HackerNoon has always been a thriving example of decentralization. With team members spread across 5 continents and 15 countries, centralization just cannot touch us. Building upon that is our (Now Everscale) - a Blockchain birthed out of Telegram's foray into decentralization. partnership with Free TON Under the aegis of this partnership, we're giving away monthly prizes worth $3,500 to the best HackerNoon story submissions on ways and examples furthering the decentralization of the Internet. The Selection Criteria For the first round of awards, we picked all the stories on HackerNoon that were published since Jan 2021. tagged with #Decentralized-Internet This gave us a total of 95 stories. ( ) Source Next, we picked the top 13 stories using a 60:30:10 weightage respectively to: Number of hours read Number of people reached Freshness Now, it was time to vote on our favorite stories. But first, let's look at the nominees: by The Coronavirus Cover-Up: A Closer Look At Internet Censorship in China @sh4rmini by Why Is BTC Over $50k While Other Cryptocurrencies Struggle To Cross $1: A Deep Dive @nonamec3po by 5 Polkadot Projects Worth Checking Out [April 2021] @haroonbaig by The Splinternet is Coming, and How Decentralization Can Stitch It All Back Together Again @SavannahLee by Brave Browser, Brendan Eich, Digital Privacy, Web 3.0 and the Battle Against Surveillance Capitalism @maddykutechno by Does Web 3.0 Need Web Servers? @benjaminbateman by How To Mint Your First NFT (Non-Fungible Token) For Free @sergey-baloyan by More Africans Walk Towards Financial Freedom Due To Cryptocurrencies @nonamec3po by Decentralizing The Internet: The Hitchhiker's Guide Nicholas Resendez by GitHub is Amazing, but its Terms of Service is Extremely Concerning @TheLoneroFoundation by Are NFTs Real Art? Four Artists, One Question @benjaminbateman by Can You Earn Crypto by Mining/Staking If You Are Not a Programmer? @nonamec3po by 3 Reasons Why Blockchain Won't #ReleaseTheKraken: An Interview with John Sebes of TrustTheVote.org @benjaminbateman The Voting Process We used Polly (a slack app) to build the voting panel and true to the spirit of decentralization, everybody on our slack channel got to pick their three favorite stories each. We all had 3 days to pick our favorites. So, who won? With over 25% of all votes cast - by emerged as the clear winner. More Africans Walk Towards Financial Freedom Due To Cryptocurrencies No_name_c3po No_name_c3po wins 1,500 TON crystals Arthur, our Software Development Editor sums up why this story made it to the top of almost everybody's list, "There is something beautiful about the decentralization movement as a whole where they’re all trying in their own ways to bring banking services to locations where there are no banks for hundreds of kilometers." With about 19% of all votes cast, by emerged as the . Decentralizing The Internet: The Hitchhiker's Guide Nicholas Resendez first runner-up Nicholas Resendez wins 1,000 TON crystals The no-holds-barred look at decentralization as a whole, its challenges, and silver-linings was what resonated with the voters, as per Natasha, our VP Of Editorial. The second runner-up position was snatched up by by . It received 14% of the total votes cast. How To Mint Your First NFT (Non-Fungible Token) For Free Sergey Baloyan Sergey Baloyan wins 500 TON crystals. This was the favorite story of our CEO, David Smooke who, as a fan of trading cards has really taken to NFTs. Finally, the last winner to be chosen was by which polled about 11% of the total votes cast. 3 Reasons Why Blockchain Won't #ReleaseTheKraken: An Interview with John Sebes of TrustTheVote.org Benjamin Bateman Benjamin Bateman wins 500 TON crystals. For this one, Benjamin went deep into the camp of the Blockchain-disbelievers and discussed the possibilities and concerns related to voting on the Blockchain. Whither Next? This calls for a celebration and a big round of applause for the victors and the worthy contenders. We'll be continuing to run this contest through the end of 2021, so you can submit your to HackerNoon today to have a chance at monthly prizes! #decentralized-internet stories For those of you who couldn't win this time OR didn't know how to participate, here are the details for this month's writing competition. on HackerNoon Set up an account the Check out Decentralized Internet Writing Competition’s rules and submit it with as one of the tags Pen your story #Decentralized-Internet Share your story on your social media channels to reach a wider audience. If your social media copy is 'kewl', we'll share/retweet it to give you a leg up. Want to boost your chances of winning? With that, we're calling it a wrap until we see you next month. Note: Free TON has now rebranded as Everscale .