As many of you already know, the 30th anniversary of the premiere episode of Star Trek: Deep Space happened earlier this year. “Emissary” introduced us all to an entire new style and world of Trek. However, today is also a fairly important day in the history of DS9, and we have a special guest to fill you in:
On the Ides of May, here are your April awards:
Lieutenant Commander Mark Johnson
Chief Medical Officer
USS Wayfarer
For “Day 7: Deena, a pleasant surprise.”
Nice post, not rushed, with very good detail and description. Well done!
Lieutenant Ayana Hillis & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Commander Samantha Howard
ACSTO / XO / CMO
USS Washington
A very interesting predicament of a First Contact with a human civilization–and outstanding job among several excellent nominations this month.
Ensign Alyssa Strong
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Albion
For “Shower, Hot Chocolate, SURPRISE!”
Awesome.
Captain Rhenora Kaylen
Commanding Officer
USS Sunfire
For “GENESIS”
Great way to start a mission–with the Obsidian Order bashing your door in. Good luck!
Commander Jonathan Grayson
Executive Officer
USS Washington
Commander Grayson had a great month leading a new mission, working closely with a new player, and keeping the story moving with inputs from everyone. Great job!
Commander Jonathan Grayson
Executive Officer
USS Washington
For writing 10 posts.
Lieutenant Callisi Veera
Chief Operations Officer
USS Churchill
Really stepped up to fill in while the Captain was unwell to keep the sim moving after having zero posts the month prior.
Ensign J.B. Dersch
Tactical Officer
USS Washington
The new Ensign was active right out of the gate with great contributions.
None this month.
As always, great posting!
With the year nearly 1/3 over, the year’s total awards are hereby 1/4 presented:
Lieutenant JG Patra Rommel
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Wayfarer
For “Coming to grips with true love”
A follow-up to last month’s best post: Sweet nothings.
Capt. Shran dh’Klar & Cmdr. Jonathan Grayson & Cmdr. Samantha Howard & Lt. Cmdr. Shoniara T’ghann-Travis & Lt. Cmdr. Callie Raven-Grayson & Ens. T’Plana-hath & Ens. James Phoenix & Lt. Seth Travis
CO / XO / CMO / ACMO / CC / IO / TO / CDO
USS Washington
For “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Lots going on in this post! Way to keep it all together!
Marine Captain Emily Janeway
Marine Commanding Officer
USS Albion
For “Debriefing on the issue of cargo transport failed”
Good one.
Captain Shran dh’Klar
Commanding Officer
USS Washington
For “Signal Mystery”
Great way to get things going.
Lieutenant JG Patra Rommel
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Wayfarer
Excellent writing and teamwork! She stayed engaged and found ways to help the plot even though her character wasn’t with the rest of the crew on Risa. True talent!
Commander Jonathan Grayson
Executive Officer
USS Washington
For writing 10 posts.
Ensign Kitiuas Thenis
Science Officer
USS Sunfire
One of the newer members of the Sunfire, Thenis steps up with month some quality posts and helping others get involved.
None this month.
None this month.
I also want to comment on the retro version of the IDF website earlier this month. While our website no longer looks like this, it’s amazing to think that these awards that we started in month one of July 2001 are still going strong today thanks to all the great writing from YOU!
If you visited our website yesterday, you probably noticed that it looked like it was straight out of 2002 (or 2001?). And you would be right! Using records from the Internet Archive, we reconstructed our Angelfire site from the days of yore using the current fleet line up, creating a mash up of then and now. The simming world was quite different back then–and so were our web development capabilities! In case you missed it, we’ve archived the 2023 retro site here.
But why now? Fast forward to April 14-16, 2011–it was exactly 12 years ago that IDF hosted the first modern SciWorld Online Convention, which incidentally was 12 years after the original SciWorld in 1999. In early 2011, the Simming League was largely dead and the community had drifted apart over the previous few years: Clubs rarely interacted with each other anymore. SciWorld 2011 changed all of that by serving as the genesis for a new era of cooperation and celebration. In addition to SciWorld, we also now also have FallFest, Khitomer, and Babel. SciWorld renewed interest in the Tournament of Simulations and the Simming Prize as well.
On a related note, a few of you have pointed out that we missed our typical April Fools’ Day joke this year. While we can’t go back in time to fix that, we hope this blast from our past was still fun nonetheless. Until next year…
With zero days to spare in March, here are your February award winners, finally!
Lieutenant JG Patra Rommel
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Wayfarer
What a lovely post! Well written, simple, easy to read and a topic as beautiful as two people falling in love. Well done. And fitting for February.
Lt. Cmdr. Deanna Celes & Lt. Ayana Hillis & Cmdr. Jonathan Grayson & Cmdr. Samantha Howard & Lt. Cmdr. Callie Raven-Grayson & Ens. T’Plana-hath
OO / ACSTO / XO / CMO / CC / IO
USS Washington
For “The return”
Lots going on in this post, and the composition makes it easy to read. Nice work!
Ensign Kitiuas Thenis & Lieutenant Thomas Hadleman
SO / CDO
USS Sunfire
For “Repair Crew – Day 3 – Kit and Tom”
Great banter, I like it!
None this month.
Lieutenant Luna Eclipse of the House of Martok
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Wayfarer
The Lieutenant’s storytelling is excellent, she is very active & engaging, and fun to write with. Her crew looks forward to her post tags every day.
Commander Jonathan Grayson & Commander Savar cha’Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen
Executive Officer / Executive Officer
USS Washington / USS Sunfire
For writing 3 posts.
Cmdr. Samantha Howard
Chief Medical Officer
USS Washington
Despite real life getting in the way, her writing, insight, and leadership were invaluable to keeping the sim moving.
None this month.
None this month.
Look on the bright side: We’re already really close to next month’s awards!
We’ve hit the new year running with some great posting:
Ensign Alyssa Strong
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Albion
For “The Strong Jerk Manoeuvre”
Great post that pushes the plot forward that also could have won a Funniest Post.
Capt. Akeno Misaki & Cmdr. Mashiro Munetani “Shiro” & Lt. Cmdr. Raelyn Mckenzie & Lt. Cmdr. Mark Johnson & Lt. Luna Eclipse of the House of Martok
CO / XO / CSTO / CMO / CFCO
USS Wayfarer
For “He’s Dead Jim…”
Ah, a classic whodunnit. Love the interplay of the characters and the descriptions around a crome scene. Well done!
Lieutenant Ayana Hillis & Commander Samantha Howard
ACSTO / CMO
USS Washington
For “Moral Dilemma”
Starfleet officers browsing goods at Spencer’s Gifts. Brilliant.
Captain Dick Sprague
Commanding Officer
USS Albion
For “The Assessment”
I’ll be curious to see where this ‘mission’ goes. How has Sprague’s career lasted so long!?
Lieutenant JG Adrianna Baciami
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Eclipse
Contributed some great posts that helped this sim get launched right. Sky’s the limit for the Eclipse.
Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell
Computer Systems Specialist
USS Sunfire
For writing 9 posts.
Lieutenant Commander Mark Johnson
Chief Medical Officer
USS Wayfarer
The Wayfarer’s CMO also wrote some excellent posts this month, which led to his promotion to Lieutenant Commander.
Ensign Syrik
Flight Control Officer
USS Sunfire
Syrik has bounced onto the Sunfire with a bang by seamlessly integrating into the crew and storyline.
None this month.
And don’t forget that it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow!
Less than a month later and we already have another new sim joining us: the USS Eclipse officially launched on January 16, 2023. This is a brand new sim focusing on science and exploration that takes place in a post-Nemesis timeline. Take a look and consider joining today!
| USS Eclipse | NCC-72382 |
| Format: Prose | Era: Post-Nemesis |
| Type: Traditional | Class: Nova |
| CO: Captain Aven LaCroix | Join! |
Welcome to the fleet, Captain LaCroix and crew!
With 2022 in the books, it’s high time we checked in with the latest version of the IDF Record Book over on our About page. As it turns out, we have a new all-time leader in monthly awards. Lieutenant Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell of the USS Sunfire now has a grand total of 29.83 awards, passing the previous leader, Jenna Ramthorne (of a prior version of the Sunfire), who has 24.83. What’s even more incredible, is that both characters are played by the same person!
| Best Post | Funniest Post | Genesis | MVP | Most Posts | Most Improved | Recruitment | Total | |
| Durnell | 5.05 | 5.78 | 4 | 14 | 1 | 29.83 | ||
| Ramthorne | 4 | .83 | 4 | 15 | 1 | 24.83 |
Prolific across multiple award categories, the two stat lines seem to mirror each other. However, the difference is clearly Durnell’s five plus Funniest Post awards to Ramthorne’s zero. See what adding humor to your game can do! Congratulations to Lieutenant Durnell on this incredible accomplishment!
As it turns out, we have quite a few current or recent members who have moved up leader board since we brought the Awards back for March 2020:
Active Member — received an award within the last year or confirmed to currently be on a sim
Hall of Famer
In addition to all those who’ve won awards, I also want to thank each of our sim Commanding Officers for submitting nominations month-in and month-out and to Rear Admiral James “Rook” Mirtoh for running the program and selecting winners. Without their tireless efforts, the awards simply wouldn’t be possible.
I’ve long been of the opinion that the monthly awards are one of the absolute best features of this fleet, and they’re a key bonus that really distinguishes us from other groups out there. The numbers speak for themselves: Through the end of 2022, we have 969 total documented awards presented to 506 different individuals through 1,226 different award records. Each one is permanently part of our continuing history, starting all the way back with the five original awards presented for our very first month of July 2001 going up through today and beyond.
Now it’s time to add your legacy to the story…
Welcome to 2023, folks! However, it’s time to honor the best of the end of 2022…
Commander Samantha Howard
Chief Medical Officer
USS Washington
For “Introspection”
Wonderfully written reflection post.
Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell & Lt. Thriss Kla’ren & Ens. Kitiuas Thenis & Lt. Thomas Hadleman & SCPO Ronson Mitchell
CSS / CEO / SO / CDO / Y
USS Sunfire
For “Jump Start”
One word: Raptors.
Crewman Patin & Commander Dean House
Guest / Second Officer
USS Sunfire
For “Uber ride”
Two words: Great banter.
Capt. Akeno Misaki & Cmdr. Mashiro Munetani “Shiro” & Lt. Sidney Harper & Lt. Ileah & Lt. Avery Coyle & Lt. Raelyn Mckenzie & Lt. Rosaleen O’Donnell & Lt. Mark Johnson & Lt. JG Luna Eclipse of the House of Martok
CO / XO / MA / Y / CFCO / CSTO / COO / CMO / FCO
USS Wayfarer
For “Something’s Afoot (Part 1)”
Three words: Now that’s how you start a mission! Wait, I suppose that’s more than three words.
Ensign T’Plana-hath
Intelligence Officer
USS Washington
After winning Most Improved last month, the Washington’s Intelligence Officer takes home the MVP this time. Although newer to simming, she has expertly integrated herself into the veteran crew, frequently pushing through and collaborating with others on excellent posts.
Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell & Cmdr. Savar cha’Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen
Computer Systems Specialist / Executive Officer
USS Sunfire
For writing 9 posts.
Lieutenant Raelyn Mckenzie
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Wayfarer
Lt. Mckenzie really stepped up her game in December, pushing forward some great ideas while showing both her writing ability and how to work well with the rest of the crew.
None this month.
None this month.
I hope everyone’s year is off to a great start. Keep up the great posting.
