They say to never meet your heroes- that a person can never live up to your idea of them, that they will always be fallible, unworthy of adoration. I have quickly come to find that this is painfully incorrect- our hero's are heroic not in spite of their fallability, but because of it.

Shortly before my birthday, I had the honor of being voted the Make a Minnow winner for MSP. This contest is a little different from most- you have to be a delegating member of MSP in order to nominate and vote for someone. The prize is also a decent windfall for most minnows- 5000 sp delegated for a month. Prior to Make a Minnow, my account was sitting at $190- all earned via posts and curation awards over the course of a few months. My upvote was worth about 3 cents- now at 100% it's worth almost 60 cents. That was quite the birthday present! This is my thank you to everyone involved.

I have met many of my heroes through MSP- a lot of them are MAM winners themselves. MSP, like steemit, is a microcosm in and of itself that directly reflects steemit. It has 5000 members, over a dozen mods, whales and witnesses all swimming together in (relative) harmony. Here are some of my favorite people on steemit, who also happen to be Make a Minnow Winners or second place winners. I am proud to be in the company of my heroes on a regular basis.

@isaria- my co-host on The Darkside radio show and an empath. For someone who claims to be stressed on a regular basis, her voice always sound smooth and chill. She was recently on a radio show where the host asked her to be mean to him as part of a role-playing skit, and she literally could not do it.



@crimsonclad- dj on full force Thursdays show, mod, and co-witness with @followbtcnews. If you don't think that keeps her busy enough, she also works as an ama-professional photographer, goes on amazing trips (have you seen her posts about Iceland? Worth it, and then there are fart jokes), and keeps everyone in order with sweetness and ban hammers.





@wandrnrose7- Rose is so obviously an old soul- she's constantly sweet and cheerful, always willing to great someone with an emoji and a hug. She writes good poetry too, and always finds the most beautiful art pieces to include with it.


@rougebot- He was supposed to go Rogue, but then there was a typo and now he's Rouge/red. Always helpful, always sweet, Rouge was the first male winner of MAM.

@torico- I don't know what to say that I haven't said before- Torico is my co-host on The Darkside, shy until you know her, and then she is a warrior. Despite the fact that she suffers from chronic pain, Torico powers through and posts poignant poetry.

@clayboyn - Clay hasn't won the actual MAM, despite being nominated not once, but TWICE. He is now a mod in MSP, so currently ineligible, but he deserves to be on this list. Clay has a big heart for people, and does so much behind the scenes of MSP to ensure that everyone feels cared for and gets a little (or a lot) of love on a regular basis. He needs to be included in this post for many reasons, but mostly because he's a spectacular person. I'm proud to know him. Also he took one for the team and put glitter and gel in his beard for my birthday, and it was EPIC! Look at that glorious picture. Best. Birthday. Ever.

Thank you to everyone who made my birthday so special in MSP and in the Writers Block, and thank you to everyone who supported me in the MAM contest. You are all heroes!

-If you are interested in nominating someone for Make a Minnow, a new round has just started! You can comment on the post here.
-If you are not sure if you qualify to participate, or if the person you are interested in nominating is qualified, you can find the list here.
-If you want to join MSP, so that you can participate, come find us on discord.
-Or to learn how to delegate go here .

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Photos are property of the respective MAM winners discussed here
Words are property of @sunravelme