The Burkies aka The Brian Burke Award for Verbal Excellence were a creation of PPP's resident princess Wrap Around Curl, after realizing that some comments on the site were so great that they deserved recognition .  In the first week of their existence they were called "The Schennies", but they were quickly renamed in favour of the master of verbal truclence: Brian Burke.    Every week the comments are sifted through to figure out which ones stand out.   These are chosen based on the recommendations these comments receive via the "rec" option under the actions menu following each comment.  Rec'd comments turn green with the more rec's they receive. 

Receiving a Burkie is the most prestigious award a commenter can receive (at least on this site) and results in eternal glory for the winners.  The Burkies are presented every Monday via a post on the front page.  So keep those comments coming and rec the comments you like.