Summer Hiatus Challenge 2017--Medal ceremony

[rjaguar3]

After a month and a half of play, the thirteenth Summer Hiatus Challenge has come to a close.

I first want to thank DadofTwins for creating the SHC and running it for its first decade. When I first created the scoring program as a summer project five years ago, I never thought I'd be standing in DadofTwins's shoes. In hosting, I've come to appreciate just how much DadofTwins worked to make the SHC possible.

I don't know how this tournament would have been possible without the substantial help of the guest writers. This year, there were a record 35 guest categories. I want to thank the writers whose categories were used this year: alietr, Blue Lion, Clue Jungry, cmp146, DadofTwins, ihavejeoprosy, immaf, Magna, mfc248, morbeedo, mujason, mystcmage, teapot37, TheTabbyWhisperer, Troydozzy, Woof, and two anonymous contributors.

The contributions covered a wide range of interesting subjects, from Canadian money to calendar women, and from the Mahabharata to Calvin Harris. However, this year, the players selected as the winner of the third annual Paucle Memorial Award for Outstanding Writing a writer who submitted a clever (and very timely) wordplay category: immaf for "Sol"ar eclipse, R4D1 (played on August 21). Congratulations, immaf!

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who played. This year, there were 128 players, 83 of whom (including 17 rookies) played 30 or more days. After six exciting rounds (and a down-to-the-wire finish for the rookie wild card), the field of 15 TOC participants was set.

After a very competitive TOC, the final standings are as follows:
15. Qball 288
14. Woof 323
13. joepozz 327
12. Cat Hammarskjold 335
11. Wpwells 358
10. cheezguyty 361
9. Clue Jungry 362
8. PowerofHoodoo 378
7. nlw44 385
6. cbec 390
5. ElendilPickle 397
4. cinemaniax7 399

Tied for second place with 406 points each,
mujason and SwanShadow

And our 2017 Summer Hiatus Challenge champion, who impressively ran the table, with a perfect score of 450 points,
Schliemann

I had a very busy, but very enjoyable, summer. Thank you to everyone who offered their feedback, whether in pointing out my mistakes or saying how much they enjoyed playing. While I can't make any promises about what my schedule is going to look like next summer, I will certainly offer whatever help I can in organizing the fourteenth SHC next summer. Anyone who wants to help (especially in writing or editing questions) as well should PM me.

I hope to see you in 2018!

[cheezguyty]

Congrats to the winners, thanks to everyone who contributed in any way, and a big THANK YOU! to rjaguar3 for doing such an incredible job with the SHC! It was a lot of fun and I appreciate all of the effort that went into making it possible!

[Blue Lion]

Thank you, rjaguar, for organizing this year's Summer Hiatus Challenge. Well done, sir! And congratulations to this year's winners--especially Schliemann, who got every ToC question correct.

See you next summer!

[ElendilPickle]

Thank you to all who wrote clues, and especially rjaguar3 for organizing the whole shebang!

I was pleasantly surprised to make the finals, and not surprised at all that Schliemann won. Congratulations!

[Schliemann]

thanks to everybody who keeps the SHC alive every summer.

s/o everyone who participated and a hat tip to mujason and SwanShadow on their joint silver medals.

a most important thanks to my family/friends/everybody that puts up with/tolerates my pursuit of all this.

thanks everyone, see you next year.

[cinemaniax7]

Congrats, S-mann! And thank you again to everyone who participated and contributed. This was a blast!

[clprez]

Thanks to everyone that made SHC possible. Congrats to Schliemann, too.

[KellyLasiter]

Congrats Schliemann, and thanks to everybody who made the SHC happen! It was lots of fun!

[morbeedo]

Hats off to you, rjaguar3, for hosting this wildly entertaining SHC. Had tons of fun playing and was sorry to miss the tail end of SHC due to my sunny Californication heat wave vacation! Until the next time...

[SwanShadow]

Super-special thanks to rjaguar3 for shouldering the responsibility of mounting the SHC, and pulling off the challenge with grace and aplomb. Thanks also to everyone who contributed material this season -- great stuff, all!

As always, I bow to the superior encyclopedic mastermind that is Schliemann. I will likely never finish this close to Troy at any trivia contest ever again (not that 44 points is "close"), so I will enjoy the fleeting moment. Congrats also to my fellow silver medalist mujason -- well played.

[Magna]

Thanks for organizing the SHC - it was a lot of fun. And congratulations to all!

[Cat Hammarskjold]

Once again, than you for doing this. I had a lot of fun.