[Ansteorra] New award questions

[Reihla at aol.com]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
As has been pointed out, the difference between a polled order and a
consulting order is the authority the Crown has to act.  We may call peerages
polling orders, but in Ansteorra the tradition is that the Crown is required
only to consult the order members.  In my opinion, it is this tradition,
among others, that makes Ansteorra the strong kingdom that it is.  Our King
and Queen actually rule without a dozen and a half laws (or committees)
restricting what they can and can't do.  It makes our kingdom as close to a
true monarchy as any in the Society.

>1. How do you feel about Significant Others or close friends
>  reccomending awards for their partner?

We took any award recommendation seriously.  Spouses and SO's are often in
the best position to see the work their partner is doing.  However, I don't
think we gave any award based solely on the recommendation of a spouse,
sibling, parent, etc..  We always wanted to see additional support from
outside the family unit.
The fact is most SCA award recommendations come from people who are close to
the person they are recommending.  It's only natural to recommend people you
care about, especially if you know how hard they've worked.

With regard to peerages, I don't think a spouse (or sibling, or parent, etc.)
is going to be any guiltier of lacking objectivity towards their loved one as
a candidate than are the close friends of that person.  The good thing about
peerage orders is that even if a family member is the one promoting a
candidate there is still an entire order who isn't related to that person and
they all get to give their input as well.  Its more than enough of a
check-and-balance.

>2. How do you feel about petition style award recommendations?
>(Where the recommendation is written out and someone hands it
>to you to add your name to the list of signees...)

I don't sign petitions at all anymore, even if I agree wholeheartedly with
them.  If I feel strongly that someone is deserving I will take the time to
write a recommendation myself.  There is just no way to sign one petition and
not another without hurting someone's feelings.

As Crown, we received several petitions.  Because of our own personal
experiences with them we questioned many who signed them about the people
they were recommending.  The results were interesting.  We found that quite a
few of those who signed didn't really agree with the petitions, but felt
pressured because it was a friend who asked them to sign.  Because of that we
ended up giving petitions little more weight than individual recommendations.
 Fortunately in most cases we received other recommendations for those very
deserving individuals.

Kat  >^.,.^<