster Award, he would be phenomenal at the game (he is), he would have created hundreds of tricks (he has) and he would be a legend in the movement (he is).  But, of course, if he didn't also exemplify the things that would win the STWAKOJ Award, there wouldn't be any movement to be a legend of.

Myachi is built on STWAKOJ.  The whole empire is built on the idea that one fan of the game teaches his or her friends, they teach their friends, they teach their friends and so on.  It would take a long time for Maverick, Lucky, Bones, Hard Kore and I to teach the whole world to play, but if we spread the game like a (good version of a) virus, we can eventually conquer the whole world.

And of course, given the nature of the award, the voters have often favored people who spread the word across the US border.  In fact, only once in it's 5 year history did the prize go to somebody who lived in the US during the year of the award.  Once it went to an American who was living in China, twice it went to different Maniacs in the UK and last year it went to Switzerland.

Anybody's guess where it will land this year...