Charter

This document shall serve as the governing authority for the administration, maintenance, and continuation of The Prize for Simming and Online Role Playing in Memory of Seth Cotis (also known as The Simming Prize).

I. Purpose

a.     The Simming Prize exists to recognize and honor the best of the simming and online role playing community.

b.     Up to five Simming Prize citations shall be awarded annually to individuals, sims, clubs, organizations, or other entities who exemplify service, quality, and dedication within the simming and online role playing community or who pioneer new technology or techniques.

c.     Simming Prizes shall be awarded for a significant one-time accomplishment or sustained contributions over a period of time.

d.     The dispositions of 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B shall be given equal consideration.  None should be assumed to be inherently superior to another.

Award Reason / Award Type	A) Significant one-time accomplishment	B) Sustained contributions over a period of time
1) Exemplify service, quality, and dedication	1A	1B
2) Pioneer new technology or techniques	2A	2B

e.     All entity types shall be given equal consideration.  None should be assumed to be inherently superior to another.

• A) An individual
• B) Multiple individuals
• C) A sim
• D) A club
• E) An organization
• F) Any other type of entity
• G) Any other combination of entities

f.      All Simming Prize awards are final, not subject to appeal, and shall not be revoked.

II. Personnel

a.     Trustees

• A) Responsibilities
  • 1. Trustees shall be responsible for all operations of the Simming Prize.
  • 2. Trustees shall ensure at all times the integrity of the Simming Prize.
  • 3. Trustees shall ensure necessary staff positions are filled.
    • a. All Staff positions shall be filled or vacated by a simple majority vote of the Trustees.
    • b. Trustees may simultaneously serve in Staff positions.
  • 4. Trustees shall contribute adequate funds to maintain the Simming Prize.
  • 5. The names of Trustees shall be publicly available at all times.

• B) Qualifications
  • 1. Any individual in good standing within the community may serve as a Trustee.
  • 2. Trustees should strive to serve for three to five years at a time.
  • 3. Trustees shall be automatically retired after completing seven years of service in a row.
  • 4. Trustees shall be automatically retired after failing to serve as a Judge for two prize years in a row.
    • a. Voluntary recusal due to personal bias or a conflict of interest shall not be counted.
  • 5. Trustees may be removed by a unanimous vote of the other Trustees with the concurrence of the Administrator.

• C) Selection
  • 1. A retiring or resigning Trustee shall select their own replacement.
    • a. A replacement selection may be rejected by at least a two-thirds vote of the other Trustees.
    • b. Following a rejected replacement selection, the retiring or resigning Trustee may select a second replacement, whom shall not be rejected by the other Trustees.
  • 2. In the event that a retiring or resigning Trustee fails to nominate a replacement, the remaining Trustees may select a replacement with a simple majority vote.
  • 3. The number of Trustees shall never exceed seven and never drop below five.
    • a. Trustees may add an additional Trustee with a simple majority vote at any time there are fewer than seven Trustees.

b.     Staff

• A) Administrator
  • 1. The Administrator shall be responsible for the general administration of the Simming Prize, to include collecting and organizing nominations and votes, as directed by the Trustees.
  • 2. The Administrator shall not simultaneously serve as a Judge.
  • 3. The Administrator’s name shall be publicly available at all times.
• B) Programmer
  • 1. The Programmer shall be responsible for the information technology architecture and organization of the Simming Prize as directed by the Trustees.
• C) Marketer
  • 1. The Marketer shall be responsible for promoting the Simming Prize and soliciting nominations as directed by the Trustees.
• D) Additional Staff Positions
  • 1. Trustees may create and eliminate additional Staff positions with a simple majority vote.

c.     Judges

• A) Right to serve as a Judge at any time
  • 1. A Trustee
  • 2. An individual Simming Prize Laureate
  • 3. A single individual designed by a non-individual Simming Prize Laureate
  • 4. Served as a Judge in the prior year
• B) May serve as a Judge with a simple majority vote by the Trustees
  • 1. Any other individual

III. Process

a.     Nomination

• A) Nominations may be submitted by anyone at any time.
• B) All nominations shall be considered except for:
  • 1. An accomplishment not related to simming or the online role playing community
  • 2. An accomplishment already awarded a Simming Prize or substantially included in another already awarded Simming Prize
  • 3. A nomination for a currently serving Trustee or a sim that a currently serving Trustee hosts.
• C) Nominations shall never be revealed to the public.
• D) The Administrator shall consolidate all like nominations to prevent vote splitting among Judges (e.g., two individuals nominated separately for the same accomplishment, a sim and its host nominated separately).
• E) Nomination consolidations and reclassifications shall be conducted to best recognize those who contributed to the accomplishment.  In general, Simming Prizes should be awarded in this manner: 

# of Individuals Contributing to the Accomplishment	Entity Awarded
1	The individual
2	The individuals
3	The individuals or the larger entity
4 or more	The larger entity

b.     Selection

• A) Every January, the Administrator shall announce to the Judges all nominations received during the previous calendar year.
• B) The Judges shall then discuss the merits of the nominees.
  • 1. Judges shall focus on whether the accomplishments of the nominees are worthy of a Simming Prize, not their opinions of the nominees themselves.
  • 2. Judges shall never contact nominees or nominators. If additional information is required, the Administrator shall only contact the nominator, not the nominee.
  • 3. Judges may recuse themselves on any single nominee if they do not believe they can be unbiased.
  • 4. Judges shall recuse themselves for any nominee that is:
    • a. Themselves
    • b. A sim they’re on
    • c. A club they’re in
    • d. An organization they’re in
    • e. Any other entity they’re a part of
  • 5. Judges may be removed by at least a two-thirds vote of the Trustees. All removals shall expire at next announcement of Simming Prize winners.
  • 6. All deliberations are to be kept private at all times.
• C) The Administrator shall solicit and count the votes of the Judges.
  • 1. Judges may vote for as many of the nominees as they wish.
  • 2. All nominations receiving at least a simple majority of votes shall be awarded Simming Prizes for a maximum of five total citations.
    • a. Recused votes shall not be counted against a nominee.
    • b. All ties shall be broken by the Administrator.

c.     Announcement

• A) The Administrator should strive to make the Simming Prize winning announcement before February 1^st of every year. 

IV. Amendment

a.     Amendments to Sections II & III of this Charter shall be considered.

• A) Amendments may be submitted by anyone.
• B) Amendments shall be adopted if approved by at least two-thirds of the Trustees.
• C) Amendments shall not be proposed or voted on in December, January, or February.

b.     Amendments to Section I & IV of this Charter shall not be received or considered.

c. This Charter shall be replaced by a unanimous vote of the Trustees.

This Charter was approved on February 11, 2022.