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ArchivesRe: My column on the American Name Society's 2021 Names of the Year
in reply to a message by clevelandkentevans
Very interesting - thanks for sharing! I didn't even know such things existed. How are the winners in each category decided: do all members submit their ideas, or is there a short-list? Or perhaps Internet word counts?
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I had the pleasure of attending the ANS conference this year so I can help field this question. Due to COVID the conference was held via Zoom, which had the side effect of making it more accessible (for me at least).
The vote for the Name of the Year takes place at the end of the conference. There is a call for nominations issued (a few months? weeks?) prior. I believe anyone can nominate a name. In fact, Dr. Evans has asked for suggestions from these message boards in the past. All the nominations make up a shortlist for each category, but names can be added to the shortlists "from the floor" at the time of the meeting. For each category there is an informal exchange of arguments for and against the nominations, followed by a vote. If no single name gets a majority of votes there is a run-off between the highest vote-getters.
To attend the annual ANS conference you need to be a member of the ANS ($20/year) plus pay a fee for the 3-day conference itself ($50). While I didn't attend all of the presentations, the ones I sat in on were very interesting. The presenters were from all over the globe. There was talk of making next year's meeting online again, whether or not COVID is still an issue. I thought the Zoom format worked pretty well.
Presentations and schedule: https://www.americannamesociety.org/conferences/pastconferences/ans-2021-2-2/
The vote for the Name of the Year takes place at the end of the conference. There is a call for nominations issued (a few months? weeks?) prior. I believe anyone can nominate a name. In fact, Dr. Evans has asked for suggestions from these message boards in the past. All the nominations make up a shortlist for each category, but names can be added to the shortlists "from the floor" at the time of the meeting. For each category there is an informal exchange of arguments for and against the nominations, followed by a vote. If no single name gets a majority of votes there is a run-off between the highest vote-getters.
To attend the annual ANS conference you need to be a member of the ANS ($20/year) plus pay a fee for the 3-day conference itself ($50). While I didn't attend all of the presentations, the ones I sat in on were very interesting. The presenters were from all over the globe. There was talk of making next year's meeting online again, whether or not COVID is still an issue. I thought the Zoom format worked pretty well.
Presentations and schedule: https://www.americannamesociety.org/conferences/pastconferences/ans-2021-2-2/
This message was edited 2/4/2022, 11:02 AM
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Thanks for your great explanation! I do not run the Name of the Year contest amy more since I am retired, but I did host one of the paper sections at this year's conference. I hope there will be an in-person component to the meeting again, perhaps even next year, but I think even if we meet in person there will be provisions made for people to attend online as well.
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