Bardic Competition at Castellan VII

[Scott Fridenberg]

Greetings
	I am HL. Robert Fitzmorgan Baronial Bard of Northkeep.  I want to invite all bards to enter our first bardic competition as a Barony.  The competition will take place at our Castellan tournament May 30 - June 1 at the Will Rogers Scout camp in Cleveland, OK.  We are doing something a little different this year, and we think it will be a lot of fun.  Saturday morning we will have a meeting of all those entering the competition.  The competitiors will meet one another, have the rules explained, and recieve a number of rings. Throughout the day the Bards will challenge one another.  The challenge may be anything of a bardic nature mutually acceptable to the bards.  The bards will negotiate the details of the challenge, the number of rings that will be wagered on the challenge, and who will judge the outcome of the challenge. The looser of the challenge will forfeit the agreed wager. A bard may decline any challeng they are not comfortable with.  The bards will be engouraged to perform for the populace, and allow them to participate in judging challenges.  Myself, and any previous Northkeep bards present will also have rings that we will bestow in various challenges during the day.  
	Sometime Saturday afternoon, or early evening we wll meet again, and select three or four finalists based on the number of rings collected.  These finallists will be given a challenge by the judges, and the Bard judged to have best fulfilled our challenge will become the Baronial Bard of Northkeep.  
	The judges challenge issued to the finalists will require an extemporaneous performance.  We will give you a topic and you will have a limited amout of time to create a new work on that topic.  Typically we give you an hour, but scheduling conflicts have shortened that in the past. I encourage you to bring material that will appeal to children, as I will likely issue a challenge for the bards to entertain for our children, with the children deciding if your performance deserved a ring or not.  
	I encourage all bards to come to Castellan, join our competition, and have fun with it.  Please share this information with bards who are not on the list.  For more information you can E-Mail me at 'scottf at galstar.com' or phone me before 10 PM at 918-838-1722.

Robert Fitzmorgan
Barony of Northkeep