[WurmWald] Award recommendation letters and how to do them

[Jenn/Yana]

Someone asked me about awards recently, and since we
have a local event coming up (very shortly) where the
Crown will be in attendance, this is an ideal
opportunity to recognize worthy gentles for their
accomplishments in the Society. Time is short,
however, so if you have recommendations to get to the
Crown, you will need to do so in the next week or two.


Please read the excellent letter below, which I copied
from the Middlebridge, which explains how a
recommendation is processed and what Royalty looks
for.

An online award recommendation is preferred, just go
to <http://www.midrealm.org/op/recommend/> and click
on "sign up for instant access" if you do not already
have a login.

Enjoy!

--Yana
=======================================================
From: Elise Fleming <alysk_at_ix.netcom.com>
Date: Thu 17 Nov 2005 09:09:28 AM EST
Message-ID: <410-220051141714928156 at ix.netcom.com>

WHAT HAPPENED TO MY AWARD RECOMMENDATION?

By Countess Alys Katharine

Having only recently been a member of the populace and
not Royalty, I would
wonder why some deserving gentle did not receive the
award for which I had
recommended them. When I became Queen, I learned some
of the reasons why,
and I would like to share them with you in the hope
that perhaps you will
learn how to “work the system” and become less
frustrated when an award is
not given.

First, always keep a copy of what you wrote and for
whom. If using the
on-line web award recommendation site, you can see
what awards you have
submitted. If your recent submission does not appear,
please contact the
web minister to let him know there appears to be a
problem. If the
submission does not appear, you can send the copy of
your text that you
kept directly to the Royalty either by e-mail or post.

Now, presuming that your recommendation was entered
into the web database,
here’s what might happen. You recommend Jane of the
Doe for a Willow and
say that she will be attending Event A and Event B.
Their Majesties will
not be attending Event A but will be at Event B as
well as Event C. (Note:
Usually the Royalty’s travel schedule is on Their
website, available from
the Midrealm site, so you can see what events They
will likely be
attending.) Most Royalty start by using the “event”
listing to see who
will be attending and what the person is recommended
to receive. If you
did not list that event, the person’s name will not
appear there (such as
at Event C). There Majesties, therefore, call up the
data for people
attending Event B. They find your recommendation for a
Willow. Most
Crowns will want to see two or three recommendations
for the same award and
person before deciding to offer it. Therefore, the
Royalty will check to
see how many people support the recommendation that
you submitted. This is
easily done by the Crown. They click on that person’s
name which will then
bring up all of the recommendations for people with
similar names.
Scrolling down, the Royalty can see that yours was the
only recommendation.
Jane will probably not receive a Willow this time.

However, if one or two other people have also
submitted a recommendation
for a Willow, this can be seen when the Crown clicks
on Jane’s name. Those
recommendations may have been submitted months ago,
but they still stay in
the database with the date they were submitted. If the
recommendations
seem valid, and if there are enough to meet the
current Crown’s criteria
for awards, then Jane will receive her Willow.
Therefore, if you believe
that she deserves the award, encourage others to write
her in as well.

What you write also can make a difference. Saying
“Jane deserves the
Willow because she does lots of sewing for everyone
and puts embroidery on
all the pieces” is not as likely to catch Their
Majesties’ attention as
saying “Jane has learned to do blackwork and Opus
Anglicanum, as well as
traditional Viking designs. She makes clothing for
newcomers in the group
and puts an embroidered design on each one. She has
taught our shire to do
simple blackwork caps and Viking aprons. She has
taught at two RUM
sessions. She has put pictures of her embroider on her
website
” Be as
specific as possible. Their Majesties do not know this
person but you do.
Be honest and accurate in your praise of Jane.

Now, suppose that Their Majesties for whatever reason
do not award Jane the
Willow that you recommended. Event B has now gone by.
You learn that Jane
will be attending other events where Their Majesties
will be present (such
as Event C), but you didn’t list Event C when you
originally submitted the
recommendation. Their Majesties again call up the
listing for Event C but
Jane’s name is not there. They can no longer go back
to Event B and call
up the names of those who were listed as attending.
Once the event is over
and a certain time passes, the event listings
disappear from the Event
section in the database. Your recommendation is still
there, but it is now
under the Regional section as well as under Jane’s
name. The database’s
Regional section is huge and takes five to ten minutes
to download. And,
at this point, it contains all the names of all the
people who were
recommended via the web site, even though many of
those people already
received that award a year or two ago. For a Royal
with a slow connection
or a small computer, the Regional section is very
difficult to use.

So, what do you do? You can go back to the web site
and update your
recommendation with new events, thus keeping the Crown
updated on that
person as well. Any person can update (or delete) any
recommendation that
he or she sent in. So, if you have additional facts go
back to the web
site and add them. (Think about including the name of
Jane’s home group!)
Be sure that you have spelled Jane’s name correctly.
If you spell it Jane,
your friend spells it Jayne and the seneschal spells
it Jaine or even
Geine, the recommendations will appear under those
names, making it seem
like three or four different people. And, don’t use a
person’s title. If
you submit Jane’s name as Lady Jane, the Royalty won’t
find it when they
look for names starting with “J”.

Keep in mind that ideally you should give Their
Majesties a three- to
four-week lead time, so don’t wait until the last
moment to update or add
material. Most Royalty try to have the Court list to
the scribes at least
two weeks prior to the event. The extra weeks give
Them time to look at
the list and discuss how much Court time They will
need and how many awards
to give. Be sure that others have sent in
recommendations as well. Look
at Their Majesties’ travel schedule. Will Jane be at
the same events? It
really does help the Royalty to know who will be at
the events They plan to
attend.

If Jane of the Does still does not receive the award
you recommended and
you have submitted the information in detail with all
the events she will
attend, consider re-sending the information for the
next Reign. Each set
of Royalty have Their own parameters about how many
awards to give, how
long a Court They want, and how to determine who
receives which award. If
Jane does not receive the award during one Reign, she
may well receive it
in another. If you believe she truly deserves the
award, don’t give up!

Elise Fleming
alysk at ix.netcom.com
http://home.netcom.com/~alysk/ 


	
		
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