As 2010 approaches, welcome the 'one-ders'

If you've ever wondered what the next decade should be called as this one draws to a close, someone has come up with a prize-winning answer: the one-ders.

Website news.com.au (www.news.com.au) gave A$2,010 (USD1,865) to reader Adam Vujic for naming the decade after a six-week long competition as the so-called "noughties", or the years spanning 2000 to 2009, come to an end.

"And after wading through more than 3,500 entries, we can now announce the winner in our competition to name the next decade," the website said. "We needed something that communicated a feeling, not just denoted a number.

"Honourable mentions must go to 'tentions' and 'decnos'. Close, but not quite there. And other entries -- tweens, tennies, twenteens -- were so popular they had to be discounted."

News.com.au said it chose Vujic's answer because of the optimistic rationale behind the name: there is hope for many scientific, humanitarian and environmental breakthroughs and the inclusion of the number one in every year.

The competition was open to Australian residents, who had to come up with a name and give a reason for it using 25 words or less.