GS Forum Awards

[FSGMT]

Reading about the Russian awards, some of us thought that we could give our GS Awards... What do you think? I personally believe this would be a wonderful idea, at the end of this season. Which categories would you think we should consider? My propositions are:
-Best man/lady/pair/dancers of the season;
-Best FS/FD;
-Best SP/SD;
-Best single performance in each category;
-Best talents?
And, especially for this season, the best comeback

[Mathman]

The first thing we have to do is get someone to come up with the equivalent of those cute teddy bears with skating costumes matching the skaters'.

[tulosai]

The first thing we have to do is get someone to come up with the equivalent of those cute teddy bears with skating costumes matching the skaters'.

This.

[skateluvr]

I think it would require the first and foremost getting the staff on board. We the posters bring it to life, but your idea is great. It probably will be seen as another thing on very busy plate. I think we would all love the idea, but it would have to be a serious venture, and there may be reasons why it would appeal to the staff but agin, naming GS favorites mean some people may feel left out. It seeems we are reminded a lot of guidelines in order not to offend anyone n the skating community,,,so who Who decides? Maybe if you give a detailed framework of how it is done-just for our fun? We could make polls in that thread if so.

If it is for real, as in we give a teddy bear wearing a Golden Skate T Shirt at season's end to the winners, well, someone has to do all that. The mods are volunteers and spend a lot of time being pains in our necks (LOL-just kidding-y'all do good job-except whoever deletes posts that shouldn't be-one bad apple , lol)-hope you have a holiday sense of humor mods.) So I think your idea needs to be thought out more. I don't see any mods jumping and saying great idea, as maybe they know what we don't, ie how well the owners would like the idea. The mods say they work hard, and it is clear they spend a great deal of time, so if they have a role in this, they need to be on board. All are busy people I am sure who love figureskating and all are I believe fans, not former skaters, so whatever is added to their plate needs to be considered. I think it would be a good idea to do at season's end, when postings etc slow down. Any real endeavour is not good timing at holidays. If you could do this all on your own, I think you'd have support as it is a great idea.

I think if GS formally awards a teddy bear or a blue ribbon, it then becomes a big deal and has to be thought out-polls including how many from each discipline, etc. You could be working on presenting your plan and designing the polls. I suggest having a cutoff of the top rank, otherwise you are gonna have a huge list of skaters from every country. In order to be fair and not slight skaters who skate at worlds from the small countries, it will be unweildy to do just one category. How many skaters end up at worlds in womens? 28? Some categories like favorite SPs, LP's you could start polls now.

Great idea but needs to be well thought out. Everyone who votes or posts would likely vote if it became a GS 'thing to do.' The staff's support is of course key to do it right. I'd ask for ideas on who/how many should be allowed from the mods, who have seen lots of polls, I am sure. I personally love favorites threads and polls are good fun too. Good idea, but the logistics....?

Without top down support, it cannot be taken seriously. If it is just a gs voting thing for our entertainment, then just put up the polls and publicize it in the edge. I can't see where it could be a bad thing. It may be unweildy because there are many skaters, we are an international group, and if you leave out the skater from say Australia, someone will be miffed.

So if you 1) get permission 2) set up the goal and parameters and do most of the work I think many will be interested in voting at the end of the season which would be ? Worlds? or WTTrophy? what officially ends the ISU season? Keeping it to seniors seems tough enough.

I personally think it should be limited to the top ranked 12 skaters in the world by end of season to make it less cumbersome. I am not sure how the polls works as I never go there.

I would add one more category. Best comeback begs a best new face/artist/senior etc. Whatever you call it, it would be the skater who debuted in any senior ISU competition this year. I already know who I'd pick as lady.

Great idea-the more you can do as set up person, the more likely busy people in "power" here will support idea. I favor just informal polls, as otherwise, it gets political. I wonder-has GS done soome type of awards before like this? Has FSU? Maybe if it has been done in the past you can find out. I will look forward to whatever you decide. I am for the idea informally or formally. Good luck.

[golden411]

... I don't see any mods jumping and saying great idea ...

To give credit to the mods where/when credit is due:

Doris is the one who started the informative GS thread about the FSO awards. On Thursday in that thread, Mrs. P first raised the idea of GS awards.
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sho...l=1#post684463

Doris responded immediately, embracing the idea -- and then followed up later to keep the conversation going. See posts #29 and #31 from her in that thread.

And in this new thread specifically about GS awards, Mathman already contributed post #2 -- in which he sounds open to the concept.

So at least two mods are right on top of this discussion.

[skateluvr]

anything happening with the awards or is it dropped?

[dorispulaski]

Probably we should look at this after worlds...

[evangeline]

We actually did an informal version of GS Awards last season! This is the thread: http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sho...s-of-2011-2012

I copied and pasted the results below:

According to the members of Goldenskate, the best overall program of the year across all disciplines is.....(drumroll): Daisuke Takahashi, Blues for Klook LP. (16 votes)

The best men's program not by someone named Daisuke Takahashi: Jeremy Abbott, Exogenesis: Symphony No. 3 LP (14 votes)

The best ladies program: Ashley Wagner, Black Swan LP (14 votes)

The best ice dance program: Meryl Davis/Charlie White, Die Fledermaus FD (12 votes)

The best pairs program: Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy, Pina LP (8 votes)

The best exhibition program overall: Mao Asada, Jupiter (4 votes)

The worst program overall: Ksenia Makarova, Marilyn Monroe LP (11 votes)

And for short programs:

The best overall short program across all disciplines was a tie between: Daisuke Takahashi, In the Garden of Souls SP and Carolina Kostner, Shostakovich SP (12 votes each)

The best pairs short program was a tie between: Narumi Takahashi/Mervin Tran, Imagine SP and Mary Beth Marley/Rockne Brubaker, Singing in the Rain SP (2 votes each)

The best ice dance short dance was: Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir, Hip hip chin chin/Temptation/Mujer Latina SD (3 votes)

The worst overall short program was a three-way tie between: Gracie Gold, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy SP, Florent Amodio, Tears of the Sun SP, and Alena Leonova, Pirates of the Caribbean SP (3 votes each)

[Olympia]

I like all these bests!

[dorispulaski]

I suppose we could give a photo of the skater, skating to the program we most liked, framed, with a little plaque. The good part is that the articles at GS give us a nice library of available photos, which are not generally circulated. The bad part is that frames cost money.

[Tonichelle]

I suppose we could give a photo of the skater, skating to the program we most liked, framed, with a little plaque. The good part is that the articles at GS give us a nice library of available photos, which are not generally circulated. The bad part is that frames cost money.

as do plaques. frames can be gotten in bulk and it's fairly cheap that way.

[dorispulaski]

How much per frame, if say, we bought 10?

I can cut mats.

If there's someone with really good calligraphy skills, we could buy metal blanks, have them do the labels, and shellac over them.

[Tonichelle]

depends on what we're wanting for the frame... and where the person is that's going to have them (I'm out of the question as they all rob Alaskans on shipping) are we wanting wood, plastic, metal?
black, white, wood color?

[dorispulaski]

What would be the best color frame for skating pictures, in your opinion, Toni, you're the expert?

Maybe the site owner to have the frames? The mats and plaques, to be mailed to her?
And of course, we could have articles from when the awards were presented.

[golden411]

The first thing we have to do is get someone to come up with the equivalent of those cute teddy bears with skating costumes matching the skaters'.

I do believe that skaters appreciate fan support of any kind, but I would venture to guess that those one-of-a-kind bears from the Russian forum will be esp. memorable to the winners.

So with all due respect, my suggestion for the GS awards is: the simplest possible (read "least expensive") paper award certificate specifying the category (maybe framed but without a plaque) -- in order to save money instead for a fun "outside the box" gift (something more comparable to the bears) to accompany the certificate and GS articles.
Then the winners would have not only the satisfaction that he/she/they received three votes from GS members , but also an original GS "keepsake" that is a "conversation piece" of sorts.

I realize that cost always will be an issue (and I regret that I for one am not in a position to contribute any funds), but two off-the-wall ideas along these lines:
- snowglobes (for not too much money, I think that kits are available that allow insertion of photos of one's choice, such as the GS photos mentioned by Doris)
- bobblehead dolls (although they prob. are pricier, I think it is possible to get them custom-made, from photos supplied by the purchaser)
These both would be kitschy, but distinctive, I daresay.

Or for something more mainstream, how about at least some kind of tchotchke bearing the GS logo that skaters could use on a regular basis? Baseball cap, water bottle, mug (traditional or travel??), keychain, passport case, etc.??? Almost anything can be obtained with a logo.

What would be the best color frame for skating pictures, in your opinion, Toni, you're the expert?

If everything that I wrote above in this post is completely unrealistic (as I fear), then I think the best color for the frames would be golden, of course.