[Archers] Recommendation

Thu Apr 5 08:52:22 PDT 2012

Good morning,

To address the specific topic at hand, Lord Alester MacClansy (which is how
his name appears in the Order of Precedence) was awarded an Opal at Fall
Crown Tournament.

But since I'm here, I hope you will allow me to share some thoughts with
you about awards.  All Orders of Merit (KM, Sea Dragon, Coral Branch, etc)
were written with the intent that they be for effort, not necessarily
skill. I was the Queen that wrote them into law, so really, I know this.
Skill is an added bonus, but the purpose was to recognize people who are
consistently trying and making some impact, somewhere, somehow. Royal
Rounds can also be hard to come by if you live further away from a local
group.  They are not often done at events, and not everyone has a local
practice to attend.   Orders of High Merit, on the other hand, generally
require a much higher level of skill and dedication to a particular
discipline.

The single best part of being royalty is the ability to recognize worthy
subjects.  Being able to see the person's face when you give them an award
is an amazing high.  It makes your heart full to read about all of the good
things people are doing around the kingdom to support the hobby you love.

However, I have noticed two trends that I find troubling in award
recommendations, but I suspect that both stem from a fundamental lack of
knowledge about our awards system in general, and our awards within the
greater context of the SCA.

First trend: recommending someone for an Order of Merit as a first award.
While there is no requirement that a person have X before they can receive
Y, the generally accepted practice across the SCA is that the Award of Arms
is the first award someone receives.  Many people played in the SCA for
several years (3-4 for me) before receiving an AoA.  A good rule of thumb
for most royalty is that the person has been around for at least a year AND
consistently contributing to something during that time.

Second trend: recommending people for awards who have received awards
fairly recently.  SCA awards are not merit badges, and should not be
approached as something to check off a list.  Doing what you enjoy, because
you enjoy it, is the surest way to gain satisfaction from it.  Everyone
wants to see their friends recognized, and recommendations are vital to
making that happen.  But before making a recommendation, please consider
the following:

1. Check the OP to see if that person already has the award you are
recommending, keeping in mind that you should check alternate spellings.
2. Understand that Orders of Merit carry an AoA with them if the person
does not already have one.  So if you see that someone has a Coral Branch,
then by default, he also has an AoA.  The same is true for Orders of High
Merit (Golden Dolphin, Yew Bow) and GoAs.
3. Check when the person last received a kingdom award.  If it was within
the last year, consider whether that person really needs another award so
soon.  Most royalty are hesitant to make awards to people recently
recognized.
4. Update the recommendations you make.  If you made a recommendation
during the last reign that has not been acted upon, go back into the
recommendation and update it as appropriate.
5. Keep in mind that Orders of High Merit and Peerages must be polled by
Their Royal Majesties.  This process takes time.  If you recommend someone
today for a Yew Bow, it will not be awarded this weekend, and probably not
even this month.

Also keep in mind that you can recommend people for Baronial awards.  I
have found that most people are simply happy to be noticed.  Something as
simple, but personal, as a token and a moment of thanks, especially in a
public place, can have an incredible impact.  Lady Lorelei's archery tokens
are an excellent example.  The SCA can be a life-long pursuit.  I've been
doing this for 17 years, and many of you have been doing it even longer.
I'm looking forward to spending more time shooting very soon.

Warmest Regards,
Padraigin Regina

On Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 9:07 AM, John Atkins <cogworks at triad.rr.com> wrote:

> Janyn brings up and interesting point.  The first induction I witnessed
> into the Order of the Yewbow was at a Kingdom Champion Shoot.  I went up to
> the individual after court and congratulated him.  His response was “it
> certainly wasn’t for my shooting, probably for my promotion and service to
> the archery community”.  So Janyn’s point of a displayed proficiency with
> bow versus service to the archery community becomes the question.****
>
> ** **
>
> From the Atlantian list of awards, for the Missilier “Honors and
> recognizes those subjects who have distinguished themselves by their effort
> with bow and arrow  “.  That would mean to me that Janyn’s comment is
> valid.  What then would be the “proper” award for an individual who has
> performed great service to the Atlantian archery community, which I know
> firsthand and believe this individual has done?  Again from the Atlantian
> award site “Honors and recognizes those subjects of the Kingdom who have
> distinguished themselves by their service to Atlantia.  “, for the Opal.**
> **
>
> ** **
>
> So would not an Opal be more appropriate in absence of a certain level of
> expertise as evidenced by a Royal Round award/score?****
>
> ** **
>
> Just my two cents worth,****
>
> CJg****
>
> ** **
>
> _______________________________________________
> Archers mailing list
> Archers at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
> http://seahorse.atlantia.sca.org/listinfo.cgi/archers-atlantia.sca.org
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://seahorse.atlantia.sca.org/pipermail/archers-atlantia.sca.org/attachments/20120405/ed502745/attachment-0003.htm>