Here are the winners of the May 2001 Anagrammy Awards. 24 voters selected their favourites, in the first Anagrammy with the new category structure. Hopefully people found voting for 9 categories, rather 12, a little less onerous. The standard in most categories was very good and there were some exciting changes of lead especially right at the end. ---------------- GENERAL CATEGORY This was the first time that the first three won an award. The lead changed hands frequently. It was not until mid-contest that Richard Grantham mounted a serious challenge to the rest of the field. I looked like picking up 3rd place until the last 2 votes pushed Janet past me. Tom's award was his second this year and his 39th ever in the Anagrammies. The new three award rule here drew three quite different styles of anagram, ranging from Richard's whimsical anagram, to Tom's tight 12 letter commentary, to Janet's very apt 'gram. 1st. Richard Grantham with: 30 The best things in life are free = Resting beneath the fireflies. 2nd. Tom Myers with: 20 Internet spam = It's permanent. 3rd. Jaybur with: 18 Aspirin tablets = It's pain blaster! ---------------- ENTERTAINMENT CATEGORY This was a lot closer than the final result suggests. Janet and David Green alternated the lead until half way, when David began to break clear and won easily with 4 of the last 5 primary votes. This was one of the best anagrams in this month's Anagrammy and was a well-deserved winner for David's first Anagrammy. 1st. David A. Green with: 40 Erich von Daniken's "Chariots of the Gods?" = Crank has no good evidence for this shit. 2nd. Jaybur with: 29 Claude Monet, an Impressionist = Monsieur paints a scene, I'm told. 3rd. Meyran Kraus with: 22 The Late Author Douglas Adams = Made us laugh too hard at tales! ---------------- TOPICAL CATEGORY Another close one for Janet and Mey, with an unusual result in that Janet polled only 3 primary votes compared with Mey's 7, but Janet had 9 second places to Mey's one. Janet stormed home with 7 points in the last three votes to win her 2nd award this month and her 19th ever, moving her up the All Time List to 8th. 1st. Jaybur with: 28 Mid East violence = Malice so evident. 2nd. Meyran Kraus with: 25 The British author Douglas Adams died suddenly of a heart attack = A sad, absurd end of a truly mad lad. A toast to 'The Hitchhiker's Guide'! 3rd. Dan Fortier with: 20 Tim McVeigh's execution = Victim: no excuse: get him! ---------------- RUDE CATEGORY This was close! The final vote broke the tie, with Richard getting the primary vote and me the second place. A nice third place for new boy, Phil Carmody. 1st. Richard Grantham with: 27 Battery-operated vibrator = Probe a torrid, tatty beaver. 2nd. Larry Brash with: 26 A big well hung stud = Wild lust. Huge bang. 3rd. Phil Carmody with: 20 So, why do I have a bad intense pain in my arse? = Maybe a penis or a heavy hand's now inside it? ---------------- SPAM CATEGORY Back to the old one Spam Category format. Not surprisingly, the longer spamagrams shone out here. James Young and Mey went head to head for the bulk of the competition. Mey had the stronger finish with his Mafia anagram. Nice to see Mike Keith trying his hand at this genre. 1st. Meyran Kraus with: 36 A PERSONAL NOTE FROM THE ORIGINATOR OF THIS PROGRAM: [snip] 2nd. James H. Young with: 31 Hi, First off, thank you for reading my post. [snip] Eq 3rd. David Bourke with: 23 All the Raciest Pictures of your FAVORITE CELEBRITIES!! [snip] Eq 3rd. Mike Keith with: 23 Check out How Cool Footwear [snip] ---------------- LONG CATEGORY This came down to a three-way contest, with me as the early leader, but I was gradually overhauled by Richard and Mey. The final vote pushed Richard into a well deserve lead with the most poignant anagram that I have seen in years (or ever, for that matter). 1st. Richard Grantham with: 38 [A Carroll acrostic anagrammed into a true story] [snip] 2nd. Meyran Kraus with: 37 THE APRIL ANAGRAMMY WINNERS [snip] 3rd. Larry Brash with: 29 Combined Gender Identity And Transsexuality Inventory [snip] ---------------- PEOPLE'S NAME CATEGORY Always a good category for nice short anagrams. It was one of the shorter ones that won. Richard's anagram started a little hesitantly, but picked up steam after a couple days and won comfortably by 8 points. 1st. Richard Grantham with: 34 Noel Coward is ~ no Oscar Wilde. 2nd. David A. Green with: 26 Harry Houdini, the famous escapologist = I'm easily out of tough ropes, hard chains. 3rd. Jaybur with: 16 Docteur Joseph-Ignace Guillotin = Judicial cutting role: hope's gone. ---------------- OTHER NAME CATEGORY A big field of a dozen high quality anagrams here. James Young was a very steady performer, taking the lead early on and cruising in comfortably. This was James' second Anagrammy and he was well placed in several other categories this month. A name to watch for in the future. 1st. James H. Young with: 32 The Great Wall of China = What a length of a relic! 2nd. Larry Brash with: 23 Stockholm, Sweden = Cold weeks, months. 3rd. David A. Green with: 16 The Royal National Institute for the Blind = Hands-on tuition in Braille: "Try to feel that". ---------------- SPECIAL CATEGORY Well, well, well! I did it! I won a first place in the Special! All credit goes to Mike Keith's amazing Anagram Artist software. My big lead was trimmed down by both Mey and Richard on the last day. At one stage I looked like winning 3 awards and my disappointment at losing 2 of them was easily offset by my win here. This was my 5th win this year and 53rd all time. Richard did well again with 5 wins, giving him 19 for the year and 75 all up. Mey won 2 this month, 14 for the year and 64 all up. Our top 3 positions in the All Time remain intact. 1st. Larry Brash with: 24 Minister Charles Simpson has the power to make you a LEGALLY ORDAINED MINISTER within 48 hours!!!! [snip] 2nd. Richard Grantham with: 23 The 103-syllable stanza XXVI from the poem "Picthorn Manor" by American poet and critic Amy Lowell [snip] 3rd. Meyran Kraus with: 22 Dora Sigerson - Ireland [snip] ---------------- AWARDSMASTER'S CHOICE AWARD FOR THE BEST NON-WINNING ANAGRAM. As usual, a tough choice. Richard, as Archivist, helps me with this decision. It is handy that we live in the same county and can discuss the results by phone. He suggested that my anagrams that just missed out were contenders here, but I felt that they were not of sufficient standard to deserve this award. Ultimately we agreed on David Green's runner-up in People's Name: David A. Green with: Harry Houdini, the famous escapologist = I'm easily out of tough ropes, hard chains. This gave David two wins this month in his first winning Anagrammy. David is another very competent new anagrammer, along with Adrian Hickford and James Young.