Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels/Harry Potter task force/Awards

WikiProject Harry Potter Barnstar

WikiProject Harry Potter is a project to better organize information in articles related to Harry Potter. To reward dedicated service or outstanding contributions to the furtherance of this aim, project members can be given barnstars or other awards. This page explains the use and purpose of the Order of Merlin, the WikiProject Harry Potter official barnstar.

Origins

The development of a project-specific barnstar is common in large or close-knit WikiProjects; many examples can be found at WikiProject awards. Most projects retain the term "barnstar", after the barnstars that are commonly awarded across Wikipedia. Other projects, however, choose to rename their decorations, usually as a pun on an award that is within the scope of their project. WikiProject Aircraft, for instance, has chosen to award the Wikiwings, as a reference to the Aircrew Badges that are commonly awarded to military pilots. The Military history WikiProject similarly awards WikiChevrons, in homage to the chevrons used as insignia in the rank structure of many armed forces (such as British army and United States).

The Harry Potter WikiProject has decided to name its award after the Order of Merlin found in the Harry Potter series. Although little is known canonically about this award, it appears to be similar to the honours system of the United Kingdom, with many similarities to the Order of the British Empire. It is known that the order is awarded in at least three "classes" – Albus Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge are both holders of the First Class, and in Prisoner of Azkaban Fudge intends to reward Severus Snape with the Third Class (or even "Second Class if I can wrangle it") for his capture of Sirius Black. Since the medal that conveys the awards is never described (if one even exists), the Project was free to choose its own emblem. It was decided to retain the traditional Wikipedia barnstar, superposing a Harry Potter-related image over the centre in a similar manner to the barnstar used by WikiProject Simpsons. The most natural choice to distinguish the three classes was to colour the stars bronze, silver and gold. After considerable discussion, it was decided that the most iconic image of the Harry Potter series which could be replicated without copyright issues was the Golden Snitch, which therefore takes its place on the WikiProject Harry Potter Order of Merlin, First, Second and Third classes.

The awards

	The Order of Merlin (First class)
	The Order of Merlin, the WikiProject Harry Potter Barnstar, is award by Example to Example for his ongoing dedication and participation with our WikiProject and some other useful reason.

	The Order of Merlin (Second class)
	The Order of Merlin, the WikiProject Harry Potter Barnstar, is award by Example to Example for his ongoing dedication and participation with our WikiProject and some other useful reason.

	The Order of Merlin (Third class)
	The Order of Merlin, the WikiProject Harry Potter Barnstar, is award by Example to Example for his ongoing dedication and participation with our WikiProject and some other useful reason.

Making awards

The Order of Merlin can be awarded by any project member to any other member of the project. In exceptional cases, the award may be presented to a non-member who has made similarly exceptional contributions to Harry Potter articles. The award is given in recognition of "outstanding dedication to the Harry Potter WikiProject", or of "outstanding contributions to one or more Harry Potter articles". Members may not award the Order of Merlin to themselves.

It is the choice of the editor making the award which class of the Order of Merlin should be awarded. It is intended that the level of the award should be proportional to the nature of the contributions. The First Class of the Order should generally be awarded only for truly outstanding and dedicated commitment to the project, combined with exceptional contributions to one or more articles. Almost single-handedly raising a Harry Potter article to featured article status might qualify as "exceptional contributions". However, the determination of the Class to award is the duty of the editor making the award. It would be inappropriate for an award to be revoked or amended after it was made, although awards may be discussed and exceptions may arise.

Template

To simplify and standardise the process of awarding the Order of Merlin, a template has been created. To award the Order of Merlin to another editor, place the following code on their User Talk page:

{{Order of Merlin|class=class|for=reason|sig=~~~}}

Class = the Class of the order you wish to award
- 1 = First Class
- 2 = Second Class
- 3 = Third Class
Reason = The reason for awarding the Order of Merlin to this editor. Please link to relevant edits, discussions or contributions, but try to be succinct and keep the phrase elegant. Note that the text entered here will follow directly from "...is awarded to Recipient by You for..."
If your signature includes complicated HTML, it may not parse correctly when inside a template. If this occurs, replace the three tildes (~~~) that form the third parameter of the template with your linked username (i.e. [[User:Example|Example]].