[Ansteorra] Award Recommendations (was: The first installment of Uncle Jovian's "Thought on A&S")

[Jay Rudin]

Eve responded to me:

>> It is my belief that you will get the awards you deserve.  It is ***NOT*** my belief that you will get the awards when you deserve them. 

>I'm not sure if you get the awards you deserve. I'd say it's more like
>you get the awards *someone else* thinks you deserve. And further to
>that, it has to be a very particular sub-set of someone elses.

There is some truth here, but it's not the truth you think it is.  The particular sub-set of someone elses can be easily defined: it's the people who make award recommendations by going to the link to actually recommend somebody that they see more often than the Crown does.

http://www.ansteorra.org/forms/award.php

I'm not telling you that all awards that are recommended happen; they don't always.  But I *am* telling you that if you don't make the award recommendation then the award doesn't happen.

I repeat, with emphasis: if *YOU* don't make the award recommendation then the award *DOESN'T* happen.

Describe in clear language why this person deserves the award.  Assume that the Crown actively desires to reward everyone correctly, and that they cannot personally watch a thousand Ansteorrans.  That means that awards happen only if people actually make recommendations.

More imdirectly, the awards you think should happen can only happen if you send in the award recommendation.

> There's
>some very worthy people who will never get an award because the people
>who notice their deeds are "nobody" types, ...

What's a "nobody" type?  I made my first award recommendations before I had an AoA.  Not only did some (not all) of those awards get given, but it might have affected when I got my AoA.  Of course, I never thought of myself as a "nobody" type, even as a new, unranked beginner.  Therefore I define a "nobody" type as somebody who has no influence on Ansteorra's awards by his or her own choice, by not using the open, available award system.  Anybody can be a "nobody" type by free choice.

If "nobody" types make award recommendations, then the Crown will hear of that person, and consider that award.  If they don't, then the Crown may not ever hear of that person, and may not ever consider that award.

Also, if "nobody" types make recommendations, then they cease being "nobody" types.

So I will modify your statement: There are some very worthy people who will never get an award because the people who notice their deeds don't bother to write recommendations.  This is true, and it's the biggest weakness of the system.

The awards system is not a system; it's a series of individual ad-hoc decisions.  It doesn't work perfectly at best, but it cannot work at all unless people make recommendations.

I'm doing my part.  I've sent in four award recs already this week.  But just as the Crown can't watch everyone in the kingdom, the active peers can't notice everyone in the kingdoms either.  It takes *your* eyes to see things and *your* words to pass the word along.

> similarly there are those
> who may not yet be judged as worthy by most but that get recognized
>because someone on a throne thinks that what they are doing is cool.

This happens.  I won't deny it.  But far more often, they get recognized because somebody brought that person to the Crown's attention.

(And by the way, often the biggest tragedy in the SCA is somebody who gets an award too early eventually earns it, and there is no way to reward them for it now.)

Here's my recommendation:

If you know somebody who clearly deserves an award, go to the Ansteorran website and make the recommendation.  If it doesn't happen this reign, try again, and then again.  I've done this, and it works.  Will it take three tries?  Sometimes.  As I said, it is not my belief that you will get the awards when you deserve them.  If three successive crowns refuse to give it, find somebody whose opinion you trust, and show her what you've written.  (This could be one of the Crowns.)  You will probably find out that your recommendation doesn't address what the award is really for, or some other reason.  But the crucial thing to realize is that THE CROWNS READ AND CONSIDER EVERY SINGLE AWARD RECOMMENDATION SENT IN, WITHOUT EXCEPTION.  The Crown does not read and consider an award recommendation that you haven't sent in.

So if you haven't put up that person for the award for three successive reigns, then you don't need to guess why it hasn't happened.  It hasn't happened because you won't start the process.  

>Find joy and fulfillment in your activities and in the kind words of
>others and don't sweat about what awards you are or are not getting.

Absolutely.  But also find joy and fulfillment in making award recommendations and being part of the hard work needed to get people the awards they deserve.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin

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