Cacowards

The Cacowards are an annual feature at Doomworld, released on Doom's birthday, to recognize the year's best mods. The series started in 2004 with the so-called 11th edition, which attempted to replicate the success of similar articles in the previous year's 10 Years of Doom celebration, the Top 100 WADs of All Time and the Top 10 Infamous WADs. Stephen Browning (Scuba Steve) is credited with the original concept. The 21st (actually 11th) installment appeared in 2014.

The award categories have gradually evolved. As of 2014, all years have included: Most editions have also included: Each publication is around six pages long, including a foreword with a title card parodying a recent piece of popular media. Various year-in-review notes usually appear in sidebars, such as epitaphs, or sardonic "anniversaries" involving the writers' own projects.
 * At least ten overall Winners.
 * One or more Multiplayer Awards (formerly Best DM Level) for outstanding multiplayer maps.
 * The Mapper of the Year.
 * The Mordeth Award for a major release with a long development cycle (named after the notoriously delayed Mordeth E2).
 * Runners-Up lists of varying lengths.
 * The Mockaward for an outstanding joke WAD (named after Mockery).
 * A one-off honorable mention with a name matching the WAD's theme, such as the Escher Award in 2006 and What the Pope?! in 2012.

A nomination thread at the Doomworld forums runs all year long, listing and discussing candidates. However, there is no formal voting and the article writers make the ultimate decisions on all recipients.

For details on each year's compilation, follow the links to the right.