[Archers] Recommendation

Thu Apr 5 11:02:53 PDT 2012

Your Majesty,

Thank you for expressing in a "Royal manner" what I have thought for many
years.  Specifically, awards given in "order" and awards NOT handed out like
candy at Halloween.  (I may have expressed those thoughts a bit rougher than
you did.)  But your post also brings up an excellent point.  As was posted
here on this list, having your definition of an award for which you were an
integral part of forming was of great value to us all and settled some
discussions we have had.  Thus the idea springs into my otherwise empty
head, perhaps it would be a good idea if the Royals were to give a class at
University explaining their criteria for awards.  Not every University, but
occasionally.  It is frustrating those of us not in the position of a Royal
to make recommendations for awards and see them, seemingly, go ignored when,
in fact, they were not acted upon because our perception of the award is not
in agreement with the Royal who would have given the award.  I'm not
thinking of going through each and every award but rather what is the
criteria a Royal would expect of an individual who they would award a merit
award to or award of high merit.  I believe this would help all the Orders
and recommendations for awards in that we could look at our recommendation
and measure them against the Royal perception of what would be
required/expected of an individual awarded such.

With due respect and looking forward to seeing you on the archery range,

Christophe of Grey

From: thdonadio at gmail.com [mailto:thdonadio at gmail.com] On Behalf Of
Padraigin O'hEachach
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2012 11:52 AM
To: John Atkins
Cc: archers at atlantia.sca.org
Subject: Re: [Archers] Recommendation

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

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