SC - Competition entry

[Philip & Susan Troy]

RichSCA at aol.com wrote:
> 
> I am in complete agreement.  I have only entered one "real" A&S competition
> (the "other" one was a Laurel's Prize thingy where the Laurels came by and
> put a token in your cup if they liked it - also you were with your entry and
> they talked to you [kindly] about it - I really liked this kind of
> competition).

In your cup??? Puh-leeeeeze! We're not throwing change to the servants
here! I stuck around and spoke to as many people as I could, and if I
gave a token I placed it in the hand, or around the neck, of the person,
depending on what it was. With one exception, in the case of one gentle
for whom I had far more nefarious plans. However, I suppose a gesture is
as gracious as it is perceived to be, so if people liked the cup thing,
that's cool too.
 
> The one I DID enter, I entered a complete diagram on the History of the
> Marshalling of Arms in England in period, complete with a storyline to help
> the reader understand it and about 30 hand painted devices showing how the
> arms where marshalled though the years.  The Heralds that judged it said they
> "could not judge it" as it was _inappropriate_ to the competition since we do
> not marshal arms in the SCA.  Plus the few comments they did make were
> negative about the actual Marshalling (which were incorrect comments).
> (Although one Herald and some members of the populace did come to me and said
> they really liked it.)  After the competition I sent the primary judge
> further documentation to show that he had been incorrect in his comments.
> Never heard from him.  Then they gave top honors to a piece of work that
> showed a husband and wife's device together.  Very nice handpainted work on
> fabric, but Marshalled completely wrong - which is okay since we "don't
> marshal arms in the SCA."

As we've seen several times recently, for one reason or another the
judging was done by people who, for one reason or another, either
weren't, or thought they weren't, qualified to judge an entry. I agree
with Berengaria, though, in saying that A&S comps don't have to be evil.
On the other hand, when the exact same complaint is raised by several
different people, some of whom won their categories and some of whom did
not, you have to suspect that there may be a problem with the standard format.

And for what it's worth, the Laurel's Prize Tourney (even though when we
did it, we didn't use the T-word) does not seem to present these
problems. There was a recent comp in the Northern Region of the East;
I'd have to check my files on the details, that tried to take a lot of
the complaints of comp-entrants into account in designing theirs; I
gather it went very well.
 
> After that I decided that my belt is yellow (I am a protege) and thus give
> service.  I love to paint scrolls and have been told that I should entry
> something in A&S.  I tell everyone I paint scrolls as a SERVICE to my
> kingdom.  I also teach dance and other middle eastern classes, but these,
> too, are to SERVE my kingdom and the SCA.

Hey, me too, although my belt, had I had one from my master, would have
been green, and my leaves are in service, too.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com