Vexillologist of the Year

Last modified: 2016-03-08 by rob raeside
Keywords: fotw | voty | vexillologist |
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Image by Edward Mooney

On this page:
• Introduction
• Guidelines
• Past winners and nominees

• History of FOTW

Introduction

Each year the award of Vexillologist of the Year is made to a worthy individual on FOTW. The award was conceived and introduced by Edward Mooney in early 1999, who was at the time list-master.

Guidelines

1. The nominee will be a recognized member in good standing.
2. The nominee will be nominated by a member in good standing.
3. No-one may nominate him/herself.
4. The nomination must be seconded (or a second nomination made) by a member in good standing.
5. Nomination can be for any service that contributes to the FOTW purposes.
6. The role of the nominee for which the nomination is made should be briefly explained by the nominator.
7. Service can be for a specific project, or for a leadership role.
8. Voting will be by secret web ballot.
9. A simple high vote will determine the winner.
10. The winner and top three vote-getters are announced.

Past Vexillologist of the Year and Nominees

This is a list of the past winners of the Vexillologist of the Year Award and those nominated and seconded by the membership. Unfortunately, in the early years reasons were not given for the nominations, or in some cases even a list of all the nominees archived. After 2004, better records were preserved.

1998 Winner and Nominees

• Vexillologist of the Year 1998: Edward Mooney for services rendered in support of the mailing list and editing of web pages.
• Unfortunately, we do not have a list of who else was nominated this year.

1999 Winner and Nominees

• Vexillologist of the Year 1999: Dov Gutterman for his extensive vexiferreting of the Internet and contributions to uncovering flags.
• Unfortunately, we do not have a list of who else was nominated this year.

2000 Winner and Nominees

• Vexillologist of the Year 2000: Pascal Gross for his graphical work in Swiss communal flags.
• The following were also nominated this year without the reasons recorded: Jarig Bakker, Phil Nelson, Jaume Olle, Rob Raeside, António Martins, Armand Noel du Payrat, and Pascal Gross

2001 Winner and Nominees

• Vexillologist of the Year 2001: Željko Heimer for his scholarly and graphical contributions to provide accurate national flags based on Album des Pavillons (2000).
• Joe McMillan was nominated because he had contributed a wealth of information and flags to the list over this last year.
• The following were also nominated this year without the reasons recorded: Jarig Bakker, Jan Oskar Engene, Željko Heimer, Istvan Molnar, Blas Delgado Ortiz, Jens Pattke, Rob Raeside, Marcus Schmoeger, Stefan Schwoon, and Juan Manuel Gabino Villascan

2002

• No award.

2003

• No award.

2004 Winner and Nominees

• Vexillologist of the Year 2004: Rob Raeside for his long term as director and running the website and being the front-man for all visitors. Rob is his quite and gentle way is directing the website with outstanding commitment and he is the main reason for FOTW to become the site that we know. Beside directing, Rob is doing also regular editing and representing FOTW when needed.
• Jarig Bakker nominated for his outstanding commitment to the development and improvement of the FOTW-ws and the sharing of vexillological information. For two consecutive years he has not only keep his post as Editor of various FOTW pages, but very patiently and imaginatively fought to make the Czech pages a very orderly and sensible source of information including making half of them solely by himself.
• António Martins nominated because he has done more than any other member of FOTW to ensure the quality of FOTW is maintained. This, of course, comes both from his role as ml listmaster, but much more as constant watchdog, editor, graphic artist, and bibliography manager. Not only has his vexillological input been of the highest quality, but he has occupied the post of listmaster with ability, understanding, firmness, and above all with a sense of humor.
• David Prothero nominated because he has consistently provided FOTW with research on British and British Colonial flags which are impossible to locate in many flag books coupled with his impressive writing skills. His carefully researched contributions are always worth studying in detail
.

2005 Winner and Nominees

• Vexillologist of the Year 2005: António Martins-Tuválkin; for his efforts as former list master, tireless critic, precise editor, and promoter of quality on the FOTW website.
• Jarig Bakker nominated for his work and contributions of house flags and for his devotion and diligence as editor of more then 5000 FOTW pages.
• David Prothero nominated for his scholar contribution to the study of flags, specially British Ensigns, always well documented and explained.
• Christopher Southworth nominated for being the chief author of the newly released Dictionary of Vexillology together with his contribution to the accuracy of the information included in FOTW website.

2006 Winner

• Vexillologist of the Year 2006: Christopher Southworth for his continued and tireless work on the Dictionary of Vexillology. Christopher has been editor-in-chief, scouring documents for terms not-yet defined and presenting them for review. Many times, his original draft is letter perfect, skillfully capturing accurate and concise definitions of the terms. This documentation gives vexillology a firm foundation for the future, and Chris' vision for the document and dedicated work is responsible for much of it. He continues to be the driving force and inspiration for the ongoing expansion and refining work being done on the dictionary. The award has been made by acclamation to Christopher Southworth.

2007 Winner

• Vexillologist of the Year 2007: David Prothero for his work on the research of the British maritime flags, his continuous contributions about ensigns and his scholarly mastery of the UK Public Records.

2008 Winner and Nominees

• Vexillologist of the Year 2008: Jarig Bakker for his relentless service to FOTW in providing graphics of municipal flags and his long-standing editorial duties.
• Eugene Ipavec nominated for the great effort he has put into sending top quality images as a giffer (some of them in Arabic text and other difficult languages to draw), plus the patience and interest he has displayed over the past years as an assiduous contributor to the website, to the extent that he has taken editorial responsibilities for several sections of FOTW, most recently Spain.
• Marcus E.V. Schmöger nominated for his unselfish and heart-warming contribution to his peers and fellow fotw-ers by means of his tireless work via scanning the great volumes of historical flag books, thus enabling his colleagues to indulge in further research into a very-often underestimated science and to which ends, people will profit from.

2009 Winner and Nominees

• Vexillologist of the Year 2009: Ivan Sache as the quintessential, ideal FotWer - a keen, prolific, and meticulous contributor, editor and listmaster. Ivan an inspiration for all of us. He has been around for a very long time and his involvement has never flagged. He has been a keen, prolific, and meticulous contributor, both in original research and in scholarly analysis. He has been an editor with unmatched ability for fast, accurate, and high in- and out-put work. He is serving a term of very smooth and effective listmastership. Finally Ivan is a FotWer who doesn't shy from adding his thoughts about most (if not all) matters aired on list, yet one whose patience seldom fails.
• Eugene Ipavec nominated for his relentless giffing without which FOTW almost would run dry, as well as for his apt comments.
• Jörg Majewski nominated for his long and ongoing series of German municipal flags, the sort of contribution that makes FOTW "the" source for all things flag on the Internet.

2010 Winner and Nominees

• Vexillologist of the Year 2010: Eugene Ipavec for his relentless giffing without which FOTW almost would run dry, as well as for his apt comments.
• Pete Loeser nominated for both for his energetic handling of the UFE pages and for injecting enthusiasm into multiple projects around FotW.

2011 Winner and Nominees

• Vexillologist of the Year 2011: Valentin Poposki who has been prodigious in locating images of flags across the web, particularly in the area of municipal flags of the USA and Canada and being pivotal in bringing new members to the FOTW list and encouraging of all those who seek out flags. A real vexiferret!
• Ned Smith nominated for his contributions that are always well thought and well researched; the rare times he's mistaken he's never shy to correct them; in spite of his vast expertise in certain areas he's never arrogant and also he often offers very interesting insights outside those areas; and finally he's always polite and warm yet never allows himself to wander off topic.

2012 Winner and Nominees

• Vexillologist of the Year 2012: Pete Loeser was chosen for his relentless effort in updating especially the German pages, being part of the German Editorial Team (GET), but also for his comments on other topics of world flags and for posting up-to-date remarks on both historical and current flags, as well as for being very academic, thorough, and above all, respectful in his comments. During the last two years he has: 1) reorganized the UFE pages; 2) implemented a new front page of FOTW: 3) added the memorial pages, and 4) continuously updated German historical pages and party flags.
• Klaus-Michael Schneider nominated for his tireless dedication, incredible output, and general enthusiasm about the flags of Germany. His efforts have resulted in completely updating the Germany pages and adding much new scholarly content to FOTW in the process. He is also responsible for an incredible amount of new flag images and art work to support his work on the German pages. He posts up-to-date remarks on both historical and current flags, and is very academic, thorough and above all, respectful in his comments.
• Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg nominated for his many contributions, his dedication, and his efforts to add accuracy to the website.
• T.F. Mills nominated for his big eyes, attention to detail, broad knowledge, and clear thinking. Todd has been a major contributor to the Swiss section of the website.

2013 Winner

• Vexillologist of the Year 2013: Klaus-Michael Schneider was chosen for in recognition of the "incredible amount" of images and contributions to FOTW pages. As a member of the German Editorial Team (GET) he added numerous new pages for German sports such as canoeing, rowing, athletics, and history of athletics in Germany. He added new municipal pages for Baden-Württemberg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony; Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Baden-Württemberg; and reorganized the whole German municipal flags section. He has added to the Hamburg pages many new military and other historical flags. He added to and reorganized the Saxony pages and the historical flags of Saxonian duchies. He completely reorganized and redesigned the German shipping line pages, clearing a long backlog in the process, and added numerous new dockyards flags from two old flag charts he discovered.
  On top of all this he contributed 40 new Portuguese and 130 new Spanish flags (mostly municipal, but a few historical, university and sports flags), and also contributed to the British historical ensigns in the process. He is undoubtedly one of the most consistent and prolific contributors to the FOTW pages on a weekly basis, and extremely dedicated to vexillology and Flags of the World.

2014 Winner and Nominees

• Vexillologist of the Year 2014: Tomislav Todorovic: a constant presence on the list and help on many special FOTW projects over the years. He has been a prolific FOTW illustrator since 2004 and an active list member since 2011, always demonstrating a wide range of vexillological interests in the process. His main strength is his helpfulness and willingness to work quietly behind the scenes on others' projects, seeking little recognition for his assistance while doing so. His work is consistently of a high standard, scholarly, helpful, positive, and he is always courteous and respectful when dealing with others on the list. He has been, and remains, a positive addition to our vexillological community.
• Zoltan Horváth: nominated for maintaining an enormous amount of updates and backlogs, especially in the regions of the Middle East, Latin America, East Asia and in supranationals, altogether more than 80 countries. Furthermore he has created and maintained the OPEP project.
• Tomislav Sipek: nominated after his work completing images of the Japanese municipal flags with accuracy and high speed. He continued to post the images every day for three years. The number of the images he made is about 2,500 including former municipal flags which are very difficult for even Japanese to find out the related information and the picture. He has a special research and drawing ability since he does not understand Japanese language at all. As a result, all 1,741 current Japanese municipal flags are on FOTW with his continuous efforts for the last three years which will help non-Japanese people travel around Japan and understand Japanese local history/culture through the flag images.

2015 Winner and Nominees

• Vexillologist of the Year 2015: Zoltán Horvath has maintained an enormous amount of updates and cleared backlogs, especially in the regions of the Middle East, Latin America, East Asia and in supranational entities, altogether more than 80 countries. Furthermore he has created and maintained the OPEP project.
  For his huge efforts to edit long backlogged areas - the Middle East, the Far East, especially Japan, and Central and South America, his willingness to help out anywhere, and work as assistant list-master. (Schneider/MacDonald)
• Clay Moss nominated for his huge collective contribution to FOTW that has remained steady for over 13 years. During this time he has always been willing to assist others with their various vexillological projects and been content to remain in the background neither seeking nor expecting recognition for his efforts. He has contributed over 1000 images that are now part of the FOTW database. His scholarly research, which has been used extensively in Mississippi as his home state debates whether or not to change to their state flag, appears frequently on the FOTW website in many places. An example of his original research can be found on the "Mississippi's Magnolia Flags" page which is entirely based on his research.
  His illustrations' quality is always on the high level, and given the complexity of designs which he is reproducing, it shall be appreciated even more. His addition of a humorous section to the FOTW website shall also be recognized, starting the British Arctic Territory flags project (or "project") which was later joined by other FOTWers in a fine spirit of cooperation. (Loeser/Todorovic)
• Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg nominated for his tireless and uniquely conscientious work both as a FotW-ml contributor and as a FotW-ws editor, and also for his pioneer efforts in creating a replacement for Giuseppe's site-building engine.
  Also for his constant and thorough comments on several topics related to flags, varying from countries, to organizations, worldwide. His line of work is very diversified and enlightens all of us with his in-depth research. (Martins-Tuválkin/Rivera)