Consolation Awards

In the tradition of the POTM, there are WINNERS and there are winners.
Only a select few have ever really WON a POTM, but these awards are
for the masses ... read on.

The BIGGEST SCREW-UP AWARD: To the POTM-MASTER himself
	This is the first time I've ever given myself an award.  When
	I ran the first 32 matches in the playoff tournament I
	incorrectly recorded the results of a first round run.  After
	correcting my error, future matchups changed and we ended up
	with a different winner.  This is why Mike Anderson and 
	Don Kirkby are sharing the POTM honors this time around.

The BEST PROGRAM NAME: To John Saalwaechter for bababooey
	Hey ... if you're not a Howard Stern fan (U.S. Radio Personality
	and "King of All Media") then it won't mean much.  But I am a fan!

The WORST PROGRAM EVER:  To Bozo_II_The_Headache from Scott McCord
	Scott's entry actually built a wall and then proceeded to run
	into it over and over again.  Judging from Paul Banta's (Russian)
	innermost secret, there may be some collusion going on ... but
	what the heck!

The BEST ATTEMPTED BROWN-NOSE AWARD: To Thomas Harrington 
	Thomas, in the comment section of his program, wrote:
	/*   
	     Also, thank AT&T for me for letting you run this.  I use 
	     many AT&T products (wireless, long distance, etc.. ) and 
	     will continue for a long time to come.
	*/
	(I sent a copy of his comments to my boss ... it didn't help)

The MOST EXOTIC LOCATION: To Someone named Indraneel in Mumbai
	I don't know where it is.  Indraneel never competed.
	But I really liked the sound of "Mumbai".

The BEST LOOPHOLE AWARD: To David Roe
	David didn't actually USE the loophole, but he wrote:
	"There appears to be no rule prohibiting writing into 
	the opponent's temp file in the POTM rules, though 
	overwriting violates the spirit of the contest.  Is it 
	OK to overwrite it or remove it if you don't read it first?"

The BEST PROGRAM FROM DUKE AWARD: To Matt Peters for Timage
	Well, to be truthful it was the ONLY program from Duke.  But
	early on it seemed like a whole bunch of Dukesters were going
	to be conducting their own contest so I decided early on
	to make this award.  I guess final exams got in the way!

The SNEAKIEST TEST METHODOLOGY: To J.T. Traub and T.A. Popiel
	I'm told that the mediator program they offered actually
	connected back to their server and played a shootout.
	I don't know for sure if they recorded the strategies of
	anyone who tried it, but if they did it was a fantastic idea!

The BEST SPY AWARD: To HaJo Gurt, author of ninja
	For telling me about that sneaky test program above ...

The ARRRRRRGGGGG AWARD: To HaJo Gurt for ninja
	Ninja was a pure runner.  Showdown was a pure runner from
	Sameer Mudaye.  They played and tied.  They played and tied
	again.  This was the only match that was a numerical tie and
	where I needed to use code length to resolve the tie.  Well,
	both were shell/awk programs and ninja happened to be better
	commented - so it was longer - so it lost.  I didn't feel
	TOO bad about this one since showdown got knocked out in
	the next round.

The PROCRASTINATOR AWARD: To Mark Masten for an unnamed entry
	Mark's first program came rolling in at:

	From masten@voicenet.com Mon Jun 30 23:55 EDT 1997

	Well ... it actually compiled but core dumped with a
	segmentation fault and hence could not compete.  Perhaps
	Mark will leave TEN minutes for the next POTM!

The CLARK KENT AWARD: To Mstislav Rostropovich (David Roe)
	David chose to remain anonymous through the system
	testing.  Oops ... I guess I blew his cover!!!

The "MOST FORGIVING" FIGURINES: To Don Kirkby and Mike Anderson
	Some of the luster was taken off the POTM trophy because
	of my scoring screw-up ... both of these winners took
	mercy on your humble POTM-master and were very understanding
	when informed of my co-winner decision.  In addition to
	the bronze figurine with oakleaf cluster, they earn my public
	thanks and apology.  (By the way, there is NO actual figurine,
	this is an old phrase from Jean Shepard for those of you
	old enough to have listened to storytellers on the radio!)

The SECOND MOST FORGIVING AWARD: to Sam Wilson for DeputyDawg
	Well, DeputyDawg's first round match was incorrectly recorded
	by some bozo as a loss when it should have been a clear win.
	When the error was corrected, DeputyDawg progressed all the
	way to the final four!!!  Wow.  

The VACATION AWARD:  to the POTM-master
	who has decided NOT to conduct the POTM over the summer and
	thus avoid reading all those silly messages that everyone
	makes their "vacation" programs send.

Thanks again to all who participated, and to those who spent a lot
of time "thinking" about the POTM but never actually submitted
an entry ... I hope you ALL enjoyed doing whatever you did!
=Fred