to include newer members of the . I'd like to make a clarification about what many of us recognize as the "Chip of the Year" contest.

Although I am rather partial to the designs and concepts of Debby Meister and Ron Lammer, not to mention a few other personal chips, it remains that the Chip of the Year (aka: COTY) is an Awards contest conducted yearly by the .

As the OTY Awards Chairman, I have announced that the 2005 contests (COTY, TOTY, SSOTY and CKOTY) officially open on January 1st, 2006. Eligible candidates for COTY consideration must be certain basic criteria. Generally speaking, chips must be issued by a casino and have a gaming purpose. The vast majority of personal chips do not meet this criteria and are therefore ineligible.

Please note that we have witnessed previous messages/posts on this BBS, as well as others, that "we" should have some sort of competition for personal chips. I've seen calls for such a competition under a variety of names and sponsorships, the majority of which tend to fashion themselves after the COTY competition.

As the OTY Awards Chairman I do not foresee expanding the OTY Awards Program to be inclusive of personal chips. Now this does not mean that there can be no competition for personal chips, I am just saying that I do not see such a contest being developed as part of the OTY Awards.

Having said that, now let me put on my OLCD hat and advise the readers that if any member wishes to put forth the idea/concept of a Personal Chip Award Program, he/she should take the time to develop an entire concept and present it to the Officers. Said concept should be in writing and in addition to addressing the over all concept, it should give consideration as to who will run the program.

Now, switching back to my OTY hat, the biggest obsticle I see to having a competition like this, is to figure out what is eligible and what is not. For the OTY Awards, the number one discerning criteria is that any eligible candidate MUST have been issued in the calendar year of the event.

To do so for personal chips, as the lead message of this thread suggests, any personal chip created before Januray 1, 2005 is ineligible. However, if the competion is open to all previously created personal chips, then the contest is not a Best of the Year, but is more like a Hall of Fame contest.

Well, I think I've said enough for now, I'll be happy to entrtain any questions or comments.

Jim Follis
OLCD and OTY Awards Chairman