Awards season begins!

So it's December, and blog law dictates that we do some sort of end of the year award. Considering I was so callously overlooked for Stocktonian of the Year, we thought it'd be a good idea to honor our own favorite Stocktonian.

Problem is, we don't know who that is yet. Which is why we're enlisting the help of you, the reader. I guess what I'm trying to get at is we need your nominees for the Real Stocktonian of the Year Award.

Every year, the actual Stocktonian of the Year award always goes to some crusty old fuck who shared a steam at the country club with Alex Spanos sometime in the 20s, and that's total bullshit. This year's winner, David Rea (who was actually at the country club when he found out he won), won because he "got the business community to support the arts like they never had before." Which makes sense considering he's, you know, retired and pushing 90. Apparently this is a lifetime achievement award. Which is total bullshit because the Stocktonian of the Year for 2008 should win the award for shit they did in 2008.

Which brings us to the criteria for the nominees. To be eligible for our prestigious award, this person (or inanimate object if you feel like nominating the Sheraton/Lexington Waterfront Hotel and Spa and Bar and Grill and Feed and Fuel at Downtown Stockton) must have done something extremely newsworthy in/for Stockton. Nick Diaz brought EliteXC to Stockton and on top of that, branded Stockton with a way better slogan than "Celebrate Stockton". He'll probably be in the running.

But it's not just positive things, we want people who embody Stockton. And, let's face it, right now nothing embodies what's going on in this city than the hilarious fuckups that have occurred over the year. We're pretty sure Bryan Bjork doesn't live in Stockton, but he's a shoe-in for a nomination just for the sheer magnitude of his rodeo fuckup. Delta President Raul Rodriguez will probably get a nod for the negligent management of the Measure L funds. Sure, that didn't all happen this year, but never has a list of his administration's fuckups been put in plain black and white like it was this year.

But enough of who we think should be nominated. This is about you, all 30 of our readers. E-mail us with your nomination suggestions by the end of the week and next week we'll pick 8 finalists. And for the record, Fitzy isn't eligible because sucking isn't newsworthy enough. Unless of course it's finally revealed that his columnist picture is actually 20 years old and Fitzy's pushing 100.