Online Anni 2021 Wrap-Up
Author: Melisande Arneil
Published: November 10, 2021
Well, what can I say? Online Anni was a wonderful experience! I was so happy to spend my Saturday celebrating 20 years of friendship and family with the membership of TarValon.Net. Listening to toasts, celebrating the winners of the Amyrlin’s Awards and the Members’ Choice Awards (see below), and just being able to spend time with so many wonderful people – I feel truly blessed.
We used a part of Discord that we hadn’t before – Stage. I think it was a great way to bring us all together, and I’m hoping that we can bring Stage to our real life events in the future – to be able to share in awards and toasts with those who aren’t able to join us at Anni or EuroParty.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the members of TarValon.Net for joining us on Saturday! Without our members, TarValon.net would not exist. We are grateful for your support!
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- Members’ Choice Awards (all the graphics were included in the actual blog post, but are not included here)
- Member You'd Most Like to Be Quarantined With: Thaddius al'Guy
- Most Likely to Object to the TV series: Toral Delvar
- Most Welcoming Member: Alora Sionn
- Most Creative Member (Written): Jahily al'Karee
- Most Creative Member (Visual): Elia LePhant
- Most Representative of Ajah: Maibella ni Rhoiden t'al'Varrak (Gray)
- Outstanding Citizen Involvement: Nadezhda al'Lanahrin
- Outstanding Junior Member Involvement: Lyndo Shiranui
- Outstanding Gaidin Involvement: Alora Sionn
- Outstanding Aes Sedai Involvement: Aintza Bisera
- Amyrlin’s Awards
Member of the Year: Siera al’Cere
This year’s recipient has performed extraordinary service and dedication in all aspects – within official roles and outside of them, in her support of us as individuals and as a community. She has stepped up and helped where she’s seen a need, and worked to make us better for the future.In an incredibly difficult year with unexpected challenges, she has helped support our public-facing social media channels, and helped TarValon reach not only our members but potential future members. And behind the scenes she’s also helping with projects big and small, like the cookbook that was an incredible hit and is now in the kitchens of many of our members and many of our favorite authors and publishers.
I was honored to receive this award in 2010. It was incredibly meaningful to me, and that experience makes the opportunity to bestow this award on someone else even more significant. I deeply appreciate all that she has done, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to recognize her amazing work.
Volunteer of the Year: Ilverin Matriam
This year’s recipient has held official roles in the department of technology as a moderator and Gatekeeper, in the department of marketing with the social marketing, graphic development, and Tar Valon Times teams, in the department of research and records as a historian and translator, in the department of membership as a heart of Ajah, head of Ajah, membership admin and welcome committee member, in the department of community outreach within both the outreach activities team and the online events team, and has also served her Ajah as a Sitter eight times. She constantly recognizes ways that she can contribute to our organization and raises her hand not only to volunteer but to help us understand how we can be better. Over her long service, and especially over the past year, I have been so grateful for her dedication and her honesty and her humor. She speaks up when she has concerns or ideas and continuously supports those around her, and our whole community, especially in her role as the Director of Research and Records.
Philanthropist of the Year: Cassie Dainar
The philanthropist of the year award recognizes a member of our community who consistently contributes to the fundraising goals of our community. Though there have been several people who have really put their hearts into raising funds and supporting our community and our philanthropic efforts, this individual has demonstrated incredible dedication to assisting our communities and individual members in a way that frequently exceeds expectations.This year’s award winner is not only one of the top donors to the site, dedicating their own precious resources to enable us to continue reaching out to our community, but they often volunteer to support members directly. One poignant example of this was volunteering to make shawls for sisters who did not have one of their own, and … something, like a pin or something... TBD :) … for the warders, as gifts. She is also continuously looks for ways for our community to be better supported, to the extent that she is taking formal classes to learn more about the work she does for us.
She is incredibly generous with not only her resources but her time.
Unsung Servants: Aintsa Bisera and Alora Sionn
The annual “Unsung Servant” award is intended to recognize contributions to our community performed outside of an official capacity. This is an especially deserving award because the recipients are, by the nature of the award, going above and beyond any expectations. This year’s award is our only shared-award by two members. These two members have not only helped our site and our community but they’ve really stepped up to help the administrators, and, I believe, they have helped each other, to create a sort of fly-wheel momentum of improvement and collaboration. They’ve helped with several campaigns across different groups and different departments. Their consistent support behind the scenes has been one of the most significant factors in the success of many ideas this past year.
- Amyrlin’s Tournament
We also had several competitions going for the Amyrlin’s Tournament! The winners of these contests can be found here. Congrats to all of the participants and category winners!!
