2019 Spon Awards Celebrate Best of the Year, Decade

Havilland, WE, Dec 31 · 16 Argus 74 – The 2010s were celebrated and farewelled in this year’s Spon Awards, held in Havilland this evening.

Across a variety of categories, the best of both 2019 and the 2010s as a whole were feted in the ceremony, which marked its thirteenth occurrence this year. While the 2017 and 2018 awards were very low-key events, the 2019 awards saw something of a return to the previous form of earlier ceremonies.

The principal categories, those being the best Song, Film, Show, Font, and Game, returned this year, while the Micronation and Website categories were officially dropped, having not been selected in either 2017 or 2018. The Software category, formerly the Program category, was revived this year after not being selected in 2017 or 2018. The categories were repeated for the decade awards, with those chosen selected from previous category winners between 2010 and 2019.

The ceremony was briefer than in previous years, with a larger focus on the winner of each category, rather than listing the nominees as well. Organisers said this was to save time in order to select the winners of each category for the decade as a whole, alongside those of the year.

The Spon Awards are unique in that nominees do not have to hail from the same calendar year as the awards. Reg Owen’s 1958 song Manhattan Spiritual holds the distinction of being the oldest award winner, having been given both the Song of the Year and Spon Award for Excellentness in 2013, some 55 years after the song’s release. Vernon Green and the Medallion’s 1959 song ’59 Volvo, which won the Song of the Year in 2018, comes a close second.

Spon Awards Winners for 2019:

• Song of the Year 2019: Shufflin’ Jive (Joe Lyons and the Arrows, 1959)
• Film of the Year 2019: Captain Marvel (Marvel Studios, 2019)
• Show of the Year 2019: Chernobyl (Craig Mazin, 2019)
• Font of the Year 2019: Galderglynn 1884 (Ray Laramie)
• Game of the Year 2019: Red Dead Redemption II (Rockstar, 2018)
• Software of the Year 2019: Microsoft Windows 98 (Microsoft, 1998)
• Spon Award for Excellentness 2019: Red Dead Redemption II (Game of the Year)

Spon Awards Winners for the 2010s:

• Song of the Decade: Manhattan Spiritual (Song of the Year 2013)
• Film of the Decade: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Film of the Year 2013)
• Show of the Decade: Chernobyl (Show of the Year 2019)
• Font of the Decade: Metro Nova Pro (Font of the Year 2015)
• Game of the Decade: Grand Theft Auto V (Joint Game of the Year 2015)
• Software of the Decade: Adobe Photoshop CS5 (Program of the Year 2010) and Spotify (Program of the Year 2014)
• Spon Award for Excellentness of the Decade: Grand Theft Auto V (Joint Game of the Year 2015)