Guidelines

The Rules

The nominee screening process can be viewed HERE.

Nomination and Voting Guidelines

Nominations

Nominations will be accepted during the active nomination period. 

Nominations will only be accepted through this website.  Self-nomination is preferred. 

Each nominee will be notified of their nomination and given the opportunity to accept or turn down the nomination. If contact cannot be established, the nomination will be considered accepted.

The nomination committee will determine the final nominees in each category based on common criteria and precepts. The following guidelines must be adhered to for legal nomination submissions:

  • Only content that is primarily focused on Magic: The Gathering gameplay and products will be considered.
  • Only content that was published during the competition year will be considered, unless otherwise noted below.  All prior content should not be weighed during the nomination or voting periods.
  • Content Creators who are nominated may decline the nomination at which point they will be removed from the voting process.
  • Any attempt to alter the outcome of the nominations or voting through coercion or through any type of manipulation will render both the source of the manipulation or coercion as well as the target of the act ineligible to participate.  This will be handled on a case by case basis.
  • In case of a tie in voting, the nominations will be submitted to an outside party and will be judged specifically on their professional quality.
  • Content that violates the Wizards of the Coast’s Code of Conduct will not be eligible. Code of Conduct
  • Content Creators currently under or who have been awarded a DCI suspension during the competition year are not eligible to participate. Current Suspension List
  • Any content that is deemed to participate in or encourage bullying of individuals is ineligible.
  • There is no age restriction for participation, but content creators under the age of 16 are encouraged to have their parent or guardian contact mtgstrategist@gmail.com if they have any questions regarding the award program.
  • JJ Freeze (mtgstrategist) is not eligible to be nominated in any category and has sole discretion to change any portion of this competition or remove candidates and/or voters. 

Selecting a Winner

The top 6 nominees in each category will be added to the final ballot and voted on by either the nomination committee or a pool of content creators.  If there are multiple creators tied for a nomination spot, the decision to reduce or increase the number of nominee spots will be made by the director. Ballots will be distributed electronically to content creators through OpaVote (https://www.opavote.com/). 

The method of vote counting will be a rank based instant runoff. 

For electing a single candidate, instant runoff voting ensures that the winner is supported by a majority of the voters. The voters rank the candidates, and if a voter’s first choice is eliminated, the vote is transferred to the voter’s second choice.