The Nikonus Award for community Spirit
Overview
Each year on the 23rd of March, The Gathering remembers one of it's members who left us all too soon. Nick Butcher AKA TG|Nikonus joined TG in 2004 and very quickly became one of TG's leading members, playing CSS for a time but mainly playing SWG and having a ball whilst doing so. Always making people laugh, always posting in the forums, Nick brought something a bit different to TG and we miss him for it.
In memory of Nick, and to give people in TG something to work towards, we give one member the Nikonus Award each year as recognition of their character and everything positive that they've brought to our community. Nick was always a comedian and a friend, and this award is given in his name to the TG member who has made the best positive difference to this community in the year preceding the 23rd of March.
Nominations for the Award are opened at the start of March each year, and TG members are invited to PM their choice, along with some reasons, to a Clan Admin. The Admins then compile the messages and work through them to choose a winner either by the number of votes, or if the numbers are tied, by discussion.
Growth
While we were sorting out the award for 2007 it crossed our minds that Nick's family had been in touch before and we wondered if they would sign up to the site and leave another message for this year. So it was really exciting to see "nicksdad" as our newest user account on the 23rd March and it was touching to hear their thoughts on the Award and what it meant to them to see that it wasn't just the family and friends remembering Nick, there were other people "out there" on the internet too doing the same thing in their own way.
What followed though was beyond any of our expectations and fairly blew us out of the water. In 2005 the Nick Butcher Legacy Trust was set up to keep Nick's memory and to put some money towards things which Nick would have approved of. So far the fund has given money towards musical instruments and internet access for Papworth hospital and, more appropriately, sponsored a cheeky Monkey from Monkey World in Dorset! It turned out though that a certain online community would be the next in line.
So it is with quite a strange mixture of gratitude, sadness, pride and joy that we can announce that this year, and hopefully from now on, the Nikonus Award will come with a prize donated from the Nick Butcher Legacy Trust to the tune of £30. The prize comes with no strings, and can be spent on whatever the winner wishes, as no doubt Nick would approve of anything from the latest game to a few beers with some friends!
That isn't all though. The annual Christmas and Easter competitions will also now be funded, and prizes awarded to the tune of £10 each. Again the prize can be spent as the winner wishes! On these competitions though the admins may decide to purchase a prize using the money, top up the prize fund using clan funds, or provide the cash straight up. We think we can have some good fun this way by keeping it open.
So. There you go. Again we've got to thank Gerry and Jackie and the rest of the family for their kindness, we're sure we speak for the clan on this one!
Winners
2008/2009 - TG|Sui
2007/2008 - TG|Zymon
2006/2007 - TG|Mrs-H
2005/2006 - TG|Hangman