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So, the VOTING IS OVER and the eBritish public have spoken (well, mumbled, slurred, shouted and in one case sung). So, like an Oscar ceremony, only without the prestige, black-tie, red carpet or prizes, let us begin!



The first prize, for Hero of the Year, goes to...




Mr Woldy!
"What can one say about Mr Woldy, 4x Prime Minster, King, Lover, poet and all round good egg.
I have been fortunate enough to have watched Woldy grow from a Private in the Royal Guard to
become one of the leading eUK citizens. His knowledgeable yet witty approach to the game has
made him popular with friends and enemies alike, for these reasons he's my 'Hero of the Year'."
-Horice



Next up, on the other end of the eUK's affections, the award for Villain of the Year goes to...




Petros13
"Petros was a trusted and intelligent member of our community. He had many a role within the military but in the end turned out to be an American spy. Whether he was from the start or whether he was turned is another matter, but the fact is he stole all our military assets, totalling in over 4000g iirc. We did manage to get lots of it back, however there were still gaping holes in our finances and the enduring Armed Forces Act (to protect the military from further theft) split the country and devastated our community at a time we should have been pulling together."
-IndieKid




Probably the biggest prize of the night, the award for Best Prime Minister of 2010 goes to...




Jamesw!
“Jamesw was the greatest eUK president for 2010 for many reasons. To be a successful president in my eyes you need to have the 4 key skills or surround yourself with people who do in fact have those strengths. Domestics, Economics, Military and Foreign Affairs.
Those who know jamesw well will remember that he once had a business empire worth 100s of gold. He understood the economic module well even with its ever changing rules and surrounded himself with people like Keers and Thatcher who have/had plenty of experience with other economic factors such as GBP strength.
Domestics was probably the weakest factor from jamesw though this is only because his other skills excel more than domestics. During his 4 terms as CP he was able to appoint different Ministers of Home Affairs (including myself) that had many ideas to revolutionize how the ministry was run. One of the ideas that jamesw came up with himself was the "Ministry of Communication" which helped split the Domestics Ministries into efficient chunks.
Military wise Jamesw has had plenty of experience because he was CGS during Iain Keers’ term. He was also heavily involved in strategical planning for Phoenix for the majority of the year which helped him understand the ins and outs of the war module. This experience in Phoenix also helped him make contacts internationally and develop his Foreign Affairs skills.
Jamesw also had key leadership skills which is a very important aspect for a prime minister. This also helped him make reactive decisions even if some of them were highly criticized. High dastardly skill was also inherited from his time in Phoenix command.
In conclusion Jamesw pretty much mastered the erepublik skills spiderweb and the award for best eUK president in 2010 is fully deserved in my opinion.”
-Kevy




A Prime Minister of rather different fortunes takes the 'prize' of Worst Prime Minister




John Barrlett

John Bartlett was never going to live up to the expectations of him. Elected by a coalition of every party other than The Unity Party, the first non-TUP president for months, there had been a palpable sense of excitement when he was elected in August. Sadly, things went wrong for him almost immediately. Hackers exploited serious flaws in erepublik security, leading him to lose control of his account (causing some people to assume he had betrayed the country, and a proposed impeachment). Canada exploited the new War Module rules to have a successful invasion with almost no resistance, by attacking at night. This, combined with apparent personal problems, led to his early resignations. In different circumstances, he could perhaps have been a great president; but we will never know. His character is now dead.




Now for the first non-human award, which has left me wondering who to give this statuette to. The Best Battle of 2010 was...


The Second Battle for London!
"The second Battle for London was particularly interesting and exciting mainly because it truly seemed as if we were on our own. Early indications from Phoenix authorities indicated that London was not high priority as it was before, and matters would sink even lower when the then CP, Jamesw, stated that we would allow ourselves to be wiped and then fight back afterwards. Unfortunately, the entire country disagreed with him. Kevy, the deputy CP, was summoned to the Military Command channel soon after Jamesw had left, and was instructed that the Military would continue to defend London anyway. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Thatcher, continued to give supplies to the Save London campaign; where some of us stayed up until the early hours to ensure all foreign and national citizenry were armed and well stocked to help defend London from the relentless attack. This battle is easily one of the most important due to the significance London held at the time, as well as the morale centre point for the country. It demonstrated that in times of national emergency, the eUK is more than prepared to throw aside petty political squabbles and work together in a stalwart defence of the realm."
-A Military Supplier, who asked to remain anonymous



The best country of 2010 was of course, the eUK, as it is every year. But the second Best Country was...



France!
"They are our closest ally and a very friendly set of people. If I had to choose somewhere that wasn't eUK to live they would be high on the list"
-Artela



France is a pretty cool country but at the start of the year was not even a formal ally of the eUK. The Worst Country on the map, however, started this year as a friend of this country.



"The eUK was eIreland's best friend. We had a well established peace treaty which enshrined that relationship in UK law. Even though Ireland was technically a neutral country, we looked after them and kept them safe from invasion. We could have attacked them without consequence as at the time they where 100% surrounded by formal UK allies, yet that never happened.

Eventually the UK and Ireland both changed alliances and found themselves on opposite sides. Still, UK did not attack Ireland and the friendship remained strong, even when Canada had been wiped and USA had one region. However, the tables turned and later it was the UK which was down to one region. How did Ireland repay the UK for its long friendship? Did they extend the same courtesies and friendship to the UK? No. They joined in with the invasion. Three times the UK was invaded and three times did we suffer Ireland's attacks. Only after the third time did the UK mount a full scale counter attack and destroy Ireland, repaying three war's worth of treachery.

Beware the Irishman, for he lacks normal human emotions such as friendship, compassion and honour."
-Goku Jones, using typically temperate language



The glittery prize of Newcomer of the Year goes to, in true eUK fashion, someone who joined erepublik in May 2009...



Michael Crookes!
“Despite not being that new, Michael Crookes only recently joined the community. He is a UKRP congressmen, I think he deserves the award simply because he has thrown himself into our community and really symbolised what it is new players need to do to get involved 😁”
-Mr Woldy



Whilst this has been a rather upbeat article, the matter of Saddest Loss takes on a paticularly tragic note. The winner of the poll, Malta_1990, has died in real life, and I thought it would be bad taste of me to write about someone I knew so little. So instead, I will just direct you to thisarticle



Artwork of the issue:

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp - Rembrandt
I dissect 2010 for the education of my readers, of course.