So You Have Won an Award, Now What?
by Ermenrich von Duisburg  

 

First let me say, congratulations. You have obviously done something to better your kingdom and thus the Society as a whole, and you deserve your award. But one of the questions that seems to come up (or not come up, which is where a problem lies) is "Where do I go from here?" There are several different things that you can do with that new title you just received, and I am going to hopefully show some to you.

The first is, recommend someone who you feel is deserving of an award. You obviously realize how great it feels to be recognized, so why not share that feeling? One thing that helps is when the person doing the recommendation has also earned his/her award. The Crown often believes that you know what it takes to earn that level of an award and can see others who also deserve to be recognized. There are several different articles out there on how to properly write an award recommendation, so I will leave that to them.

Another thing is to keep on with what you are doing. A baseball player does not retire after winning the pennant and an actress does quit after she wins an Oscar. So why then should you stop after getting your AoA? You have been recognized for beginning a great job in whatever you do. Even someone with their peerage can still learn something in their subject. If its an award for service, continue with your great contributions of service. Let people know that you are always there to assist when needed or help organize other volunteers at events (such as water bearers and camp criers). A little bit of help here and there goes a long way. If your award is in the arts or sciences, then take your work to the next level. Try more complicated ideas or begin to specify and perfect a certain area (such as a time, place, or style) of the art or science that interests you. Go from pottery to Byzantine pottery or armor to that which worn in 14th Century Germany. If your award was given for your weapon prowess, then by all means continue honing your skills. Learn how to effectively wield other weapons and make sure to enter tournaments whenever possible. Nothing is a better educator then experience. Always remember that no matter what you do there is still much to learn and people more than willing to teach you, which brings us to our next subject.

TEACH! You obviously found your subject interesting, so by all means share the wealth of knowledge. People always want to learn what someone else is willing to teach. Your kingdom university is no doubt looking for teachers for some upcoming event, and chances are they won't turn you down. Those of you who have just won an award for service may think that there is nothing you can teach, but this is definitely not true. One aspect of a good event are roundtable discussions. If you won your award for serving as an officer, perhaps lead a discussion on improvements that can be made to the position or teach a class for people interested in one day holding that office. Holding a roundtable discussion is not difficult, it just takes someone to organize and run it. Usually once the ball gets rolling, it pretty much runs itself. And you fighters are not exempt either. What better way to show you appreciate your award then by training others so you can beat them (hopefully not to much) and teach them at the same time. Even already trained fighters will show up to a class that teaches new techniques. At the bottom of this article are links to various kingdom universities, so you have no excuse not to teach.

So go out there to prove and reprove that you were deserving of the award you received. Use what you have been given and you will see that you, and those that you have helped, will go far in the Society.

SCA Universities, Teaching Academies, etc. 

Kingdom of An Tir   -  http://www.ithra.antir.sca.org/index.php 
Kingdom of Artemisia   -  http://www.aros.net/%7Evarki/col-un.htm 
Kingdom of Atlantia   -  http://university.atlantia.sca.org 
Kingdom of Caid   -  http://www.sca-caid.org/collegium/index.html 
Kingdom of Calontir   -  http://calontir-rush.org 
Kingdom of Drachenwald   -  http://www.drachenwald.sca.org/files/university/index.html 
The East Kingdom   -  http://eku.eastkingdom.org/
The Middle Kingdom   -  http://www.midrealm.org/rum 
Kingdom of Meridies   -  http://www.meridies.org/rum.htm 
 - 


References:

A compilation of conversations with Baron Modar Neznanich and HL Martinus Dracos Byzantios in the time I have spent in the S.C.A.



Article © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Ermenrich von Duisburg  
Webpage © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007  Ron Knight (Baron Modar Neznanich, Volk Herald)

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