Dime Micronationalist of the Month

DIME Micronationalist of the Month
Type	Award
Established	28 January 2019
Country	'Intermicronational'
Eligibility	Awarded to micronationalists who Zarel Smith and voters deem the best of the month
Status	Currently awarded
Organiser	Zarel Smith

Dime Micronationalist of the Month, commonly abbreviated DMM, MM or MotM, is a monthly award that features and honours a micronationalist (or a group, idea, fictional character, etc.) whom, the voters or the Dime committee (if a candidate is unopposed) deem the most influential of that month. It is ran by Statistic-Dime. It primarily represents the MicroWiki Sector. Since it was awarded in January 2019, it steadily grew into a highly anticipated and publicised event. The latest winner was Sertor Valentinus for October 2020.

Selection

See also: List of Micronationalist of the Month nominees and winners by number of votes

The deciding committee—which is headed by Statistic-Dime CEO Daniel Roscoe—, with the help from community input, chooses who gets put on the final voting ballot, which goes on to get voted on by the public. The poll is usually open for between three days and a week. If the committee has only chosen one candidate, they win unopposed, with no poll taking place.

Historically, Zarel Smith, the creator of the award, would solely decide on the candidates for the poll with community input. The poll for the winner would than be voted on by the general public. For the months of August and September 2019, a monthly form which would be open all month was created so any micronationalist may nominate anyone and state their reason for doing so. One could also nominate oneself.

Non-human winners

There have been two non-human winners from various non-human nominees:

• April 2019: MicroWiki@Discord administration collectively (which consisted of Jonathan I, Luxor, Aaron Green, Adam I of Adammia, Andrew Creed, Eryn Lewis, Newton von Uberquie, Shamus I and Shiro)
• November 2019: "You" (the micronationalist)

Tributes

There have been three winners (including one honorary) who won as a memorial to them:

• February 2019: Prince Leonard Casley of the Principality of Hutt River (1925–2019)
• August 2020: Maria Birch, Misberian politician (2004–2020)

For September 2019, the first Honorary Winner was announced, who was Tian Abdurrahman. Abdurrahman passed away on 9 September 2019. He served as Governor of Barakstan from 2012 to 2014; as the fifth President of Indokistan from July 2013 until January 2014; and as Chief of Arkapore from its establishment in January 2014 until his death on 9 September 2019.

Women

Given the disproportion of male to female ratio within micronationalism as a whole, Micronationalist of the Month has been awarded to a considerably larger number of women.^{[citation needed]}

• May 2019: Suzuki Leōcor
• October 2019: Catherine, Queen of Kohlandia
• August 2020: Maria Birch, Misberian politician

Controversial selections

Both January 2019's Anthony Clark, the first micronationalist to receive the award, and November 2019's "You" (the micronationalist) received notable backlash.

Overview of winners

Main articles: List of Dime Micronationalists of the Month for 2019 and List of Dime Micronationalists of the Month for 2020

  n/a; usually to denote when no vote occurred

  Non-human winner; such as an object, topic, idea, animal, etc.

Month/Year	Name	Portrait	Reason	Votes
Jan 2021	Karl Friedrich (Born 19??)		Work as a Wiki Bureaucrat Opened a successful Patreon for users to support Wiki hosting Successfully moved MicroWiki to another service provider with little disruption Nominated for Nicholas Randouler Award for Outstanding Contribution to Micronationalism	6 (100%)
Dec 2020	n/a	n/a	There was no winner for December due to Dime Micronationalist of the Year.	n/a
Nov 2020	Andrew Creed (Born 1999)		Work as a MicroWiki@Discord administrator Organisation of the first administration feedback survey Professionalism	14 (56%)
Oct 2020	Sertor Valentinus (born 2002)		Opening of the La Salle Convention Journalism Diplomatic work in West Sayville Wiki editing and research	n/a
Sep 2020	Casper von Naveria (born 2004)	98px	Cultural work in Naveria Diplomatic outreach Editing on MicroWiki Professionalism	15 (40.5%)
Aug 2020	Maria Birch (2004–2020)		Political work in Misberia Cultural influence Legacy following her passing	n/a
Jul 2020	Patrick Renwick (born 2002)		Efforts during Concordiagate Elected Vorsitzender in the August 2020 Abeldane executive election Political and leadership skills	n/a
Jun 2020	Newton von Uberquie (born 1998)		Reign as Emperor of Abelden Elected for a third term to be the Chair of the Grand Unified Micronational Foundation of the Uber-Essian Union Professionalism	12 (41.3%)
May 2020	Archie Birch (born 2001)	98px	Defended against an attempted coup in Misberia Reestablishment of Misberia Founded the New England Sector Intermicronational diplomacy	n/a
Apr 2020	Nicholas Randouler (2004–2020)		Work in the GUM Sister Cities Program Co-organised the 24 Hour Quorum (2020) Created the Monthly MicroWiki Micronationalists Power Index Elected Stellvertreter in the Abelden March 2020 executive election	14 (37.8%)
Mar 2020	Tomáš Falešník (born 2004)		Hosted the 2020 MOF Games Elected the Secretary of the Union of Micronations of Central Europe Appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in Mekniy Editing on MicroWiki	n/a
Feb 2020	Prince Zarel I (born 2004)		Appointed a wiki administrator Work in the GUM Editing on MicroWiki 1 Year anniversary of Dime Micronationalist of the Month	9 (42.9%)
Jan 2020	Jayden Lycon (born 2005)		Co-founded DIME Magazine Created the Micronationalist of the Year award Helpful work in the community Editing on MicroWiki	15 (39.5%)
Dec 2019	n/a	n/a	There was no winner for December due to Dime Micronationalist of the Year.	n/a
Nov 2019	You			n/a
Oct 2019	Catherine I (born 1980)		Writer of The Daily Micronationalist Positive influence on the community Professionalism Work on Kohlandia	10 (55.6%)
Sep 2019	Shiro of Zenrax (born 1991)		Recreation of Zenrax Elections in Zenrax Helpfulness and positive influence on the community Work in the GUM	12 (44.4%)
Aug 2019	Niels I, Grand Duke of Flandrensis (born 1988)		Head of state of the Grand Duchy of Flandrensis Positive influence on the community Co-founder of the Antarctic Micronational Union Peace efforts in the community Founder of the Union Against Micronational War	13 (43.3%)
Jul 2019	Bradley, Duke of Dullahan (born 1993)		Elected for a third term to be the Chair of the Grand Unified Micronational Announced more regular Quorums Positive influence on the community	8 (66.7%)
Jun 2019	Adam I (born 1998)		Served as GUM chair from 7 July 2018 until 1 July 2019 Organised the Birmingham Summit Oversaw the adoption of the Wrythe Convention Made the GUM more active Oversaw the transition of the GUM from it's previous platform Skype to Discord Led to a large increase in membership	n/a
May 2019	Suzuki Leōcor (born 1996)		Third Annual Drunkiz Gadurō Micronational Flag Contest Work in San Dover Professionalism	8 (47.1%)
Apr 2019	MicroWiki@Discord Administrators			5 (100%)
Mar 2019	Lord Admiral Joseph Kennedy (born 1999)		Re-elected Prime Minister of Austenasia Accredited work as Prime Minister	4 (66.7%)
Feb 2019	Prince Leonard I (1925–2019)		Passing of Prince Leonard, first prince and founder of Hutt River	n/a
Jan 2019	Anthony Clark		Establishment of New Florence Expert legal knowledge Contributions to MicroWiki	n/a

2020 Micronationalists of the Month

October

Portrait of Kublai Khan, a common depiction used to represent Valentinus

Sertor Valentinus is a journalist and the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of West Sayville.

Why he was awarded

At the beginning of the month, Valentinus opened the La Salle Convention, which condemns cyberattacks, doxxing, Discord raiding and online bullying. Delegates from prominent micronations, including Hrafnarfjall, Misberia, Naveria and Aenopia were just a few of the original signatories to the treaty on 5 October. The convention has since reached eleven signatories.

A prolific journalist, Valentinus is the founder and chief editor of The Brookside Gazette, and has been noted for his research on various topics. Originally made for West Sayville-related news, it has since branched out into other intermicronational ongoings, and was also granted accredited media status for the MicroWiki headlines. Valentinus, writing for The Brookside Gazette was the first to report on the dissolution of New Eiffel, Hrafnarfjall's departure from the GUM, and also the first non-DMM source to write about Casper von Naveria's DMM victory. In lighter news, Valentinus has also written about Cesidio Tallini and The Tallini Family, as well as the mostly forgotten Molossian Norton Awards and their legacy. Valentinus was also granted an interview from Kevin Baugh, President of Molossia, via e-mail.

Valentinus had also taken it upon himself to contribute to MicroWiki with his research, garnering 492 edits throughout October, making him the fifth most active editor of that month. Valentinus wrote about "We Could Have Invited Everyone", a micronational exhibition occurring in 2004 and 2005. Both exhibitions coincided with a micronational summit, and the latter summit had a delegate from the macronation Switzerland attend. The summit had previously been largely forgotten. Valentinus was made a patroller on MicroWiki the following month due to his contributions.

As Prime Minister of West Sayville, Valentinus oversaw the nation's acceptance as an observer state to the Cupertino Alliance and Grand Unified Micronational. He is also widely known for his role as Minister of European and African Affairs for the Cupertino Alliance.

Since no vote took place, we would like to extend our gratitude to our honourable mentions; Aidan McGrath for becoming a trial administrator on MicroWiki@Discord, and Jamez for hosting the acclaimed MicroWiki Karaoke Night which had over twenty-five attendees.

September

File:Casper.png

An image representing Casper, 2020

Casper von Naveria is the Duke of Naveria, among holding other offices.

Why he was awarded

Casper has overseen continuous growth and developed within his nation Naveria, which had its Independence Day celebrations on 9 September. Following a huge change to diplomatic relations, seven micronations signed treaties with Naveria. There was also a "strong recommendation to sign the Wrythe and Edgbaston Conventions to preserve integrity and encourage professionalism", which is expected to happen within October. Internally, Casper held a non-governmental survey on 12 September investigating the culture of Naveria, which may be used to direct cultural projects in the future, such as a playlist containing music relevant to the people and culture of Naveria which was released on Spotify. Casper has also attracted a number of new citizens to Naveria.

Alongside his work in Naveria, Casper has quickly become a ubiquitous person of note within the MicroWiki community, with some using adjectives such as "charming", "kind", "dedicated", "wholesome" and "mature" to describe him. Casper has also been active in the micronations of Confederate Georgia, New Virginia and Pavlov, and has done a moderate amount of editing work on MicroWiki. Casper was made a member of the Micropolitan Club and Lounge the following month in October.

Furthermore, he received the Scorian Medal of Friendship on 2 September, was made a Grand Commander of the Royal Family Order of Purvanchal on the 7th and an Officer of the Austenasian Order on the 19th.

Casper von Naveria won with 15 (40.5%) votes—making him tied with Jayden Lycon in January 2020 for the most votes received—ahead of the "Authors of the Augusta Accord"—which would have included the drafter Gaius Soergel Publicola, editor Adam I of Überstadt and Sir Joseph Kennedy, who had suggested it—with 13 (32.4%), and Brayden "Lee" Eaves with 3 (8.1%). Furthermore, 7 (18.9%) voters checked "None of the above".

August

Depiction of Maria

Maria Birch was a Misberian politician who served multiple offices. She passed away just shy of August on 31 July 2020.

Why she was awarded

Maria was prominent in Misberia, an influential micronation in the MicroWiki Sector. Originally joining back in August 2019, Maria went on to assume the positions of Minister of Culture and Grand Advisor to Archie Birch. She is credited with creating the Songo Calendar, and worked with Reino de Atlia on the creation of a culture exchange program. She is also credited with starting Vison 2021, a program which seeks to expand Misberian culture locally and globally as well as bridge the divide between global and local citizens, an issue with has long plagued the nation.

She had served as the second Witapal of Misberia from mid to late June 2020, and was in charge of the nation during that time while Archie was recovering in the hospital. Alongside serval other honours, was made a Knight of the Noble and Sovereign Order of Machias, a very prestigious Misberian honour, on 12 July 2020.

Her passing was a great shock to the Misberian and micronational community, and her unborn child passed away as well; numerous flag lowerings took place, various places were named after her, and a number of memorials and religious events in her memory commenced. The CUP held a moment of silence, and the GUM gave member states an opportunity to send condolences. Furthermore, a memorial service was held on 1 August in Songo in remembrance of Maria and her unborn child, where two candles were lit in front of the national flag of Misberia. Maria not only influenced Misberia, she also greatly influenced the intermicronational community as a whole and even many individuals.

July

Patrick Renwick

Patrick Renwick is the Emperor of Paravia and an Abelden politician, who was reelected Vorsitzender following the Concordiagate scandal.

Why he was awarded

A scandal developed during the July 2020 Abeldane executive election, where leaked chat logs from Chase Nanatovich showed leaders of Concordia, most notably Stephen Freayth plotting to oust former Emperor Newton von Uberquie and Vorsitzender Patrick Renwick. The scandal was dubbed "Concordiagate".

The chat logs were leaked from the Abeldane Discord server, and show conversations dating as far back as May 2020, held between Concordia leaders and Abeldane founder and Emperor emeritus Freayth, in which they appear to criticise Newton and Renwick’s actions while they were in office and discuss Renwick's removal from the Vorsitzendership. At the time the conversations were held, Newton had already abdicated from the Abeldane Throne upon Freayth’s request.

According to Renwick, Freayth commited electoral fraud, especially in the state of Alenshka, dating as far back as 2017. These claims were backed by Emperor Nicholas Kaos. In the executive election, Renwick and von Uberquie dropped out of the race and expressed their intention to leave Abelden together. This comes after Renwick had resigned with immediate effect on 30 July, in his resignation stating that support for his party had "evaporated and gone with the wind". Although he was later reappointed because of Concordiagate.

Renwick ran again in the August 2020 Abeldane executive election, being elected Vorsitzender with 19 votes (61.3%), ahead of three other candidates, and has continued to serve as Vorsitzender greatly.

Connor Stumperth has since released a public apology, while both Edward Daniels and Freayth have since fully retired from Abelden as well as the micronational community.

June

Newton von Uberquie

Newton von Uberquie is the Palatine of Uber-Esse and former Emperor of Abelden.

Why he was awarded

Newton von Uberquie abdicated from the throne of Abelden on 29 May, after serving as the Emperor of Abelden since 15 June 2018. He announced this in a speech, declaring he had "somewhat been pushed into", and thanked his various political, and personal friends for their dedication in helping and supporting him through his reign. Despite his reasoning behind it seeming as though he had no longer the support of the Empire's founders, his reign was praised and his abdication came as a shock to the public and media. Abelden saw a huge rise in activity under Newton, regaining its status as one of the most influential micronationas in the community. Newton was involved in the creation of a 2018 edition of the Abeldane Constitution, which, alongside a new Code of Laws was enacted back in November 2018, and is still seen as a huge importance.

Newton followed by co-founding and becoming head of state of the Uber-Essian Union on 1 June, alongside Henry Clémens. The Union was declared the successor state to the Palatinate of Uberquiesenberg by the GUM. This was declared after the close friendships between the two.

Furthermore, Newton ran for Chair of the GUM in the June 2020 election, winning with a massive majority of 83.9% against one opponent, Jayden Lycon. Having received 26 votes, this was the most ever received by any Chair candidate, also placing him eight by percentage of votes. He hosted his first Quorum on 4 July, which despite some minor informalities by other Delegates, was proven to be a success.

Newton won with 12 votes (41.3%), against Thomas Bainbridge, who was nominated for a third time, with 2 votes (6.8%) and Duke Jordan of the Bear Peninsula with 0 votes. This was also the first from to test a new write-in feature, which had 15 write-ins, the most being 10 write-ins for Alexander IV, Emperor of Pavlov. Smith announced write-ins would not be returning in the July 2020 vote. There was also one protest vote.

May

File:Official Portrait of Archie Birch.png

Archie Birch

Archie Birch is the Koda of the Directive of Misberia.

Why he was awarded

A failed coup in Misberia commenced in the evening of 23 May. Despite the perpetrators best efforts to defame Misberia, Archie and supporters of Misberia prevailed. The perpetrators began with spamming the Misberian National Snapchat with vulgar and offensive language, and started targeting Archie on the Misberian Discord server. One of the perpetrators, Jane Hathaway, went to Archie's house and stood outside with a rock screaming at Archie. Nearing the end as the coup began to fail, they started spreading the lie that Misberia had dissolved. This led to the loss of '75% of the Misberian population'.

Despite this massive loss, many micronations quickly came to Misberia's aid and support, and people started flooding in seeking citizenship and getting on the Misberian political scene. The #HelpMisberia was created on Twitter and Instagram to gain support and help Misberia with rebuilding. Birch, while working with other micronationalists, has stayed strong and made it through the attempted coup, rebuilding and improving Misberia.

Birch is also the Chair of the Global Micronational Alliance, which he reestablished on 17 May. Birch also formally founded the New England Sector, which he established as a way for New England micronations to have a place to work together and learn from one another. Birch was awarded the Order of the Lock and Key in the Republic of Sinsini on 6 May.

Birch was decided as the winner for May after careful consideration from Zarel, with no vote taking place.

April

Randouler in 2020

Nicholas Randouler is the monarch of Posaf, and is also active in Abelden, and intermediately active in Iustus and Millania.

Why he was awarded

Nicholas Randouler has had a number of ideas for projects in the Grand Unified Micronational, most notably the Sister Cities Program as a successful attempt to restore the GUM's image as well as for something to do with summits being cancelled due to COVID-19. Starting in January 2020, Randouler released on 15 April the GUM Sister City Program website to the member states of the GUM entitling what the program desires to accomplish, and has accomplished. The GUM Sister City Program has been successful for participating nations to spread diplomatic relations and make closer ties with fellow participating nations, as well as being attributed to making the GUM a bit more active.

Randouler has also planned a large number of other projects, including the 'New Members Association' and expanding the GUM Outreach Program. Randouler has also announced he has been working on ideas for a micronational social media, which would likely mainly be for eco-discussions. Randouler also co-organised the 24 Hour Quorum which raised £266 ($332).

In other micronations, Randouler ran in the March 2020 executive election in Abelden where he ran for Stellvertreter. He won the race with 61.76% of the vote and became Stellvertreter on 1 April. And, although being this month, it is also notable that he created the Monthly MicroWiki Micronationalists Power Index, an index of the most influential people in the MicroWiki Sector of the micronational community. Which although subjective, the list was generally well received.

Randouler with 14 votes (37.8%), ahead of Leon Montan with 11 votes (29.7%), Lord Matthew with 7 votes (18.9%), and the first time added abstention vote "None of the above" with 5 (13.5%).

March

Falešník in 2019

Tomáš Falešník is a Gymnazist politician who served as the third and tenth president of the Gymnasium State. Tomáš also works for a number of intermicronational organisations.

Why he was awarded

Tomáš organised and hosted the 2020 MOF Games, the second edition of the annual MOF games, which he hosted on-behalf of the Gymnasium State, the hosting nation. The games took place between 14 February and ended on 10 March. A total of 52 athletes from 19 micronations partook in the games, making it the largest MOF games yet. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant Tomáš has had more time to extend the games after not all nations had yet finished.

He was also elected the Secretary of the Union of Micronations of Central Europe on 28 February, just before March, and was made the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Mekniy on 13 March.

Tomáš, being a Patroller, has also been an active contributor on the wiki recently, making 646 constructive edits in March alone, the third most of that month. His large edit count can be attributed to his "MicroGnome" style of editing, mainly marking articles for deletion, copyediting and fixing page titles. Tomáš has also been highly active on the Czech-language MicroWiki.

Tomáš was made a Grand Officer of the Order of the Green Horse and Blue Lion in Posaf on 29 February.

February

Zarel in February 2020

Prince Zarel is the Prince of the Principality of New Eiffel. Zarel is also a film critic, actor, filmmaker and retired artist.

Why he was awarded

Zarel was made a wiki administrator on 2 February, after being a patroller since February 2019, and actively contributing on MicroWiki daily. Zarel is currently acting as Ad-Interim Press Secretary for the Grand Unified Micronational while Emperor Adam I focuses on finishing his degree, and is currently unable to actively write news articles. Multiple "Zedposting" memes including Zedtv, an image of Zarel wearing a cardboard computer box on his head, and "Zedism", a comical religion based around Zedtv arose starting on MicroWiki@Discord this month.

Zarel as been a prominent editor on MicroWiki, describing himself as a "MicroWikiholic", having the most edits on the site, and also frequently engaging in community censuses and discussions, and contributing various ideas for the wiki, such as the idea for a featured image on the main page. Notably, Zarel has written two good articles. Zarel also conducts a large number of informative surveys, including the MicroWiki General Survey, the yearly LGBT Rights Index and the monthly surveys for Dime Micronationalist of the Month. Zarel is a long-time and valued member of the community.

Zarel won with 9 votes (42.9%) ahead of Tomáš Falešník with 5 (23.8%), Dionisiy I with 4 (19%) and the "Provisional Council of the Commonwealth of New Virginia" with 3 (14.3%), which consists of New Virginian Chairman Joseph Kennedy, Riley Kennedy and Eryn Lewis. This also makes Zarel the only person to be nominated for DMM three times.

January

Image used to represent Lycon

Jayden Lycon is the President of the Fifth Aenderian Republic. Notably he is the co-founder of DIME Magazine and Vice-Lead for the 19th MicroWiki Influence Survey.

Why he was awarded

Lycon has recently shown decorum and has continued becoming a very respected member of the community this month. Lycon has been described as being both 'helpful and serious' but also funny, and is known for his tongue-in-cheek humour. Most notably he is the co-founder alongside Prince Zarel I of DIME Magazine, which was published on Christmas Day and gained a fair amount of recognition. He created the website and primary wrote the magazine, in which he professionally interviewed Russell Gilzem and Emperor Adam I of Adammia, who was also selected as DIME Magazine's first ever "Micronationalist of the Year" for 2019. Both the interviews could be described as being professionally done.

Lycon also has a number of roles in various micronations aside from Aenderia, most prominently including Iustus, which he is on the delegation team of for the Grand Unified Micronational. He serves as the Chief Justice and wrote the criminal code, and was made a Knight Commander of the prestigious Order of the Iustian leaf on 1 January this year.

Lycon won with 15 votes (39.5%), the most votes ever received, ahead of Archie Birch with 12 (31.6%), Thomas Bainbridge with 6 (15.8%) and Math Pony with 5 (12.3%). This also means that this was the most voted in DMM poll, with a total of 38 votes, absolutely smashing the previous record of 30 votes cast.

2019 Micronationalists of the Month

Main article: List of Dime Micronationalists of the Month for 2019

Voting and polling method

Almost all polls have been conducted through Google Forms. The only exceptions were March, which was manually conducted through Discord, and May 2019, which was done with Strawpoll.me. The poll was, however, rigged with voting bots, reported giving one over candidate two-hundred votes. Google Forms has since been used for every poll. The poll is commonly advertised on several Discord servers, most commonly MicroWiki@Discord.

Records

Main article: Dime Micronationalist of the Month records

Reception

Since it was awarded in January 2019, it steadily grew into a highly anticipated and publicised event. The award has received several endorsements from both nominees and winners. Zarel Smith has called it both his and Statistic-Dime's most successful projects ever.

News media

Micronationalist of the Month has been mentioned on a number of journalistic sources, including The Brookside Gazette, The Micronational Times, MicroWeekly, Plushunian News Service and the Ponderosan News Agency.

Use

Emperor Adam I of Adammia, June 2019's winner, posted on Twitter that the award was "A nice way to finish my year-long term as Chair of the GUM." Jayden Lycon, January 2020's winner, mentioned the feat in the Canadian Isabelle - Shrek Super Party manifesto for the Ponderosan Hills general election.

Spins-offs

Annually on December, there is a Micronationalist of the Year, where people choose the micronationalist who was the most influential of the year.

See also

• DIME Micronationalist of the Month results
• Dime Micronationalist of the Month records
• List of people who have received multiple DMM nominations