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In addition, we would like to set cookies to help us understand how our website is used.Posted by: Admingray on 28th May 2017
Voting is open for the second British and Irish National Geocaching Awards
Originally an element of the 2016 Ashridge Geolympix Mega event, the spin-off British and Irish Geocaching Awards are currently running for a second time, with voting expecting to end in mid-July, ahead of an awards ceremony on the evening of the Devon Mega.
Co-organiser Paul Smith explained, “The community support of last year’s awards caught us a little by surprise – over 1,400 respondents casting more than 15,000 individual votes across 24 categories – and what started as an experiment is, we hope, slowly growing into something with some gravitas. To keep the awards community-led, last year we asked for category suggestions to keep the awards fresh, and this spring dozens of cachers nominated hundreds of caches, cachers and caching-related stuff! We always wanted the awards to celebrate and highlight the best of British and Irish caching, and we’d like to thank everyone who’s joined-in with the project. On a personal note, I want to send my appreciation to the other NGAs team members. It wouldn’t happen without them either.”
Voting is currently open at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ngas and 25 ‘Golden Smilie’ awards will be presented during the entertainment after the Devon Mega on August 5th this year. Only cachers usually resident in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands or Isle of Man are eligible to vote, and it’s one vote per person.
The 25 award categories being voted on, and shortlisted finalists are:
1. Scotland’s Best Cache - GCJ3TZ The Death of Power - GC466ZD JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY - GC16BTQ Fingal's Cave (Staffa) - GC13YP7 Highlander's Home (Eilean Donan Castle) - GCN6ZD Bonnet Stane Earthcache (Fife, Scotland) - GCF0 Scotland's First - GCG6XD Britain's highest Geocache.
2. Wales’ Best Cache - GC6KVCB An aMAZEing view - GC20MGQ "POWER SHOWER" - GC4GEAB Start Jumping at the Bryn - GC64BH0 Kate's BINARY challenge No6 & MISSION IMPOSSIBLE! - GCY0N0 Summit or Submit.
3. Northern Ireland’s Best Cache - GC5WBX1 Hexagons at Giants' Causeway - GCPCPX The Giant's Causeway Earthcache - GC2QDAT North Down Coastal Path - Station Road Cultra - GC123MJ A Tale of Lurgan Gothic - GC5EFA Home by the Sea (Co Antrim).
4. England’s Best Cache - GC2M0AF The British Library - GC2CQB7 Cathedral Cavern Cache - GC320ZY Open Sesame - GCRBP2 The Magnificent Journey. - GCHJN4 Alchemy Quest ~ Gold - GC6ET5A CornishCandy's Candy Cache.
5. The Best Offshore Island Cache - GC5AN8Q Scillonian Puzzle #6: Wish You Were Here - GC21T4K Le Tchien Bodu - GCV7KT Going Holm - GC347RC The Spar Cave, Skye Earthcache - GCN1K8 Terracotta Warriors (Bute) - GC6GDYP This Cache Is AMAZING! - GC4RYN7 Scotland The Quest - Western Isles.
6. The Special Caching Achievement Award - El Del – JackieC – Washknight – Skippy of Skippy and Pingu.
7. The Best Church Micro Series Cache - GC17878 Church Micro 1...Earlswood - GC3WXHN Church Micro 3000: London St Paul's Cathedral - GC51MD2 Church Micro 5554 Buckfast Abbey - GC1K9P3 Church Micro 7618...Westminster Cathedral - GC5RZH6 Church Micro 666...Devils Dyke DD1 - GC52TWJ Church Micro #5576 Bristol Cathedral - GC5FWNJ Church Micro 6680...Roche Rock.
8. The Best New Cache of 2016 - GC6PFXP 12) Cache Round Kentisbeare 2 Lucky Dip! - GC6V1Q8 Life's A Beach #19- Plymouth (DM17) - GC6FBEK Below Above - The Lost Geocacher - GC6N4FK The Grim Reaper - GC6XQN7 The lost reindeer - GC6TJXJ The Garden.
9. The Best Multi Cache - GC60V76 Little Drummer Boy - GC2M0AF The British Library - GC6AA9 Up the Close and Down the Stair - GC5N96E #2 The Crystal Maze - GC4GEAB Start Jumping at the Bryn - GC15F7D Exon Quest.
10. The Best British Mega Event (2008-16) – All 22 available to vote for.
11. The Best Non-Mega Event of 2016 - GC6RZM0 gingko's 2nd Annual Pillow Fight - GC6GEYX 9 Usual Suspects On Tour Bray Head, Dublin - GC64QN2 2016 New Year Cream Tea Event - GC6AAA8 Hilbre Island Meet - GC6PDBK Vogrie a Grand Day VI - GC6AWR9 The Second Annual Gnome Games - GC6K9NR Hyke Around Hykeham 5.
12. The Best Recurring Event Series - LEC (League of Extraordinary Cachers) events - A Wild (West) Christmas - Dartmoor Bi-Monthly Midweek Event - BBH (Bucks, Beds & Herts, started in 2008) - 9 Usual Suspects: Nosh and Natter.
13. The Best Accessible Cache (T1, with Wheelchair Attribute) - GCM8ZK "The Hotspot" (Devon) - GC2C7R3 Rescue me - GC5FMC4 An Eye for the Planets - GC1PAKM Monster Drive - Urquhart Castle - GC3KGB1 Farne Islands - GC51WVK Seafront Stroll.
14. The Best Log of 2016 – Six to choose from, with links.
15. The Best New Series (either national or loop/cluster) - On Safari (Clevedon area) - Flags of All Nations (Milton Keynes area) - Life's a Beach (National series managed by heartradio) - Spling Ring (Aberfoyle area) - Walk the Line (Jersey) - Lifeboat Station (National series managed by Flexburyites) - Cwmorthin & Rhosydd Trails - Avon (Bristol area).
16. The Best New Geocoin of 2016 – Seven to select from, with links.
17. The Best Geo-Traveller Mission – Four to choose from, with links.
18. Geocaching Family of the Year - theclosefamily - Dave's Piglings - Theclarkiebums - btco - The Cooke Family.
19. Geocacher/s of the Year - Ann@Birdbrook & Naturesbyte - heartradio - Nickanddonna - Coinkezza - Sir PhilPamAndRob - stanthews - Leonards193 - richlay - Dartmoor Dave - bigfishuwish.
20. Newbie/s of the Year - ChudleighTraveller - dwarferk23 - GeoOldham.
21. Geocaching Blogger or Vlogger of the Year - Katie Close of TheCloseFamily on YouTube - The Geocaching Junkie - GCHarribo on YouTube - GAGB Seeker eMagazine - GeoPaul on YouTube.
22. Best Promotional Item (non-coin) - Devon Supporter's Packs - Yorkshire Mega 2018 Mugs - Devon Mega Hoodies - Geolympix 2016 Full-Colour T-shirts.
23. Best New Extreme Cache of 2016 - C6FBEK Below Above: The Lost Geocacher - GC6EZZ6 QLD's Colourful Campsies - GC6WBCH Stoke Park Series #3.
24. The World’s Most Desirable Cache (Global Guest Category) - GCC67 Mission 4: Southern Bowl: The last(ish) Project A.P.E. Cache - GC30 Mingo: The World's Oldest Remaining Geocache (May 11th 2000) - GC1BE91 International Space Station: The only orbital Geocache - GC17MX1 Bridges & Arches of Central Park: A wonderful tour of NYC's Central Park. 78% Fav Points - GCD Geocache: Last Remaining Single-Digit-Code Geocache (June 21st 2000).
25. The Thank You Award (Hall of Fame for Geocachers who contributed to the game but have passed away) – This category was nominated against, but isn’t voted on. Paul selects one based on the reasons given by nominators.
Concluding, Paul added, “Because the winners aren’t informed in advance, there should be quite a sense of anticipation come August the 5th, as there was at last July’s awards. We hope readers of Seeker will visit SurveyMonkey.co.uk/r/ngas and cast their votes – there’s no need to vote in each category, although we’ve included links to everything to help cachers make informed decisions – and will also join us in Devon to see which finalists have won the support of cachers to gain the ultimate accolade!”