After another year with quite literally thousands of amazing answers written, it is no small task to narrow the field down to a mere handful to recognize at the end of the year. But the people have spoken, and while I wish I could hand out awards to everyone who has taken the time to contribute to the subreddit this year, we have some truly worthy recipients taking the top honors for the past year. So without further ado, I present you with the /r/AskHistorians 'Best of 2019' Winners!
Users' Choice Awards: Chosen in a vote by the users of the subreddit.
1st Place: /u/cthulhushrugged - "I am a governor of a village at the height of Genghis Khan's empire. What should I expect to happen after I submit peacefully to Mongol rule?"
2nd Place: /u/djiti-djiti - "A post about native australians made some ridiculous sounding claims, are they true ?"
3rd Place: /u/jimedorje - "In Disney's Mulan, how would Mulan have brought dishonor to the remains of her fellow soldiers by being revealed as a woman? And what would it have meant?"
Dark Horse (Non-Flair): /u/CoeurdeLionne - "Why do animals in Medieval manuscripts look so crazy? Did the painters not know what they looked like? Was it intentional? Did they have a hard time drawing?"
Flairs' Choice Award: Chosen in a vote by the Flaired users of the subreddit.
1st Place: /u/Valkine - "During the First Crusade, were there any alternative proposals to invading the Levant?"
2nd Place: /u/woofiegrrl - "The Deaf community today is split on the use of cochlear implants. Was there similar anger and argument during the spread of hearing aid use?"
3rd Place: /u/mikedash - "What do we know about history of "True Cross" after 1st century?"
Dark Horse (Non-Flair): /u/A_Dissident_Is_Here - "How on earth did the Unabomber evade capture for nearly 20 years, despite the costliest FBI investigation in history?"
Greatest Question: Chosen in a vote by the Moderators of the subreddit.
1st Place: /u/Suboutai - "Is it proper to use the terms “medieval” or “middle ages” for areas outside of Europe? Are there more appropriate terms for this period in Asian and African history?"
2nd Place: /u/quiaudetvincet - "After World War II, over 6 million women who worked in the industry during wartime now had substantial experience building trucks, planes, radios, etc. What options were available to them after WWII with this new work experience?"
3rd Place: /u/BZH_JJM - "In the infamous "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", Alan Rickman's Sheriff of Nottingham calls to "cancel Christmas." What would Christmas have meant to the average person living in Plantagenet England?"
Excellence in Flair: Our special, year-end Deluxe Excellence in Flairdom Award for 2019 goes to someone you all recognize and love: the endlessly enthusiastic, supportive, and omniscient /u/Gankom. No, it's not cheating to give this award to a mod--not when it's Gankom. You have to remember that they started out as just another lurker, not even an answerer, just a fan of the subreddit who started posting links in the Sunday Digest each week. Even though they claim not to have areas of historical knowledge/expertise, they saw a place in the subreddit where we needed improvement, and found a way to make themselves genuinely useful.
We are so, so happy to have Gankom around, and incredibly impressed with how quickly and thoroughly they have made their Sunday Digests an absolute AskHistorians institution. So /u/Gankom, as lurker, flair, and now moderator--ALL of us think that your contribution to the sub is unique, necessary, and all you, from the ground up. You make AskHistorians a truly special place.
All winners receive a hefty reward of Reddit gildings courtesy of the Admins, as well as their very own, snazzy /r/AskHistorians mug, courtesy of all you fine people buying from our booklist:
Limited Edition /r/AskHistorians Mug
I am pleased to be the first to offer my congratulations to all these very worth winners, and on to 2020 we go!
This is legitimately the nicest and least expected thing thats happened during my time on Reddit, thanks so much!
I really appreciate the votes of confidence, and it was especially nice to receive them for writing about one of those niche medieval topics that often seem to get submerged beneath the daily tsunami of 20th century queries. In fact, seeing so many other awards going to people writing about things that happened before 1500 is a really encouraging development so far as I'm concerned.
I'd like to add my thanks to everyone else's when it comes to acknowledging the work done by u/Gankom, and, finally, many congratulations from London to the writers of all this year's selected posts.
You know, I thought being a mod meant fewer surprises like this but I'm pretty blind sided. Thank you everyone so very much, and it shows that the circle of appreciation just keeps going round.
HUGE Congratulations is the very worthy winners for their incredibly fantastic answers. At the very minimum you've brought untold hours of joy and fascination to who knows how many people. Cheers to /u/cthulhushrugged, /u/djiti-djiti, /u/jimedorje
Ah, wow!
I really do not know what to say! Thanks all very much!
It has been and continues to be one of the great honors of my life to be included among this extremely worthy, knowledgable, and esteemed group!
Cheers!
Oh my goodness, I'm completely blown away! This is incredible news. I'm really honored to be chosen, I can't believe my little niche answer touched so many people! Thank you to everyone for voting and thank you /u/HotrodCow for the question!
Wow congrats to all, amazing work everyone!
Gonna just heap some more praise on /u/Gankom for Outstanding & Feel Good Services to the AH cause :)
Well done all! What a fantastic range of posts and questions.
Holy shit! I did not expect that! Thanks to everyone who voted for me, I couldn't be more stoked! Even if upon re-reading my answer I immediately saw things I'd have done differently if I did it again.. It's a great start to my week, many thanks again!
I honestly wasn't expecting this today! But it's really nice of all of you! Thanks to the mods for running such a tight ship!
Congratulations to all the winners!
Congratulations to all the winners! And a very humble thank you for selecting one of my questions among them!
Thanks to everyone who read and liked my response so much! It's an honor to be among the r/AH community and to be a part of such a well-read and studied group of historians.
I'm pretty excited for the mug ^^
Its an honor to have my question chosen. This group has been invaluable and the work done is top notch. Thanks to everyone involved!
Oh, some great questions and answers there.
I would like to thank Crom but he does not listen.
Congrats to all for these great answers. And of course, a profound congrats to /u/Gankom for the unending labors: you make this a much better place!
congratulations!
Congratulations to everyone! You've all done amazing work, and I'm honored to even have made it to the voting thread amongst such high quality work!
Congratulations and thank you to the winners. Like others, I want to acknowledge the work by /u/Gankom. Your Sunday Digests are a wonderful contribution. Thank you.
