It’s that time again, where a new wave of Exemplar recognitions has just been published. These times are some of my favorite times in the judge program, because browsing through and reading stories about awesome things have happened around our peers is really one of the best ways to motivate ourselves. I’ll keep this post fairly simple, as I did the last time I posted one of these (and I recently realized I missed posting for Wave #7, so I apologize!). Once you’ve read these, go ahead and dig through all of them from this wave.
Here are the nominations that I submitted for Wave #8.
Jess Dunks: Jess, during this past wave you really spent a lot of time giving me insight into testing people for L2. As I have just received the tester cert, that discussion is greatly appreciated. On top of that, you brought me in to the interview process for two L2 candidates, and the discussions were had for both were very valuable to me. It’s one thing to get the certification, but another to be offered some real-world examples to follow in how to interview and evaluate candidates.
Matt Wells: Matt, during this wave you did a few things that I consider exemplary. First, you presented a well-researched and well-delivered seminar at our GA miniconference. Second, you helped promote and organize charitable donations for a local store’s charity tournament. Third, you assisted in a local project to reach out to stores not running pPTQs to ensure they knew they can, and to inquire and help get them started if they wanted to. On top of all of that, you are still actively presenting and mentoring questions in our L0 study group. Any one of these things would be exemplary for an L1, so all of them together add up to an easy nomination. Keep up the great work!
Benjamin Bloodworth: Ben, your article for The Elvish Farmer resonated widely within the judge community. Thank you for both providing excellent content for the blog, as well as for bringing this topic to the attention of a huge percentage of the program. By sharing expectations of a TO in such a clear and straightforward manner, you hopefully have helped guide hundreds of judges to approach this hobby in a more professional and respectful manner.
Samantha Harr: Samantha, while working at the SCG Invitational in Atlanta, you were relentlessly upbeat. This, in and of itself, isn’t exemplary, but is still a significant behavior worth pointing out. Keeping your team and the rest of the judges in a good mood through your own infectious happiness is very impactful and can result in happier players. What I wanted to specifically call out, however, was the fact that you showed up early on a day you were not on staff (Sunday), and were quite visible in doing food/drink runs for the judge staff. This may seem very minor, as you had the time and were there anyway, but those morning cups of coffee for someone restricted to the timeline of a break, especially when food can be some distance away, is tremendous.
Bryan Prillaman: Bryan you display a nearly unending amount of patience and calm in the face of harsh criticism. I’m particularly referencing the extreme amount of time and energy you spend clarifying the goals and utility of the Exemplar program itself. While fostering open conversation about means to change/improve a system is good practice, those discussions have often broken down into circular logic and twisted metrics. I applaud your willingness to continue slogging through exhausting conversations with the goal of creating open dialogue and honest solutions, rather than slipping into further argument or catatonia.
The Elvish Farmer 