Well, the last few days have certainly been troublesome for us here, due to downtime. At this point in time, I am aware of what’s causing it and all measures are being taken to prevent it – however, it is not a problem with the host, as they are working with us closely to get it solved. I do apologize. However, it shall not stop the Lozzies! Today, I will be disclosing the winner of the Pinnacle, the coveted award, given to the overall best site for the last year. Want to know who won? Click, and learn.

The Pinnacle: Zelda Wiki – www.zeldawiki.org

In the last year, many sites have set themselves apart: Zelda Dungeon has been rapidly expanding on previous guide work; Zelda Universe has started dabbling in just about everything; ZeldaInformer has maintained impressive article output; Portal to Hyrule has continued to push the limits of their growth; Zelda Capital has maintained excellent media stocks; Hyrule.net continues to create the most user-friendly site; Exploding Deku Nut has kept tradition alive, despite troubled times; Zelda Reorchestrated works closely with WZMR to provide top-notch Zelda radio; Ganon’s Tower brought back their front page; the Desert Colossus has improved their layout and expanded content; the Hylia has maintained excellent news coverage; the Sacred Realm’s coverage of the Hero of Time fan movie has not dipped at all; I could simply go on, and on, and on.

In the end, what I’m saying is this: every Zelda site is good at something, and I’m sorry to admit that we can’t recognize them all with an award; I can’t even recognize them all within this single post. I mean, I could, but how impractical? So, we decided that the best way to reward everybody was to reward the site that represents everybody: Zelda Wiki.org.

This is not, to say, that Zelda Wiki is not an exemplary website in its own right. Its closest competition, Zeldapedia, is in some people’s opinions better designed, but it is impossible to deny the quality of writing and maintenance that Zelda Wiki maintains. Daily, users just like you reading this post read articles for fun, and make sure that all the articles contained on Zelda Wiki are top-notch, informative, and relevant. Not all articles are perfect, but that is the nature of all wikis – the imperfect is perfected, the scrawny are bolstered, and the quest is never ending. The dedication of the users of the Zelda Wiki is demonstrated by its over 2,800 articles on all things Zelda-related, and the number grows constantly.

I am a member of only two website staff teams in the Zelda community: the one here at LoZ, and the one at Zelda Wiki. I could write for hours about how wonderful the staff here is, but another time – for now, I could not possibly talk about why this site is the best site of the year without talking about its staff.

The staff of Zelda Wiki is comprised of three levels: Patrols (like moderators), Administrators, and Bureaucrats. Admins and Bureaucrats have almost all the same powers, except Bureaucrats are webmasters of each Zelda site that is a “mastermind” of the Zelda Wiki, and Administrators are those users who displayed such dedication, they rose to the ranks of management. The Quality Standards of the Zelda Wiki were created and are maintained by that staff. The dedication to quality, user friendliness, and fairness is staggering. The amount of care and dedication that the staff shows for the Zelda Wiki is unparalleled, because they work every day for hours to make sure that every edit is real, every edit is safe, and every edit is relevant. They look through tens of articles in a day, making sure their quality is of a level worthy of the Zelda Wiki. When quality is low, the article is fixed or marked with a tag to notify regular users of the wiki that work on that page is needed, and the true purposes of a wiki are performed: everybody is important in creating the best possible articles for everybody.

It is a testament to the robustness of this community, this Zelda Online Community, that a project like the Zelda Wiki, which started as Zelda Universe’s own wiki, has evolved into a website that is truly worthy of this award. Congratulations to everybody who has ever worked on Zelda Wiki; congratulations to everybody who currently works on it, day after day; and congratulations to the staff of Zelda Wiki, who I know all share my feeling of truly being a part of something larger than oneself or one’s site. This award, my friends, goes to the community.

That concludes this year’s Lozzies. We here at LoZ.com hope that they have been interesting, well received, and that we have helped these sites not only gain more attention for their strengths, but helped other sites realize where they can improve. If you didn’t win a Lozzie this year, fear not – there’s always next year! Be sure to comment on the forums.