The votes are in!

To start off, as some of you noticed, we have been test running 'Great Question!' flair this past month. These are designated by the mods, and at the end of the month, we held a mod vote for the one that really struck us most of all from that batch. The inaugural winner, with the Best Question of August is /u/megami-hime who asked: "The Scramble for Africa saw Ethiopia not only remaining uncolonized but also an expansion of territory. How did Ethiopian imperial policy compare to those of European colonizers?" And of course while the award is independent of the question being answered, recognition is well deserved for /u/khosikulu's response to the query.

For August, the "Flair's Choice" award goes to /u/yawarpoma, for their excellent response to "It's the early 16th century. I'm a young, ambitious, European man looking to make a name for myself as part of the Spanish conquest of the New World. How do I go about joining an expedition and what would life be like once we get to the Americas?"

This month's "User's Choice" awardee is /u/JimeDorje, who answered "Why was in China's interest to invade Tibet?".

Finally, we have quite an interesting case for the "Dark Horse Award" this month! Having both written fantastic, and quite complementary answers to "Operation Dragoon, the Allied Invasion of southern France from the Mediterranean was 75 years ago today. How did the operation play out?", /u/historymystery12345 and /u/thefourthmaninaboat were nominated in tandem on a single ballot, and in a hard fought close second overall, and a clear winner for top (half) non-flair answers, they are splitting the award 50-50, but are both 100 percent deserving.

Finally, the Excellence in Flairdom Award for August 2018 goes to none other than /u/restricteddata! You probably know them as the person who answers questions related to nuclear weapons...any question related to nuclear weapons...all questions related even tangentially to nuclear weapons. RD relishes diving into extended answers based on original research while not hesitating to take on small things for no glory. And when historiography or humanities questions come up, RD almost always leads the charge with clear, forceful arguments. Thanks, /u/restricteddata!

The winners each receive a month of reddit gold in recognition of their accomplishment!

So as always, a big congratulations to the winners, and a big thanks to everyone who contributed to the subreddit in the past month! Also a reminder, if you want to nominate answers for the monthly awards, the best way to do so is to submit your favorite posts every week to the Sunday Digest!

For a list of past winners, check them out here!