Games That Matter Win Click! Website Competition!

May 13 at 10:30 PM By enragedcactus After a couple months of waiting, hoping, and working our asses off, the crew here at Games That Matter has been rewarded for their efforts. The site was recently awarded Grand Prize in the Click! Website Competition, hosted by Tri-C, for all high school student made websites in Northeast Ohio. Before being awarded Grand Prize, Games That Matter was given First Place in their selected group category, Education and Information. For winning First Place, they were given free website hosting for one year from Aztec. And for winning Grand Prize, they were awarded a 10 GB iPod from Apple, and a trip for up to ten of their staff to experience a "Web Designer for a Day" tour - going to Aztec's local studios and seeing how they run their business, and how professionals design and code web sites. Here we have recounts about the awards ceremony from a few of our editors: PaplooTheory: Going into the night, I had my expectations at an ultimate low. Being the peccimist that I am, I made sure that I honestly believed victory was unachievable. As we all gathered around and the presentation began, I started to get excited at the possibility that we could win, but I shot it down so that I wouldn't get disappointed. Not only that, but I brought some other people's hopes down too. As the speaker finally came to the grand prize winner, my eyes were locked on our only opposition: Sergio. He looked confident... too confident. However, as the first "H" syllable came from the speakers mouth, I saw his frown, and the truth hit me. We had won. We all collectively allowed ourselves to breathe again and I jumped to my feet. Let me tell you, when you honestly believe that there is no way in hell you are going to win, victory is all the much sweeter. When we took turns holding the iPod, I felt like I never wanted to let it go. The rest of the night I just remember the disbelief and sheer joy that we all had speard across our faces. Best damn Thrusday I've ever had. UNHOLY: Well, when we walked into the building at Tri C, i thought we had a pretty good chance of winning, but I didnt have my heart set on it too much, ya know, dont want to keep my hopes up if we lose. We were all standing there and i started to realize that it was more than pcgamemods.com that was in the running for grand prize. That got me a bit worried becuase I hadn't really looked at any of the other sites, and didn't know what else we were up against. So as it all started, Noodle Boy and I were standing in the back, i was takin pictures, getting kind of nervous. As the guy who was presenting was going throught the categories, i saw the pcgamemods.com kid and i just thought "We could take him. Eight on one; he's got nothin'." Then when the announcement for the grand prize came around, i was just about to shit myself becuase the guy kept stallling. I had my fingers crossed and as i heard the "hi..." part of the word, i exploded with happiness. I thought the best part was that everyone was all calm inside and then we all went outside to take pictures and whatnot and as soon as we stepped out, we all went wild. That was great. That and getting a picture of the pcgamemods.com buy as he was walking to his car. N65Max: I looked to my right, Paploo beside me, ready with his polite clap for the grand prize winner, which we had determined would most probably not be us. The presenter at the podium cleared his throat, and then seconds later we were all at our feet, shaking hands with the greatest web design minds in Northeast Ohio. The greatest memory of the entire night? When we all lined up to take some pictures, and flashes shot at us from all angles. For just one little moment, we felt like celebrities. FrazRoc: I was sitting next to Lysonic, and we were cracking jokes the whole time about Sergio and the rest. I knew we weren't gonna win, but I was still nervous all the same. Then, as he announced the Grand Prize winner, he goes, "I don't know how we are going to do this," looking at the 8 of us sitting down. My heart skipped a few beats and we went up to receive our prizes. LysonicStorm: I got there just in time beofre the announcements with Noodle Boy and Unreal, and I was quickly saddened. The first thing Paploo said was "We are gonna get our asses kicked." I had very little knowledge of our competition, but Mr. Continenza seemed confident. But then again, he is our teacher, isn' he supposed to make us feel like we will win? I realized maybe Paploo was right. So as we sat down in our folding chairs, I was nervous. First they ran throught the list of category winners, and Jim went up to get our prize plaque and all. Then, finally they got to the part where they tell us who won the grand prize. They had the Apple guy go up there and stuff, and the dude was stalling like an airplane at a 90 degree angle. The tension nearly killed me. I took a sip of my cranberry juice, and braced. I was going to die, the silence was so evident. Finally, he said it. Games That Matter. We all stood up, stunned and with dumb grins on our faces. We shook hands, took some pictures ,adn talked to the bigwigs around us. Man, did it feel good. We had to almost tie Paploo down to keep him from bolting with the I-Pod, and Ted nearly had to get a smack to stop him consistent smile. We went to Taco Bell, then went home, but it is a night I shall never forget. Unreal654: Best. Thursday. Ever. I went in expecting to lose. Paploo kept reassuring me that we would not be the winners. The greatest part was that I actually believed it. Thank you for your peccimist attitude because it made winning feel so much better. Afterwards we were called over for pictures. We all felt so professional talking to some of the most important computer nerds in Ohio. Everyone was happy, but I don't think anyone expressed more joy than UNHOLY. While standing around after the ceremony, some girl cam up to me and asked me to write our URL on this piece of paper. I felt like I was signing an autograph. What a great night for us, and a great night for Games That Matter. Noodle Boy: As I walked into Tri-C, holding my breath, I looked around at our competition, just waiting for the ceramony to begin. Walking over to the rest of the GTM clan, I knew that we were going to win. The content of our site is updated daily and I knew that we cared more for our site than anyone else at the competition, but there was still that little chance of losing in the back of my head. The man walks up, holding the award in his hand, I look at Ted, crossing my fingers. "We are going to win man." "Hell ya we are." was his response. "And the winner is..." "Games That Matter!" All 8 of us jump up and cheer, walking up to the front collecting our Apple iPod and the certificate. It felt so good to be congradulated by all these amazing people and on top of it I got to meet Don Miguel, who seemed pretty leet. This was one of the proudest days of my life, and to know I get to add this little piece to the old resume, the future is looking grand. _________________________ Well, there you have it, now you can feel like you were sitting right there with us when we recieved the Grand Prize award for being the best highschool student developed site in Northeast Ohio.