A&S STandards and The Lack Thereof in Ansteorra

ND Wederstrandt nweders at mail.utexas.edu
Mon Jun 9 10:55:45 PDT 1997


(The following is not an attack on anyone, so please no one get offended.)


This topic surfaces off and on, usually when someone enters a contest and
is personally unhappy with the results.  (This is not to lay blame on
anyone)
What happens is that the Laurels usually get the brunt of the complaints
since the Laurelate usually wind up judging (a lot).  Several of the
Laurels do take time to try to come up with better solutions.   I know
Mistress Rose Cathan held a class on setting up standards (Which Mistress
Gunnora stated) and if interested you can probably call her or write her
with suggestions and such. Laurel's Prize Tourney was one solution
developed by Mistress Branwyn O'Brallaghan and used several times in this
Kingdom. Steppes Artisian is another way of dealing with this issue and I'm
sure other areas have found viable solutions.

I have a few questions though to the individuals who started this topic.

1. Have you made suggestions to the individual who ran the competition
about what you perceived the problem was and what you thought could be done
to correct it?
As a side note, I assume you have entered many competitions and this is a
continuous recurring problem.  If you have only entered one or two times in
this Kingdom, don't give up many areas are trying to change this problem.
2. Have you talked to your local Arts and Sciences officer to see if you
could help with one in your local areas. Do you help with your local arts
and sciences?  Are your Laurels in your local area available to help?
3.  Does your local group have a set criteria?  Have you made this suggestion?
4. Have you written to your local, regional, or Kingdom officers about the
problems and offered solutions to fixing it?  I can speak from personal
experience that the former Minister Arts and Sciences officer received
positive suggestions on making compeitions what people wanted. (He did get
some.)

I am not trying to attack anyone,but a great many times on this Net I hear
complaints but I rarely see suggestions on how to fix them. I am in charge
of the Arts and Sciences Competition for Bryn Gwlad Baronial Championship
and I have several ideas that I will be trying out. I volunteered because
the statement I hear in Bryn Gwlad is that no one likes them and I felt
that the group has not explored Arts and Sciences Compeitions in total and
there has to be a few ways that are totally unhappy.  I will be holding a
Penthalalon with five separate categories for people to enter and try out
(hopefully, for some new fields)  Each people will be given points based on
their level of expertise, and how well they do. (Harder judging criteria
for more experienced people, etc)  They will be at least six (if not more
winners) based on points for each field.  I have not asked all my judges
but not all of them are Laurels, some have never judged and some have never
entered competitions. I personally don't like mixed Competitions but I
think that with a little skill they can be done and done well. The bad
thing about competitions is that someone almost always end up uphappy.

In regards to being a judge -- it is one of the hardest things that I have
to do as a Laurel because you never know how people will take criticism or
comments.  I sometimes take to saying, "do you want criticism or do you
want me to tell you how good it is...." (*wink*)

Clare R. St. John









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