Happy 15th anniversary, Fringes of Algo! It is now time to celebrate with the announcement of the winners for the 2012 Muskies Awards! 
We had a great turn out for the awards once again this year. A big thanks goes out to everyone who participated; you make these awards possible and that's why the reflect the community. The results have been tabulated, so without further ado, let's get to the list of winners!Your first place 2012 Muskies Winners are:
- Best Multiple Chapter Fan Fiction: The Stranger by Aeroprism
- Best Single Chapter Fan Fiction: The Hero and the Healer by augmentedfourth
- Best Fan Artwork: Sexy Rika by RicardoSavageStrike
- Best Original Artwork: (Tie) American Goldfinch and Barn Swallow, both by Caged Wolf
- Best Artist: Caged Wolf
- Best Writer: augmentedfourth
- Best Quiz: Phantasy Star Hidden Words by Silver_Surfer1
- Best Quiz Master: Silver_Surfer1
- Best Original Character: (Tie) Celeith Silverlake by Kaloes and Claire by Xander
- Best Other Fan Work: Because techno is so much better than not techno. by Aeroprism
- Best Forum Game: (Three Way Tie!) ABC's of Video Games game, Chain Game, and Wishbreaker Game
- Best Introduction Topic: Hello to everybody ! by myau56
- Best Avatar: Caged Wolf
- Best Signature: Tanith
- Most Successful Discussion: Getting to Know You... 2011 & 2012
- Most Enthusiastic Fringer: myau56
- Fringer of Excellence: tilinelson2
- Best Achievement Hunter: Silver_Surfer1
- Most Active Quiz Taker: Xander
- Prominent Poster: Silver_Surfer1
- Top Conversation Starter: Silver_Surfer1
- Staff Member of the Year: Silver_Surfer1
There were many ties for second and third place this year, so a lot of people received awards not listed above. The full list of winners, including second and third places, can be viewed at Muskies Winners for 2012. The Muskies Awards section has been updated with a new page that describes the award categories, as well as separate pages for list the winners of each year.
Previous winners might remember there were special usergroups for each of the three places: gold, silver, and bronze. There was a lot of overlap between the three usergroups, so I've decided replace them with per-year groups, such as Muskies 2010 Winners or Muskies 2012 Winners. Any recent unexpected changes in username color come as a side effect of this process; username colors can still be changed in the traditional method, of course. This also frees up the old silver and bronze colors, which were restricted to the usergroups, for general usage as username colors.
I have sent PMs to all award winners to present them with special banners created in recognition of their achievement. Please wear them ploudly!
Congratulations to all winners!
If you did not win, you have my condolences. Don't fret, though. There's always next year's Muskies! Remember that several categories considered all previous activity because they were newly added this year; that won't be the case when those categories return next year.As we now move into the 15th year of Fringes of Algo's existence and the 5th year of the forums, I hope you'll all join me in working making this the best year ever for Fringes. Our 14th year was great, but I think we can come together to make this one even better. I said it last year, but it's worth repeating: all the great growth of Fringes wouldn't have been possible without the great group of wonderful and dedicated people that have gathered together as part of this community. You've all shown a huge passion for Phantasy Star, and I thank you for keeping the fandom and Fringes of Algo alive and thriving!
I have a lot of ideas to explore for the site during the coming year. I hope these will lead to many pleasant surprises and allow us all to participate in making the site an even bigger presence in Phantasy Star fandom.
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