The Spon Awards are a set of accolades bestowed at the end of the year to acknowledge the best in media, software, and typography that year. What makes the Spons unique is that nominees are not restricted to that year - awards have been given to content dating back as far as the 1950s.

The Awards initially began in 2007 as an award for the most played song of the year, Power Grid from the SimCity 3000 soundtrack. The decision was made to increase the number of categories and to make it a general awards ceremony in 2008, and it has followed this ever since.

Note that the orange award is the Spon Award winner for that year.

First
December 2007 (Argus 62)

Song: Power Grid (Jerry Martin)

Second
18 December 2008 (3 Argus 63)

Song: We Didn't Start the Fire (Billy Joel, 1989)
Film: Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)
Game: The Sims 2 (Maxis, 2004)
Font: Boulder (Kabel)
Television: The Chaser's War on Everything
                (ABC)

Third
19 December 2009 (4 Argus 64)

Song: Walk of Life (Dire Straits, 1985)
Film: Independence Day (1996)
Game: World in Conflict (Massive, 2007)
Font: Zurich BT (Univers)
Television: Is It a Good Idea to Microwave
                This? (BBC)

Fourth
20 December 2010 (5 Argus 65)

Song: Big Love (Pete Heller, 1999)
Film: World War Three (1998)
Game: Need for Speed: Most Wanted (EA, 2005)
Font: Roadgeek 2005 Series D (FHWA Srs. D)
Television: Coast (BBC)
Anime: Soul Eater

Fifth
30 December 2011 (15 Argus 66)

Song: Kodachrome (Paul Simon, 1973)
Film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
        Part I (2010)
Game: Freedom Fighters (Electronic Arts, 2003)
Font: Akzidenz-Grotesk
Program: Adobe Photoshop CS5 (Adobe)
Show: The Billy T James Show (TV3)
Video: Nyan Cat
Anime: 07-Ghost

Sixth
30 December 2012 (15 Argus 67)

Song: Call on Me (Eric Prydz, 2004)
Film: Porky's (1982)
Game: Dead Island (Techland, 2011)
Font: Gotham
Program: VMware Workstation 7 (VMware)
Show: Russell Howard's Good News (BBC)
Video: Gangnam Style (Psy)
Anime: Hetalia

Seventh
21 December 2013 (6 Argus 68)

Song: Manhattan Spiritual (Reg Owen Orchestra, 1958)
Film: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Game: Team Fortress 2 (Valve, 2007)
Font: Trade Gothic
Program: Steam (Valve)
Show: Futurama (Fox)
Video: Grown Men are Talking (5secondfilms)
Anime: Free!
Website: Tumblr
Micronation: Austenasia

Eighth
23 December 2014 (8 Argus 69)

Song: If You Wanna Be Happy (Jimmy Soul, 1963)
Film: God Bless America (2011)
Game: Garry's Mod (Facepunch/Valve, 2004)
Font: Knockout
Program: Spotify (Spotify)
Show: South Australia (Anonymous)
Micronation: Lostisland

Ninth
27 December 2015 (12 Argus 70)

Song: Steal Away (Robbie Dupree, 1980)
Film: Inside Out (2015)
Game: Fallout 4 (Bethesda, 2015) and Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar Games, 2015)
Font: Metro Nova/Geometric 415
Program: Cortana (Microsoft)
Show: Yes Minister/Yes, Prime Minister (BBC)
Micronation: Sandus

Tenth
28 December 2016 (13 Argus 71)

Song: Sausalito Summernights
   (Diesel, 1980)
Film: The Hollywood Knights (1980)
Game: Fallout: New Vegas (2010)
Font: Whitney
Program: Open Broadcaster Software
Show: The Dukes of Hazzard
Micronation: Ladonia
Website: Twitch

The Awards

From the 10th (2016) Awards, the following categories are awarded:
Film, Font, Game, Micronation, Program, Show, Song, Spon Award for Excellentness, and Website.

The Spon Award for Excellentness is the supreme award, and is given to one of the category winners. Most of the core categories (those listed above excepting Micronation) have won a Spon Award for Excellentness.

Nobody's Perfect

For the most part, the awarding of the Spons has gone smoothly over the years. But in 2013 the Awards courted controversy when several people criticised the granting of the Anime award to the series Free!. The result was that in 2014, the Awards were more closely considered - and as for the Anime award, it was dropped from the Eighth Awards out of lack of interest.