UCIP Awards Proposal Ladies and Gentlemen, CO's and XO's, welcome to the new UCIP awards system. Below is a complete listing of all Starfleet In Character and Out Of Character Awards that can be awarded to any eligible officer. As part of the new system, the following changes have been made to the awards. - More detailed awarding criteria has been added, along with examples for most awards. - CinC/DCinC can no longer give In Character awards, as they are by nature OOC posts. - Department Heads are now responsible for nominating their officers for Department Awards to the Commanding Officer for approval and awarding. - Several older awards have been reactivated and placed in the new system. - SSS, SFMC, and JAG will have their own specialised modules added to the In Character section pending future approval. - Several In Character awards have been moved down an awarding level to compensate for the fact the CinC/DCinC no longer have direct access to IC awards. - Now that UCIP International is no more, all awards presented by International have been reworked for awarding by the CinC/DCinC allowing them more leeway for recognising officers. - The reworked International awards specifically state that they are available only to Staff or Non-Staff members. I deemed this a necessary step as Staff/Non staff members both have the opportunity to put much effort into UCIP but in very different ways. The Orion Award is there specifically for the reasons outlined in it's description, to remove the chance for biased decisions. From the point of view of many people the last Bergen period awardings were a joke, and the new Orion Award ensures that one non-staff commanded ship gets due recognition. IN CHARACTER AWARDS All the awards detailed below this heading can only be given to a Character. This means that these medals and ribbons can only be issued to a sim character for achievements that happen either during an IRC sim or in an email log or series of logs. In simple terms, these awards can be given out to recognise Ensign Bloggs for saving his Captain's life, or Lieutenant Jane for the amazingly detailed research she did on that alien parasite. They cannot be handed out to someone who just spent 3 weeks redeveloping the sim website. These awards belong to the specific character they are given to, not the actual player behind the character. Hence, they die with the character and cannot be transferred. The awards are all listed with criteria for awarding, and examples of actions that would meet said criteria. For the Department Head awards, it is recommended that each department head review their officers on a monthly basis and then report to the CO and XO who they want to see get an award and a breif reason as to why. Note that department heads are eligible for these awards too, so I recommend all CO's assign the task of monitoring Dep. Heads for awards to their XO. This strategy may limit award presentations to the first sim of every month, but it *does* ensure that anyone who deserves an award gets one. AWARDS PRESENTED BY DEPARTMENT HEADS TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE MEDAL Awarded to an officer for demonstrating excellence in their duties in the field of Engineering. - With Cochrane Cluster for warp related work - With Pulsar Cluster for weaponry related work - With Scott Cluster for jury rigged solutions - With Constellation Cluster for impulse engine work - With Harland Cluster for EVA work This award should be reviewed on a monthly basis, and awarded to an Engineer for meeting the following criteria: 1) Can use technical terms with depth of knowledge 2) Shows the ability to improvise during plots without detailed behind the scenes instructions 3) Shows the ability to work well with team-mates (if applicable) 4) Can run their own sub-plots when Engineering is not directly involved in the main plot. It is suggested the award is given out with the appropriate cluster if an engineer meets two of the above criteria, and is not rating poorly in the other two. This award is issued by the Commanding or Executive Officer on the recommendation of the CEO. The CO has the right to block the award, but should not do so unless they hold a good valid reason. EXAMPLE: Lieutenant Jordan spends a full one hour IRC simulation directing his Engineering team to get the badly damaged USS Stargazer's engines and shields online so it can escape the approaching attack fleet. Him and his team get the job done without working at cross purposes, and they are able to talk in technical terms without one having to stop and clarify something to the rest of the team. In this example, Mr Jordan has met criteria 1 and 3 and would thus qualify for an award at the end of the month, provided he did not make a major mistake in another sim. KRAGITE AWARD Awarded to an officer for demonstrating excellence in their duties in the field of Security. - With Chekov Cluster for away team duty - With Castellan Cluster for shipboard duty This award is specific to Security officers. Chief of Security should review each member of his department on a monthly basis and apply the following criteria to determine if an officer has earned an award (with appropriate Cluster) 1) Recognises their responsibility for the safety of everyone else on the ship/away team 2) Shows common sense and responsibility when handling weaponry, and respects the fact that lethal force is an absolute last resort. 3) Demonstrates the ability to function as part of a well oiled team. 4) Can apply relevant tactics to any given situation, as advice to the senior officer. 5) Carries out routine shipboard duties when Security is not involved in the main mission. It is suggested the award is given when an officer meets Criteria 2, plus any two other criteria. Should not be awarded if the officer acts poorly in any of the criteria. EXAMPLE: Ensign McNeill is on away team duty with the Captain, three Science officers and two other guards on a planetary survey mission. Him and his two team mates walk out to respective patrol points around the rest of the landing party without even having to speak to eachother, they know their job and they know it well. McNeill has his weapon locked on stun, and does not draw it... to do so would be a sign of hostility to anyone who might be watching. A few moments later he hears a scream from one of the Science officers, so he draws his weapon and runs towards the source of the sound. Arriving there quickly, he sees a large humanoid has injured one of the science team, and is about to throw a boulder ontop of another scientist who has tripped and broke his ankle. Mc Neill can't stun the creature, as it might fall forward onto the scientist and crush the poor man, so without thinking the Ensign rushes the humanoid and shoulder charges it. The bigger humanoid is caught off guard and stumbles backwards.. dropping the boulder behind him. The scientist is safe, and McNeill can now dive out of the way safe in the knowledge one of his team mates is ready to stun the creature. In this example, Ensign McNeill is a pretty good security officer. He meets all the criteria except number 5. As far as criteria 4 is concerned, he might not have given advice to the senior officer present, but his quickly thought up tactic did save the life of a fellow crewman, so the Chief of Security decides that he meets that point. GOLDEN SHIELD AWARD Awarded to an officer for showing outstanding abilities in the field of Tactical. - With Armada Cluster for Fleet Duty - With Constitution Cluster for Detached Duty - With Harbour Cluster for Duties on or near a Starbase - With Farpoint Cluster for Deep Space Assignment This award is to be reviewed every 4 weeks by the Chief Tactical Officer on his/her assistants on the following criteria: 1) Shows respect and responsibility for the priviledge of defending the ship. 2) Is fast acting and does not hesitate during critical situations 3) Is dutiful to the point of perfection, firing weapons only on the Captain's orders no matter what the situation is. 4) Has the ability to provide tactical analyses of alien ships and suggest appropriate courses of action to the Captain. The award should be given out to officers who meet criteria 1 and any other 2 criteria. Officers who perform poorly in one criteria are not eligible. EXAMPLE: Lt Commander Thomson is manning tactical as an unknown ship cloaks and attacks the USS Exeter. She quickly raises shields and arms the weapons systems, but resists the urge to fire back on the alien ship. She reports to the Captain that she ship doesn't meet any known design, and that it's shields are relatively weak. The Captain orders repeated hails, but to no avail. As the alien ship strafes the Exeter again, the Captain orders defensive fire. At this point, Thomson could easily fire torpedoes and destroy the alien ship, but being a Starfleet Officer she acts the way she's been trained and uses the phasers to disable the alien ship's shields and weapons. Realising it has trifled with the wrong starship, the alien vessel retreats with no loss of life on either ship. In this example, Thomson has acted like a textbook officer. She meets criteria 1 2 and 3 easily, and shows true professionalism in her approach. MANHEIM AWARD Awarded to an officer for demonstrating excellence in their duties in the field of Science. - With Manheim Cluster for Temporal Science - With Cochrane Cluster for warp field science - With Magellan Cluster for Stellar Cartography - With Newton Cluster for Astrophysics - With Marcus Cluster for Planetary Sciences - With Nevada Cluster for Xenobiology - With Solar Cluster for theroetical Sciences Chief Science Officers should review the work of their Department every 4 weeks and submit a request for awards to the CO/XO based on the following criteria. 1) The officer is able to function efficiently as part of a research team 2) The officer respects the fact that ship safety always rates above scientific curiosity 3) Is able to provide proper analyses and facts regarding research and discovery. 4) Is efficient in their use of starship resources 5) Has the initiative to work on other projects when in a scientifically unrelated main mission. It is suggested an award is given when an officer meets criteria 2, plus any two other criteria. Provided of course that the officer does not perform too poorly in any other criteria. EXAMPLE: The USS Acheron is performing a planetary survey in the Lambda cluster. The science team has divided up all the duties evenly, matching each person to the task best suited for them. Ensign Carson has been assigned to monitor stellar phenomena in the area. As a lot of sensor arrays are being used for the primary mission, he requests a probe be launched so that he can investigate a nebula at the edge of sensor range - due to the fact that he doesn't want to take sensor resources away from the primary mission. After some studying, he labels the nebula as a class 7 gas formation, and recommends the ship avoid the area as it's rich in proto-matter. This is despite the fact that he can detect signs of Iconian technology on an asteroid deep in the nebula. He'd love to get that technology into a research lab, but the proto-matter would likely destroy the Acheron as her impulse engines would ignite it. In this example, Mr Carson has met criteria 2, 4 and 5. He does not meet criteria 1 because he's working on his own on this project. GOLDEN HEART AWARD Awarded to an officer for demonstrating excellence in their duties in the field of Medical. - With the McCoy Cluster for advanced surgical work - With the Babel Cluster for Xenobiological work - With the Wolf Cluster for wartime emergency work - With the Nightingale Cluster for patient care - With the Curie Cluster for medical research Department heads should review their staff every 4 weeks for award eligibility. Awarding should be based on the following criteria: 1) Shows true care for patients 2) Upholds the Hippocratic oath 3) Places their duty to their patient before all else 4) Remembers that their humanitarian mission comes second to the safety of the ship 5) Is able to use understandable technical terms This award should be reviewed for awarding every 4 weeks by the CMO. The above criteria are set as guidelines only in this case, though I suggest meeting three criteria before an award be issued. EXAMPLE: The USS Discovery has just reached the site of a medical emergency. The medical team beams down, and starts to triage the wounded. An earthquake was responsible for the destruction, and another one is due any moment. All the stabilised patients are evacuated from the surface hospital and the medical team stay behind despite the danger to keep on treating the wounded. In this example, the entire medical team meet criteria 1 and 3, and depending on how the sim went possibly criteria 5. OMEGA CROSS Awarded to an officer for demonstrating excellence in their duties in the field of Fighter Pilots. Should be reviewed every 4 weeks by the Squadron Commander (or equivalent) and awarded based on the following criteria: 1) Officer shows respect for the weapons at his command 2) Ability to work as part of a team in which people's lives depend on eachother 3) Shows detailed knowledge of fighter-specific tactics Awards should be considered only for pilots who meet the above criteria. RISING STAR AWARD Awarded to an officer for demonstrating excellence in their duties in Conn. As most vessels only have 1 simming Conn officer it is recommended that all Conn awardings are monitored by the XO on the 4 weekly basis. Criteria are: 1) Shows seriousness in taking on the responsibility of guiding the starship. 2) Shows excellent abilities in plotting difficult courses. 3) Shows excellent ability to manually pilot the starship 4) Shows knowledge of starship tactical maneuvers 5) Shows knowledge of the engineering systems attached to his/her post. It is recommended that awards are given out to people who meet criteria 1, and any other two criteria. EXAMPLE: Ensign Thorn is newly assigned as Chief Conn of the USS Discovery. Being new at the job, he is always on time for his shift and has excellent attention to detail. He's always keeping a set of evasive manuevers ready due to the state of war, and he can always be heard conversing with Engineering on systems diagnostics and modifications. In this example, had an officer simmed these actions, he would have met criteria 1, 4 and 5. PREANTARES RIBBON Awarded to an officer for demonstrating excellence in their duties in the field of Operations. Ops awardings are to be monitored by the XO on a 4 weekly basis. Criteria are: 1) Must show good attention to detail 2) Show full knowledge of the duties assigned to Ops 3) Carry out said duties without being asked and in the most efficient way possible 4) Show the ability to liase with the Science and Engineering departments smoothly It is recommended the award be given to officers who meet all of the above criteria. EXAMPLE: During a mission. Lieutenant Karlson detects a new stellar phenomenon. He does his own simple analysis and then passes the details and control of the lateral sensors to the Science department. Meanwhile, he detects fluctuations in the warp drive and makes a link to the anomaly. He then acts as a team leader so that Science and Engineering can interact quickly and efficiently... eventually discovering the anomaly is generating radiation which is degrading the warp plasma. In this example, Karlson has met criteria 1 by making the connection between the anomaly and the engine problem, and criteria 3 and 4 by doing his work with Science and Engineering. Awards Presented By CO/XO PURPLE HEART MEDAL Awarded to an officer who has been significantly injured by either a permanent injury or a log or series of logs about the subject in sickbay for treatment, or a Sim residing in Sickbay. It is suggested this award be given only where said injury leaves a permanent effect or prevents the Officer from carrying out their normal duties for a period of 2 weeks (2 sims). FLEET ACHIEVEMENT MEDAL This award is to be handed out to officers who, through their character, play out their own sub-plot. This plot should be well thought out and supported by other characters in the sim. It should fit in neatly and not overlap with the main plot. CO approval of the sub-plot is still necessary as always. It is suggested that sub-plots lasting 3 weeks or more be required for awarding of this medal. CITATION FOR GALLANTRY This Medal is to be awarded in recognition of the bravery and selflessness of crewmen. It should be awarded to officers who take action that benefit the ship and/or crew at the risk of their own safety. It is recommended that this award only be given out for away team duty, or unusually hazardous space duty. Life in space is dangerous by nature, and this award is to recognise people who rise above the normal level for the benefit of their ship and crew. EXAMPLE: Ensign Davies is a junior Engineer assigned to warp core maintenance. During a Romulan attack his ship takes a serious hit in Engineering and the antimatter ports start to rupture. The only way to stabilise them is to climb into the injector core assembly and manually realign them. However, the ship has taken so much damage that there may be radiation or coolant leaks inside the injector. But Ensign Davies is undeterred... the ship is at stake and he's the closest man to the ports, so he climbs in and fixes the injector. FLEET COMMENDATION RIBBON Awarded to an officer for any action that goes above and beyond the call of duty, during normal day to day running of the ship/base. Note that this is award is graded above any department medal and should not be awarded for any of the criteria listed for those awards. It is recommended that this Ribbon be given out for a large achievement that has been *fully* simmed out from start to finish, such as an engineer overhauling the warp core or a security officer reprogramming every phaser rifle in the armoury. BRONZE STAR FOR VALOR Awarded to recognise and reward the bravery of a crewman for his/her actions in a critical situation. This medal should only be given out to a crewman performing an action necessary to the mission, or the safety of the ship/crew. It is highly recommended it be given out in situations where there was a certain chance of a character dieing or being critically injured. EXAMPLE: A four man away team is stranded on a planet after their shuttle crashes. The atmosphere is toxic, and only one breather unit survived the crash. The shuttle is mostly intact, but the fuel cells were ejected automatically by the computer and new fuel cells are needed to get the shuttle back into orbit. The starship is out of range of the shuttle, and won't be back in time to locate and rescue the shuttle crew before the emergency life support runs out and they all suffocate. The only solution is for someone to take the one breather unit and collect some ores that the Engineer thinks can be synthesised into fuel. Only problem is, the breather unit won't last long enough for someone to walk to the ore, mine some, and get back to the shuttle. At best they'll have to breathe toxic air for ten minutes. Lieutenant Riley has always been a responsible man. As commander of the shuttle mission he feels it's his responsibility to do this, so he takes the breather and gets the job done... managing to make it back to the shuttle before the air kills him. As it is, he barely survived and needs immediate treatment. Awards Presented By Subfleet Commanders SILVER STAR FOR VALOR Awarded to recognise and reward the bravery of a crewman for his/her actions in a critical situation. This award should only be given out to officers who enter a vital mission/situation with full knowledge that there is a high likelihood they will be killed. This award cannot be given for anything other than combat orientated missions. EXAMPLE: Lt Travers is hiding onboard his ship after it's been captured by Romulans. He's crawling through the jeffries tubes trying to find any other Starfleet officers, when he comes across the Brig. He can hear his CO screaming under Romulan torture, and decides he can't leave her like that. All he has to fight with are feet and fists, and there are three armed Romulans in the room not counting the interrogator. Underterred, Travers kicks open the jeffries tube plating and dives headfirst into the closest guard. The fighting is fierce, but somehow Travers manages to take down all three of the guards. He spin kicks the interrogator, sending the Romulan to the floor. Travers then unties his CO and turns to go for the door when he realises the Interrogator had a sidearm. He takes a shot through the shoulder, but luckily for him his Captain has enough left in her to permanently take the interrogator down. Note that in this example, any normal officer should have been shot to bits. Silver Stars are not easy to come by, and you need to do something pretty amazing to get one. But remember to keep your sims realistic! On average, there should only be one of these medals given out per sim once every 2 months. Horizon Award Given to the individual or *ship* that, through their actions, causes a previously hostile race to sue for peaceful relations. This award may have an additional Solar Flare Award (See description below) attached with it if this same race goes to the point of petitioning for membership in the Federation as a result of these same actions. This award will not be given out unless approval from the appropriate 'Empire Director' (if one exists) is attained. Email log material should also be wrote to support the plot. The plot itself should be well thought out and involve all the ship's crew to some extent, and it is recommended that the plot last at least 3 weeks for IRC sims and 2 weeks for Email sims. Archon Award Named after the ship that was lost in one of the first meetings with the Romulan Empire, it serves as a reminder to all of the importance for peaceful settlement of disputes. Given to the individual or *ship* that settles an armed conflict between two or more races. This award may have the Solar Flare Award attached with it if all races concerned are NOT members of the Federation. This award cannot be issued unless permission for the plot has been received by the appropriate Empire Directors if applicable. Email log material is also recommended for awarding, and the plot must be well thought out and backed up and last a minimum 3 weeks for IRC sims and 2 weeks for email sims. Eclipse Award Given to the individual or *ship* for First Contact with an alien race that was previously undiscovered. This award may have the Solar Flare Award attached if that race petitions for membership in the UCIP as a result of cordial and peaceful First Contact. This award can only be given out if full details on the new alien species are provided. This includes technology level, appearance, location in the galaxy, starsystem layout, biological information and general attitudes. This should all be written up in email and supported by in character logs. It is highly recommended that the plot last at least 3 weeks. Awards Presented By Starfleet Commander TOBRUK MEDAL OF HONOR This is the highest bravery award in Starfleet. It should only be given out to the most selfless and heroic individuals in the fleet. 5 times out of 10, a medal like this would be awarded posthumously due to the supreme sacrifice it represents. EXAMPLE: Commander Hastings has just seen his ship half destroyed by a Klingon assault. A good portion of the crew is dead, and the ship is in pieces. Not willing to go down with the ship he orders all hands to the escape pods. He chases the remaining bridge crew officers off the bridge, and is about to leave himself when a call comes in from deck 31. Eight crewmen have been trapped by an emergency forcefield which they can't shut off. Not willing to order someone else to go down there and risk being killed, Hastings starts off through the jeffries tubes. After a long and dangerous climb, a cut and bruised Commander exits onto deck 31 and starts looking for the trapped crewmen. The ship starts rocking again as a Klingon frigate decides to finish her off. Hastings fights down the urge to climb back to deck 29 and get in an escape pod, but he has eight people to save. Seeing that the forcefield cutoff is behind a coolant leak, Hastings heedlessly thrusts his arm through the spewing coolant up to the shoulder and manages to hit the cutoff. As the forcefield goes offline his arm flops to his side, freezeburnt from fingertip to shoulder. As the rest of the crewmen run for the escape pods, Hastings finds they've left the last person behind with a broken leg. Instead of running, the Commander determinedly pulls the injured man up with his one good arm and hauls him towards the jeffries tube. After a second hard climb, Hastings finally gets the last man to the escape pod. Helping the injured Ensign into the pod first, it dawns on Hastings that if the Klingons see the ship abandoned, they may try to capture it and dissect it's computer core for classified Fleet information, so he launches the escape pod despite the Ensign's protests and goes back to the jeffries tube and starts to climb all the way back up to deck 14 to get to the computer and set the self destruct. Now singed from a plasma leak, Hastings reaches the core and gets it to accept his self destruct codes. He's left himself five minutes to get to an escape pod. He knows there are plenty of escape pod bays on this deck but has no idea if they were all launched or not. But at this stage all he can do is run for one. As you can see.. poor Hastings went through quite a lot there in the name of loyalty and duty. He might reach an escape pod, he might not. But from the moment he set off for deck 31 instead of an escape pod he was putting his life at risk from no obligation. He managed to save all eight crewmen, and then made sure his ship would stay out of enemy hands whether he got off it or not. It's rare circumstances like this when this award is given. GALAXY CLUSTER AWARD Outstanding career service medal. This Award is given out to officers who have dedicated so much of their time and their life to servicing Starfleet. In recognition of all they have endured over their years in deep space, the Galaxy Cluster Award is public recognition for years of loyalty and dedication. Anyone who has served on the same Sim for two or more years is eligible for a Galaxy Cluster. It is however highly recommended that LOA's and any periods of excessive absences do not count for this award. It is also recommended that the CO vouch for the quality of the Simmer before such a prestigious award be given out. It is also highly recommended that the character this is being awarded to has a realistic age. Despite what players might like to believe, there are no twenty year old Lt Commanders or twenty four year old Captains. STARFLEET MEDAL OF HONOUR Formerly known as the Congressional Medal of Honour, the Starfleet Medal of Honour is given in recognition of an action or actions that prevent the Federation and her people from coming to catastrophic harm. Such an award is rarely given out, as there are few dangers which could threaten the Federation to it's core. Defending the Federation from the last massive Borg invasion, which managed to push as far in as Earth, was the last time a Medal of Honour was given out. It is possibly one of the rarest medals in Starfleet, and is awarded posthumously 9 times out of 10. OUT OF CHARACTER AWARDS Awards Presented By CO/XO STAR CROSS FOR MERIT This award is presented to an officer by the CO for major contributions which they have made to the Simulation. This award is recommended for plot related achievements, such as taking an active part in carrying the plot forward by writing logs for an IRC sim or extra logs for email sims. Other significant achievements, such as maintaining the ship's website for six months to a high standard would be worthy of a Star Cross for Merit. FLEET SERVICE MEDAL For having served 20 IRC sims or writing 40 email logs. With Bronze Comet Cluster is for consistant attendance or writing logs in a row. With Silver Comet Cluster for writing 3 logs a week or writing weekly simlogs for IRC simulations. This award should automatically be given out the moment an officer has attended twenty sims, or logged for twenty weeks. Appropriate clusters can be evaluated by the CO and awarded accordingly. MERITORIOUS SERVICE MEDAL For having served no less than six consecutive months in one department and performing all duties in an exemplary manner. By this it is meant that the officer's level of performance must be overall above average. Acts of stupidity, immaturity and other such counterproductive behaviour should delay an officer from recieving this award by an appropriate number of weeks. FLEET RIBBON FOR MERIT Awarded to an officer for a 'minor' achievment on the Simulation. This award can be given out for virtually any reason, simply as a thankyou. It is suggested that CO's award one of these ribbons whenever they see fit. A good example would be rewarding an officer who roleplays their character particularly well during a character driven plot, or perhaps a simmer who can accept the fact his character isn't invulnerable and portrays a dangerous situation very well. SUBFLEET COMMANDER AWARDS BRONZE MEDAL FOR SERVICE Having served as a Department Head or higher for 12 months and performing all duties to the highest standards of excellence. Note that changing departments, ships or being promoted to a command post does not affect the 12 month count. As long as the character stays at Dept. Head level or above they are eligible for the award after 12 months. By highest standards of excellence, it is suggested that this award be given only to officers who demonstrate a good level of maturity, responsibility and respect for their fellow simmers. Acts of immaturity, stupidity and spite should reset the player's 12 month count to zero. TIMMIS AWARD A commendation ribbon awarded to any email ship upon the completion of, or meeting of goals set by the Fleet/Subfleet Commander. Meant to provide a morale booster to crew, and to recognise effort by the crew as a whole. It is suggested that SubFleet Commanders set each ship one goal to accomplish at least once every twelve months. This is totally at the SubFleet Commander's discretion, but this is the minimum number of opportunities a sim should have per year to earn this award. Note that this award is only to be given for meeting pre-set goals. Other accomplishments should be rewarded with seperate awards. KNIGHT AWARD A commendation ribbon awarded to any IRC ship/base ship upon the completion of, or meeting of goals set by the Fleet/Subfleet Commander. Meant to provide a morale booster to crew, and to recognise effort by the crew as a whole. It is suggested that SubFleet Commanders set each ship one goal to accomplish at least once every twelve months. This is totally at the SubFleet Commander's discretion, but this is the minimum number of opportunities a sim should have per year to earn this award. Note that this award is only to be given for meeting pre-set goals. Other accomplishments should be rewarded with seperate awards. NOVA CROSS FOR MERIT Award for a large OOC accomplishment that is visible on the Subfleet level even if it was only intended to affect one simulation. For example, a plot that was only meant to be specific to one ship, but spills out onto subfleet lists and provides for highly enjoyable reading for people outside of the sim would warrant a Nova Cross. Other achievements, such as the creation and maintenance of a Subfleet Website over the course of a set amount of time could be rewarded with a Nova Cross. This award should also be applied to Staff positions, for recognising the efforts of those people who donate a lot of their extra time to UCIP. Serving six months in a Staff position would easily warrant a Nova Cross. FLEET COMMANDER AWARDS SILVER MEDAL FOR SERVICE Awarded for having served as a Department Head or higher for 18 months and performing all duties to the highest standard of excellence. This award should be given out to the most mature, respectable and sensible members of UCIP only. People who can be relied upon to put UCIP forward in the best possible light at all times, and not undermine it at any given opportunity. As with the Bronze Medal for Service changing ship, department, or being promoted to a Command position does not reset the 18 month count. FLEET UNIT CITATION Award used to recognise effort put into a subfleet wide plot that is visible to and/or affects the entire fleet. The Unit Citation is given to a ship, or the members specifically involved in the incident for the efforts they put into creating a well oiled and thought out simplot that enjoyably affected the Organisation. FLEET CROSS FOR MERIT Award for a single OOC achievement. This medal is the highest award that can be given for a single OOC acheivement no matter how large it was. It is suggested that this award is reserved for such accomplishments as revamping the whole UCIP website, writing up a large Fleet Plot or reorganising an OOC Staff Department into a much more effective unit. AWARDS PRESENTED BY COMMANDER & DEPUTY COMMANDER IN CHIEF GOLDEN NEBULA AWARD A career award, the highest commonly available to UCIP membership. It can be awarded to members who sim for one year with a maximum of two excused absences, man a UCIP Staff Post for one year with only two weeks of inactivity/LOA. This medal can also be used at the discretion of the CinC to recognise long standing members of UCIP who are worthy of praise, but who do not sim regularly. Although it is suggested that two years service be required for the award to be given. LEGION OF MERIT Award given to recognise a large OOC effort put into making UCIP a better and more enjoyable place. Putting a concerted effort into an Organisation Wide plot, rescuing a simulation from decomissioning and bringing it to glory are examples of when the Legion could be awarded. The Legion cannot be given for one off achievements, but only for effort that has been put into a project over time with consistent quality. SOLAR BURST MEDAL Awarded once every three months to an individual Staff member who puts forward the best image of UCIP at all opportunities, carries out their duties timely and reliably, and who can be relied upon to act sensibly and with maturity in all situations. ORION AWARD Awarded bi-anually by the DCinC to a ship that has demonstrated the best qualities of UCIP, with constantly good sim plots, high attendance and a Command Staff who can be relied upon to look out for the interests of their crew and do all paperwork required of them in a timely and reliable fashion. This Award should not be available to ships commanded by Staff Members to remove the temptation to be biased. LONE STAR AWARD Awarded to one non-staff member of UCIP every three months by the CinC for an outstanding achievement that affects UCIP on the organisation level. An example would be successfully creating a new Fleet, or a new culture that is worked out in such depth as to be easily usable by any other member of UCIP. Compiled by: Fleet Captain James Williams Minor revisions by: Fleet Captain Tebrun Lora Kor, aka Jester (7 Nov 2001)