This thread is where you'll nominate the award categories for this year.
This year there will be 15 categories.
The mod team will choose 8 of the categories and the other 7 will be chosen by popular vote. Submit your nominations for the categories here. Voting will take place next week.
Not sure where to start? To give you some ideas, here are the categories used in the past.
| Category | Number of Years |
|---|---|
| Best New Theory | 12 |
| Comment of the Year | 12 |
| Post of the Year | 12 |
| Dolorous Edd Award for the funniest one liner | 11 |
| Funniest Post | 10 |
| Serwyn of the Mirror Shield Award for Best Tinfoil/Shiniest Tinfoil | 10 |
| Alchemist Award for the theory most likely to make you want to light yourself on fire if true | 10 |
| Best Character Analysis | 9 |
| Best Catch | 7 |
| Best Theory Debunking | 7 |
| Ser Duncan the Tall Award for the crow with the greatest commitment to substantively engaging with other people's theories throughout the year | 7 |
| The Citadel Award for the best researched theory or analysis regardless of the theory's plausibility | 7 |
| Crow of the Year | 6 |
| Best Theory Analysis | 5 |
| Best Flair | 4 |
| Best Analysis (Books) | 4 |
| The Old Nan Award for the most intuitive and convincing head canon | 3 |
| The George Pls Award for the post that could have only be caused by waiting for TWOW | 3 |
| The Mannis Award for Not Bending the Knee for the most stubborn defender of their own theory despite all evidence to the contrary | 3 |
| The Daenys the Dreamer Award: An Award for the most horrifying yet plausible prediction of a future event. Probably best shortened as "Best Prophecy of Doom" | 3 |
| Best Analysis (Not Character) | 2 |
| The And Moon Boy For All I Know Award for the greatest theory based on a single line of prose | 2 |
| The Rodrik the Reader Award for the Best Close Analysis of a passage of the text | 2 |
| Best Analysis (Show) | 1 |
| Best Compilation Thread (quotes, references, etc.) | 1 |
| Best Critter Post Which is to say, best theory, tinfoil speculation or grad-school level treatise on any non-humanoid subject or character. Cats. Dire wolves. Dragons. Birds. The Others and other humanoid supernatural creatures are excluded, including giants. | 1 |
| Best Debate | 1 |
| Best Fanmade Creation/Project | 1 |
| Best Show Prediction Gone Wrong | 1 |
| Dondarrion Brain-Stormlord award for the user who does the best collaborative development of theories (their own or other's) | 1 |
| King Jaehaerys I Award to the user with the most excellent posts | 1 |
| The Cleganebowl Cup for the post or comment that got you the most hyped | 1 |
| Iron Bank Accountant Award for best data-based analysis/theory/prediction | 1 |
| The Bracken/Blackwood Award for Best Debate | 1 |
| Darkest Post | 1 |
| The Gravedigger Award for the most digging up a person has done to prove a theory | 1 |
Feel free to use those or to nominate an entirely new award category for this year.
How do I submit a nomination?
- Comment in this post to submit your category nomination. Only top level comments will be counted. One nomination per comment, please.
- You can nominate as many categories as you wish.
- Nominations will be open in this post from today, January 6, 2026 to January 13, 2026.
- This post is in Contest Mode which means the comments are randomly arranged with scores hidden. This is to ensure that everyone has a fair chance to submit a nomination. Please try to scroll through to see if your topic has already been submitted to cut down on duplicates but that's not a requirement. We'll consolidate as necessary.
- Mods have final say on submissions. Anything that breaks our rules or goes against the spirit of our rules will be discarded.
- Top level comments that aren't nominations will be removed. (If they're questions, we'll answer them first before removing it. Or you can send a modmail.)
To see a full overview of the process, this year's hub is here.
Finally, please remember that [Crow Business] posts are [NO SPOILERS] So use spoiler code!
Happy new year!
- Maesters
Dondarrionaward for the awakening of an old but forgotten theory
First nomination: The Gravedigger Award for the most digging up a person has done to prove a theory
Best Theory Analysis
The Podrick Payne award for best supporting comments
The Brienne of Tarth Award for the theory that most challenges conventional wisdom on ASOIAF
And finally, seventh nomination: Best Analysis (Books)
The George Pls award for a theory spawned by the wait for TWOW
The bracken/blackwood award.
I’m voting for the Dany chapo trap house bran Marty yglesias comment and I kinda think it’d be funny if this was a category
Let's just do the Old Nan award for best head canon again. That one was fun.
Sixth nomination: Serwyn of the Mirror Shield Award for Best Tinfoil/Shiniest Tinfoil
The Moon Boy For All I Know award.
Post of the Year.
Funniest Post.
Best mushroom theory - for most absurd theories
Oh Gods be good, let this happen.
Second nomination: Darkest Post
Third nomination: The Daenys the Dreamer Award: An Award for the most horrifying yet plausible prediction of a future event. Probably best shortened as "Best Prophecy of Doom"
Best New Theory; I feel like as the runner-up for last year I ought to nominate it.
Your Grandison Conspiracy and Pycelle's parentage theories feel like strong contenders, I remember how excited everyone was about the Pycelle one and how fresh it felt, haven't been that many theories last year that took that much of my interest in comparison.
The Grandison conspiracy?!?!? You actually remember that? That's great, Peel. R+E=P I am immensely proud of.
You are too kind, Peel. I found your Shadows for Bolton theory very thought-provoking. The massacre at Quiet Isle was excellent as well.
The Duncan the Tall award.
Fourth nomination: The Old Nan Award for the most intuitive and convincing head canon
Fifth nomination: The Citadel Award for the best researched theory or analysis regardless of the theory's plausibility