2016Official Tomb Raider Fansite Program Awards
To highlight the incredible talent and passion within our global community of official Tomb Raider fansites, we kicked off a yearly award program that facilitates recognition directly from fellow webmasters and Crystal Dynamics.*
The below details some - but not all - of the compelling and creative efforts from within the fansite community in 2016. Browse the awards below for links to great articles, multimedia, and events from some of our biggest community ambassadors. You can also browse our full catalog of fansites here.*
Congratulations to all the original nominees and the final winners!
Community Ambassador Award
An exceptional webmaster that embodies the spirit of community, be it throughorganizing community or charity events, answering questions online, providinghelpful resources for fans, or generally embodying the spirit of the community.This warm, welcoming, and passionate webmaster showcases the best that ourcommunity has to offer by encouraging inclusivity and positivity.
Community Award Winner: Stellalune | Stella’s Tomb Raider Fansite
Stella describes herself as the matriarch of the Tomb Raider community,and familial is exactly how many fans feel about her. Stella’s content – mostfamously her walkthroughs – are always top notch, and she dedicates extensivetime online to answering fan questions, sharing gameplay tips, and finding waysto give back. Her annual Extra Life Charity event is a unifying activity withinthe community each year, bolstered with smaller, continual efforts to aid thosewho need it, such as crowd sourcing Tomb Raider: Live in Concert tickets forthose who couldn’t afford them.
Crystal Award Winner: Sara Croft | Lara Croft Cosplay
Often an unsung figure within the Tomb Raider community due to herhumble nature, Sara is generous with both her time and resources. She oftencrafts tutorials on how to cost-effectively create costumes and props as ameans to get more fans into the hobby. Additionally, she eagerly goes out ofher way to showcase diversity within the community, encourages cosplayer of allskill levels to be proud of their accomplishments, and even created a “CosplayCare Package” program with her own funds as a means to help those with limitedresources. Her positive attitude and giving personality easily win over thosewho interact with her. *
Best Charity Initiative
An exceptional charity-focused initiative that creatively andeffectively raised funds for a worthwhile cause. The winner is not determinedby the total amount raised, but rather the execution of the fundraiser.
Community Award Winner: Stella’s Tomb Raider Fansite | Extra Life 2016 Charity Marathonand Prize Raffle for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals
With Stella acting as team captain, the Team Tomb Raider Extra LifeCharity Marathon is something fans and followers look forward to each year.Over 25 team members work hard to earn donations by playing Tomb Raider games,entertaining fans while raising money for a great cause. Since their first runfive years ago, Team Tomb Raider has helped raise over $15,000 for children’shospitals, playing 1,000 hours of Tomb Raider in the process.
Crystal Award Winner: TombRaider Online |Tomb Raider Twitch Marathon to Support SPA Refuge &Animal Welfare
Taking French fans on a nostalgic look back over 20 years, Tomb RaiderOnline streamed all of Lara’s adventures on Twitch – including some of the moreobscure titles – totaling over 150 hours of play. All profits from the stream weredonated to the Animal Protection Society, raising over $2000 for a fantasticcause.
BestCollaborative Fansite Project
An exceptional collaborative project that united more than one fansite towardsa common goal of celebrating Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, and the community.
Community Award Winner:*Alex’s Tomb Raider Blog / Tomb Raider World /Croft Generation / RaidersZone / Tomb Raider Saga / Tomb Raider Collection /Living Tomb Raider / Tomb Raider Spain |*Spanish Tomb Raider CommunityProject
The Spanish Tomb Raider community collaborated in a big way on a veryhigh-production live event in Madrid to celebrate 20 years of Tomb Raider. Theevent kicked off with a rousing speech, included a scavenger hunt with custom3D printed artifacts, a cosplay contest, and community dinner. Despite somepesky rain, the event brought fans together from around Spain, solidifyingonline friendships in the process. *
Crystal Award Winner: Lara’s Look a Like / TombeauCroft | 2016 Lara Croft Cosplay Calendar
Lara’s Look a Like has been creating a Croft cosplay calendar foryears, and they’ve become more and more impressive with each annual release.The 2016 calendar was a collaboration between Lara’s Look a Like and fellowFrench fansite Tombeau Croft, focusing on depicting Lara with her trusty weapons.The great design work juxtaposed in-game snapshots and fantastic cosplay photos.
Best New Fansite
An exceptional new fansite that joined the program in 2016 and has provideunique and engaging content that sets a high standard for their futurecontributions.
Community Award Winner: Living Tomb Raider
Spanish fansite Living Tomb Raider shows great potential as a newaddition to the official program, exploring the myths behind games, publishingreviews, and showcasing merchandise, among other content contributions. A noblegoal of Living Tomb Raider is to help the Spanish fan community grow by aidingwith the coordination of live events, and we’re excited to see how this goalplays out in 2017.
Crystal Award Winner: Okh Eshivar
Okh Eshivar is one of many wonderful new additions to theOfficial Fansite Program. The webmaster’s strength is in diversity of content, withentries balanced between news, reviews, interviews, weekly recaps, researchedarticles, downloads, and more. One standout article describes how Lara hasinspired the webmaster, detailing a 14,000 foot trek to the top of Mt. Rainier.We hope 2017 holds more adventures for Okh Eshivar.
Best Investigative/Research Article
An exceptional article authored by a member of the Official Fansite Programthat unearthed new findings or information about the Tomb Raider franchise,which required extensive research and critical thinking to achieve.
Community Award Winner:Archaeology of Tomb Raider | Tomb Raider Tidbit: The Time Lara CroftAlmost Visited Mali
A very interesting article inspired bya keen eye, Archaeology of Tomb Raider’s winning article features an unusedpiece of concept art from Tomb Raider: Legend that implies Lara may have beenheaded to the West African country of Mali. The article explored the uniquearchitecture of the country, and included links to more information for thoseintrigued by the subject matter.
Crystal Award Winner: Worldof Tomb Raider | The article about etymology of words“Lara” and “Croft”
World of Tomb Raider’s study of the etymologyof our favorite heroine’s name is a fascinating, and a very original article.The piece dives into the meaning of Lara’s given and family name, in additionto taking a look at other famous bearers of the name throughout history andwithin pop culture.
Best Live Event
An exceptional live event organized by a member of the Official Fansite Programthat brought together Tomb Raider fans in-person to celebrate the franchise.
Community Award Winner: Tomb of Ash | Tomb Raider 20th Anniversary Panel atPLAY Expo Manchester
An impressive, multi-faceted event thattook nearly a year to organize, festivities at PLAY Expo were full of nostalgiafor classic Tomb Raider fans. Highlights included a Core Design panel with manykey creatives from the original development team and photo opportunities withpremiere Lara Croft model Natalie Cook. The panel was streamed to share withfans online at a later date, and interviews resulted in new insights from thosewho started it all.
Crystal Award Winner: TombRaider Italia | Gamerome Event with Tomb Raider Italia
Organized by Tomb Raider Italia andexecuted at Gamerome, the event also marked the Italian website’s 10thanniversary. Tomb Raider Italia’s webmaster impressively managed to secure theattendance of Lara’s Italian voice actress, as well the actor for Conrad Roth. Additionalactivities included a cosplay flash-mob, raffle, quiz, and professionalphotographers to capture the two-day celebration.
Best Video or Streaming Project
An exceptional video or streaming project created by a member of the OfficialFansite Program that celebrated Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, and the community.
Community Award Winner: Turning Point | “20Years of Tomb Raider” video tribute by Fear Effect Inferno
Fear Effect Inferno’s video tribute packed a major punchinto 60 seconds. “20 Years of Tomb Raider” touched on the major events in Lara’stwo-decade evolution, with great use of timing, transitions, and a beautifulcustom score inspired by Nathan McCree’s original soundtrack.
Crystal Award Winner: Tomb of Ash | Lara’s Diary: Baba Yaga
Tomb of Ash’s video provided additional depth to Rise of the TombRaider’s Baba Yaga DLC drop, introducing fans to the Russian/Slav folklore thatinspired the content. Narrated by original Croft voice actress Shelley Blond,the high-production video featured beautiful illustrations by Inna Vjuzhanina,impressive animations, a well-developed script, and was translated into manyadditional languages to share with the global Tomb Raider community.
Best Interview
An exceptional interview conducted by a member of the Official Fansite Programfocused on the Tomb Raider franchise which required extensive research andcritical thinking to achieve.
Community Award Winner: Tomb Raider Source | NICOBASS : REMAKE DE TOMB RAIDERII
Tomb Raider Source dove deep into the upcoming Tomb Raider II fanremake by Nicobass, exploring his vision for the project, detailing softwareused, and discussing the challenges of such an ambitious task. It’s always funto see fans interview fellow fans in acknowledgement of amazing work.
Crystal Award Winner: Music of Tomb Raider | Ashley Revell Interview
An interesting and exclusive interview with Ashley Revell – the musiceditor on Lara’ Croft’s first Hollywood outing – and brother to composer GraemeRevell. Music of Tomb Raider caught up with Ashely in person in Auckland, andthe in-depth nature of the interview is sure to appeal to fellow music andcinema fans.*
Best Photo or Art Project
An exceptional project created or curated by a member of the Official FansiteProgram celebrating Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, and the community through a visualmedium, be it art, photography, or other visual platforms.
Community Award Winner: Tomb Raider Univers | 20 Years of Tomb Raider Art Collection
The 20 Years of Tomb Raider Art Collection is a beautiful, curatedgallery of original art, featuring pieces spanning old-school and moderninterpretations of Lara Croft. The online exhibit was made even more noteworthydue to beautiful branding and an engaging website. *
Crystal Award Winner: Tomb Raider China*| Travel withLara Croft Photo Contest
A very creative contest organized by Tomb Raider China, which askedfans to take a Lara Croft figure with them as they explored the world.Submitted photos were then marked on a world map, illustrating the globalimpact of the franchise. The initial submissions were exceptionally creative,and we expect the final winners to be equally impressive.
Best Tomb Raider 20Initiative
An exceptional project of any kind – event, interview, video, andso on – *created by a member of the Official Fansite Program that captured thespirit of #TombRaider20.
Community Award Winner: Stella’s Tomb Raider Fansite | Extra Life 2016 Charity Marathon andPrize Raffle for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals
For all the reasons outlined above, Team Tomb Raider’sExtra Life Charity Marathon was considered one of the most noteworthy communityprograms of the year by fellow fans. The marathon showcased content from thefull history of the franchise, uniting fans new and old for a fantastic cause.
Crystal Award Winner: Survivor Reborn | Tomb Raider: Retrospective Series
A very thorough and well-written retrospective seriesexamining each game in the Tomb Raider series, as well as relevant culturalevents such as E3. Each explores a wide breadth of content – the gameplay andcharacter evolution, as well as marketing, reception, challenges, andsuccesses of each game.
Crystal Award Winner: Lara Croft PT | #TombRaider20– LARA CROFT PT
A very impressive tribute video totaling a whopping 40 + minutesof content, including interviews by an array of voice actors, composers,official models, comic artists, fans, industry influencers, more. Also, pancakeart! *