For a Newcomer Night (not yet taught)

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Description: Again the class concentrates on writing recommendations as a member of the Canton of Aire Faucon, including SCA-wide awards, Kingdom of Atlantia awards, and Barony of Sacred Stone awards.

AWARDS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

While we often say the SCA is a game, the reality is it is a non-profit organization and like any organization it is made up of people. People who need a “thank you” now-and-again, recognition, and also breaks. This is not day-job, but fun-job. Make sure it stay fun, and one of the ways to do that is make sure the people participating – dedicating their time learning arts, or doing service, or fighting at demos – feel appreciated. This includes verbal thank yous and stuff to go on walls.

PART ONE – Part One covered the Order of Precedence (OP) and awards available to members of the Canton broken down into the big areas: Martial prowess, Arts and Science skills and teaching, and Service. Also mentioned specialization of Courtesy and for those under the age of 18. We discussed those awards recognized throughout the SCA, those which are Kingdom specific, and those given within the Barony.

PART TWO – Part Two will cover how to write and submit recommendations to the Kingdom and to the Barony.

WHO TO SEND RECOMMENDATIONS TO

ONE) Kingdom Awards –

• Advocates – If you are new to writing recommendations (and even not so new) for polling orders, contact members of the Canton who already are member of the Order and bounce ideas off of them. These are people who will be attending the meetings and bringing up names and letting people know how great the person you want to recommend it. They might tell you to “wait”, they might recommend a different award.
• The Kingdom Award system – The information will go to the King and Queen; at a couple months before the start of their reign, the Prince and Princess will also be included for polling awards. Polling awards are often cut and pasted to the polling order letters for review, so be sure to include names and specific details.
• Additional Contacts – Inform the local Baronage, Baronial Seneschal, and Canton Seneschal. If possible, cut and paste the information you sent in to them in an email so they are aware of what was written. Often the Crown will contact the local leadership for opinions; don’t let them be caught flatfooted. Additional people who might be help could include officers in the area being written in – for A&S, get the A&S Minister involved, Newcomer – talk to the Chatelaine, and Martial, the Marshal.

TWO) Baronial Awards – Use the Baronial form on the Baronial website. Follow up with the Baronage. Like with Kingdom Awards, for polling orders contact local Advocates to help your “thank you” campaign and copy the Canton Seneschal (and appropriate officers) so when the Baronage calls, she has answers at her fingertips.

INFORMATION FOR THE FORMS

One) Both the Kingdom and the Barony have award submission pages. Gather the information you need before logging on. Yes, there is work – but it is worth it when you see the gentle called into court.

• Kingdom Awards are inside a password protected area of the Atlantia website. The same area is used for signing up for Kingdom University and for members of polling orders and for responding to polls.
• To sign up for a User Account ,you will need the following information: A Username of your choice, Mundane First Name, Mundane Last Name, SCA Name, Email Address, Password (of your choice).

Two) Kingdom Awards – Link https://award.atlantia.sca.org/

• Login with your information.
• See if the person already is in the OP – Enter their mundane first name, last name, or SCA name. You do not need the full information. For example entering only “Prudence” in the SCA name field will pull up three people, while “Curious” pulls up one. If the person is already in the OP, GREAT! – double check their OP entry and make sure they don’t already have the award you are writing them in for. Check the accuracy of the information that is pulled up – SCA name and group good?
• Person is not in the OP – Maybe they just moved to the kingdom or this is their first award. In that case, you will need:
  1. MUSTS – SCA Name (spelled properly), Modern Name, Branch Name (Barony of Sacred Stone or Canton of Aire Faucon),
  2. NICE TO HAVE – Gender of their PERSONA (so the scrolls have the proper pronouns), Honorific if already have an award
• Award Name (dropdown available)
• Award Recommendation Comments
• Write the Recommendations
• You can Save (which allows you to come back to it), Submit, or Remove one you already submitted (such as finding out the Royals gave them the award yesterday, so it wasn’t in the system yet).

Three) Cool things about the Kingdom System

• Your Recommendations – This area shows all saved and/or submitted recommendations you have created. It can remind up to update the recommendations and resubmit them at a later date and also show you that the crown heard your request and gave the person the award (which is way cool).
• Friend and Family – Allows gentles to let the Crown know where people will be. For example, someone writes Paulie Woodcutter in for his AOA, but doesn’t know what events he will be at, but they talk to Lady Tatiana – who won’t write her husband in, but can go into the system and let the Crown know where the Woodcutter clan will be gathering.

Four) Baronial Awards through the Kingdom Website – Works very similar to the Kingdom awards

Five) Baronial Awards through the Baronial Website – Link http://sacredstone.atlantia.sca.org/orders-awards/

• The baronial award form creates an email and does not have a special login.
• Your information: SCA Name, Modern Name, and Email.
• Person you are writing in: SCA Name, Modern Name, SCA Branch, Award Name (dropdown available), Award Recommendation Comments.

Six) Things to Include in Comments or Know about when writing:

• Crowns change out every Six Months – Update your Recommendation accordingly, especially for polling orders.
• Pollings take time – Baronial polling take several months, Crown polling of Orders can take years. Follow up regularly. Peerages are not made lightly.
• Specific and General – Write general information related to the award, stuff like how long they have been doing the things they have been doing. Write specific information related to the award, stuff like at Blank Event in March 2019 the gentle won Competition Name and worked in the Kitchen. If submitting in another reign, then update with “what have they done lately”.
• Where to give the award – Include likely events for them to attend with at least a month warning so the scribes have time to work the scrolls. Three months are ideal for non-polling orders.
• If submitting a child for an award – include their age, birthdate if possible, and parental contact information