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The results are in, eCanada. Jacobi wins by a surprising landslide, beating out his closest competitor by almost DOUBLE the votes. Every respondent voted for Jacobi, no other contender received such widespread approval.

Okay, this has nothing to do with the Presidential Elections. It would be better to post Best Article of the Month (BAM) after the election, but really, 2 hours are left and I feel like celebrating a little early…and so should Jacobi.

Here is how the judgement went down. The judges selected their Top 5 articles for the Month of May. Their #1 choice received 5 Points and the rest were ranked all the way down to their final pick, worth 1 Point.

Total Articles: 15
Total Judges: 11
Total Points Distributed per Judge: 15
Total Points: 165

Your BAM judges:
Scorpius
Adasko
Kelly Mahoney
tylErection
Plugson
Eldorion
Frankypicoto
Macheras
Rayin
Gofarman
Chochi

Judges, you have my gratitude for your services. eCanada should feel the same.

Now that the technical details are cleared up, let’s get on with the real deal.

Here are the Top 5 Best Articles for the Month of May:
~~~~~~
5. Office Francophone – Office Francophone/Vulcain – “Forces Canadiennes”
Marks: 4 4 2 1 1
Total: 12 / 10%
The Plug: It’s about time a French article was voted as one of the best. I would go on to explain why but instead I’ll quote one judge who said it best: “It is my hope that Vulcain will see his article included in the top 5 by all judges, as he has not only done very good work in getting information to his fellow francophones, he has done it in such good style that even I, a late-french-immersion graduate, can appreciate the high calibre of his writing.”
Best Lines: Bien sûr, il y a quelques soldats francophones au sein des Forces Canadiennes mais il n’y a aucun bataillon entièrement francophone comme on retrouve dans la vraie vie. La création d’un tel bataillon serait un atout majeur pour la communauté francophone du Canada car il permettrait aux canadiens de langue française de s’impliquer davantage et de développer un sentiment d’appartenance envers le Canada.

4. The eCanadian Underground - Keldire - "The lost continent of Atlantis"
Marks: 5 5 3 1 1 1
Total: 16 / 13%
The Plug: A directly stated personal account about the fall of Atlantis. This was a come-from-behind article, as it barely made the Fabulous Fifteen shortlist. What made it popular with the judges? My guess is that it earnestly appealed to our concerns about eCanada’s fate without becoming too hysterical or empire crazed. As Sonny Chiba state😛 “Flawless logic and inspirational as well.”
Best Lines: “The Swedes may have done many things for Atlantis, I am not here to argue that point but I must ask... Why throw it all away? With Romania down and out they are in the position to take the reins and lead us as a figurehead for the alliance. Instead they choose to destroy all they have helped build.”

3. The Algonquin - Clancy Forrest - "eHockey is coming to Canada!"
Marks: 5 4 3 2 2 2 1 1
Total: 20 / 17%
The Plug: Canadians like hockey. eCanadians like eRep. Put those two together and you’ve got a winning combination. This article was most likely voted to 3rd Place because of the novel idea and potential fun the CHL will bring. Clancy, along with his right-winger Thordan, have developed an excellent way to put Veterans, Boomers, and Noobs all on the same team, literally. Expect to see great writing, exciting plays, and a growing eCanadian community.
Best Lines:
“The objectives of ehockey are:
1) Create new content for eRepublik citizens that will deepen the game and create more involvement for all.
2) Encourage high wellness and strength training.
3) Necessitate older player's involvement in fostering development of noobs.
4) Add a Canadian flavour to the game, something Canadian of which Canada can be proud.
5) Through small entry fees make donations to the winning team’s favorite charity. (Current approved charities are SCOTIA, CAF, and WGC)”

2. The Canadian Conduit – Dade Pendwyn – “[WGC] Romania Hits the Giant Retreat Button”
Marks: 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2
Total: 23 / 19%
The Plug: What! Dade didn’t win…FINALLY!!! Better hit that retreat button while you can because there’s a whole host of great writers rising up those !! ranks, taking over much coveted media territory. Nevertheless, Dade’s still got what it takes as he provides a great overview of what went down with the fall of Romania and the consequences eCanada could face. As Desdemona22 put it: “nice article dade, just put a bullet hole in the integrity of eRepublik. The game is hugely flawed in my mind now, and without Romania than this is going to suck.” But don’t count those Rascally Romanians down and out yet. Matzanesia is on the rise.
Best Lines: “The old order of the New World is over. Whether the two mega alliances break up into smaller alliances or PEACE continues to decimate the rest of the world with fake gold remains to be seen. What's certain is that eRepublik has drastically changed in the last few days. Romania is over.”

1. The Merchantman - Jacobi - "The Case for PEACE"
Marks: 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 1
Total: 45 / 41%
The Plug: When this article was added to the Fabulous Fifteen shortlist, Jacobi had yet to announce his candidacy and it seemed the article would only some attention for its radical proposal. It also seemed unlikely this article could be voted a winner, much like my sentiment when I first read “Jacobi for President.” However, here it is and here we are on election day. Perhaps many of us first felt like Michel D’Estrange: “Even though I do not agree with your line of thought, your attention to detail (something we have come to expect from you) has my respect.” Jacobi has earned a lot of respect in the last 5 days. Let’s all hope he continues on that path.
Best Lines: “We take this simplistic view because it is the most comforting, not because it is the most correct. We distill complex series of events and actions down to black and white because it is quicker to digest and easier to maintain. And that’s fair, in the sense that constant parsing and debate in wartime can detract and confuse our efforts and sabotage our effectiveness to our allies.

But let us now be perfectly clear: Whatever the state of war that had existed between Atlantis and PEACE is over. It is over because the alliance called Atlantis is over, and to continue within its façade would be to invite annihilation for no other reason but pride.”
~~~~~~

Way to go Jacobi for stealing the show. I look forward to seeing more of your clear cut opinions, sharp logic, and congressional/?PM? updates. Your article will be entered into the Journalism Hall of Fame as Best Article of the Month for May, 2009. BAM! You’re in.

Below are the results for the rest of the Fabulous 15. All could have been in the Top 5 very easily. Surprisingly Vincent Chaotic’s (now Vincent Valentine) articles just came under the cut off, though perhaps the vote was split between his two great articles. As one judge put it:
“In first, I didn't want to put political results in the list, it's frequently a fact more than a point of view from the author. However, the results published by Vincent Chaotic were simply amazing, deserving a place.”

As I said, so many were deserving of a top place. We have a great group of thinkers out there giving us their best effort to keep us informed, entertained, and on our toes. I encourage eCanada’s writers to keep putting out writing we can be proud of. The words words that describe our times are the voices that will guide our nation. Congratulations to all the writers mentioned here:


15. The eCanadian Insider - Tantis - "Citizens of Canada it is Time"
Marks: 4
Total: 4

14. Starlight Media Group - Manson Tai - "May 2009 Congressional Election Results"
Marks: 3 2
Total: 5

13 Quick News – marcchelala – “Quick News - Marcchelala for eRepublik Admin!”
Marks: 4 2
Total: 6

12. The Canadian Nation - Derakor - "Canada: Reconciliation, eCanada Reform!"
Marks: 5 1
Total: 6

11. The Alternate View – Derek Harland – “Monthly Election Review for the Top 6 Parties”
Marks: 5 1
Total: 6

10. The Times Standard - Dabman - "Highly Useful Up-to-date Map of Canada!"
Marks: 4 3
Total: 7

9. Independent eDaily News - CitizenB - "Tennis Anyone?"
Marks: 3 3 2
Total: 8

8. The Freeholder Press -Alias Vision -"[WGC] May Congress Winners and Losers"
Marks: 5 2 2
Total: 9

7. The Scarlet Letters - Vincent Chaotic - "Congress Elections - May 2009 - Final Results"
Marks: 5 3 2
Total: 10

6. The Scarlet Letters - Vincent Chaotic - "The Speakers Guide for New Congressmen"
Marks: 4 3 1 1 1
Total: 10

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