Maybe a modification to COTM to COTQ to reduce the number of awards to Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter with a COTY for each area that may or may not come from that years COTQs. With the addition of FAVs at Groundspeak, the really cool caches tend to be found by the number of FAVs given.

When the BOD decided to make the change to a regional COTM, I think it was well received and it went well for a period of time. It was nice to be able to recognize more caches that deserved mentioning as the previous method pitted cache against cache for the whole state and that too often became a popularity contest where good caches in high population areas always edged out those good caches in less dense areas and the new method allowed these other caches to make the page.

As time continues, it appears that fewer folks are nominating and/or voting for COTM. The favorite points while a good way to judge some caches, it also tends to favor the highly cached areas.

I like Commanders idea of COTQ/COTY.
maybe even work it to recognize the cache of the season – the best caches to find during each season (nicest trip, most challenging snowshoe to the cache, greatest fall foliage view, etc)