UPDATE: 8th Feb, 2017
Thanks to Redrobes, we now have thumbnails for eligible maps. See comment no. 7 below.
The text from my original comment below is obsolete now. There's no need to tag your maps unless you want to.
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Original comment below
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It looks like we're not going to have a thumbnail gallery for 2016 maps, as the forum software doesn't appear to support this degree of functionality. We've therefore had to find something of a workaround, and this will require a little effort from you guys, as it's not something we can automate. The TL;DR version is tag your eligible threads with '2016'.
If everyone tags their 2016 Finished Maps threads in this manner, a simple search will return all threads that are eligible for nomination. You'll still have to click into each thread individually to see the map, but that can't be helped. The reason for using tags, rather than the forum's default search, is because a standard search works on the last comment date, rather than thread creation date. Therefore, if you do a search for anything from the last year, threads started several years ago will be included if someone left a comment during 2016.
A more detailed explanation follows...
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How to make your map discoverable for nomination
STEP ONE – Find your eligible maps
Go to your profile page and click on ‘Find latest started threads’ (it’s on the menu at the left hand side).
Have a look for threads that...
1) were posted in Finished Maps (shown on the right hand side), and
2) were created between 1st January – 31st December, 2016.
These are your threads that are eligible for nomination.
NB only threads posted in Finished Maps during the relevant dates are eligible. Maps posted in any other part of the forums or in personal albums cannot be nominated.
STEP TWO – Tag your threads with ‘2016’
Each eligible thread has to be tagged individually, so depending on the number of maps you made last year, this may take a little time.
Click on the thread title to enter that thread. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, underneath the comment box, and look for the button that says ‘Add / Edit Tags’ over on the right hand side.
Click that button and a box will be displayed that allows you to enter tags.
Put 2016 as the tag, then click ‘Save Changes’.
Your map is now tagged with ‘2016’ and will show in the search.
Repeat for all eligible threads.
How to search for maps that are eligible for nomination
On the main forum home page, near the top right, is a link that says ‘Advanced Search’. Click this link to go to the search page.
In the section marked ‘Search For’, there is a box for Tags. Type 2016 in the Tag box.
Underneath this, in the ‘Additional Options’ section, make sure the ‘Find Posts’ buttons show ‘Any Date’ and ‘Newer’ from the drop-down options.
Now click ‘Search Now’.
The search will return all posts tagged with ‘2016’.
Pick your favourites and post them to the appropriate nomination thread!
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We've tried this with some of CL's maps and it seems to work. If you do a tag search just now, you should get a bunch of maps (mostly J.Ed's at the time of writing). I realise it's a bit of a pain to tag your stuff, especially if you have many threads, but I hope everyone will take 10 minutes or so to do this, as it will undoubtedly boost your chances of nomination.
If anything in these instructions is unclear, please ask. Thanks folks!