October 2011 Anniversaries

Here are the judge anniversaries for October. The following judges have been with the program for 5 or 10 years:

10 years:

Christine Colosimo, Tobyhanna,  Pennsylvania, United States
Jonathon Klimek,  Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Patrik Linell,  Malmö, Sweden
David Stroud,  Portland, Oregon, United States
Gionata Dal Farra,  Lessolo, Torino, Italy
Christopher Richter, Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Andrey Alfimenko, Almaty, Kazakhstan

5 years:

Takanori Nakamura, Okazaki-shi, Aichi-ken, Japan
Kazuyuki Ishikawa, Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken, Japan
Stephen Ayers, Concord, New Hampshire, United States
Georgi Benev, Sofia, Bulgaria
Brenden Hill, Standish, Maine, United States
Hyun Woo Jeong, Seoul, Korea (South)
Inhwan Kim, Seoul, Korea (South)
Hirofumi Onta, Tsuruoka-shi, Yamagata-ken,  Japan
Thales Bittencourt, Petropolis, Brazil

Congratulations and thank you for all your hard work!

This month’s featured judge is Georgi Benev from Bulgaria. Regional Coordinator Philipp Daferner writes:

“Georgi Benev, from Bulgaria, has been a judge for 5 years now. Though he’s been a judge for so long, he decided to get more involved in Magic Judging in 2010, when the Bulgarian nationals were moved to open nationals and Georgi realized that he was not as good in Magic as he thought . He passed his Level 2 exam in March at GP Barcelona, and since then Georgi grew a lot into his new role. His wish to participate more on an international level and the fact that he is driven by his wish to improve Magic in his country resulted in an extremely interested and active Level 2 judge. Not only is he now known by many judges at GPs and found new friends internationally, but Georgi is also doing an outstanding job where he lives. He didn’t only head judge his own country’s Nationals, but he was ready to travel to the neighboring country (Macedonia) when he learned that they were missing a Head Judge only a few days before the event actually took place. At the moment Georgi is the highest level Judge in his country, and the highest Level judge within 300 km (about 200 miles). It’s always fun to work with Georgi, for me as a Regional Coordinator it’s really good to know that there’s such a reliable and interested judge in the Bulgarian Area, for the players it’s great to have such a motivated guy taking care of everything, and for all the other judges it’s good to see how much one can accomplish even when living somehow isolated. Again, congratulations for your fifth anniversary Georgi, and go on with your great work!”

We also have a Level 3 anniversary this month. Aaron Hamer passed his exam five years ago at Pro Tour Kobe in October 2006. Level 3 judge John Carter writes:

“Aaron Hamer is a perfectionist, demanding, and sometimes pig-headed.  And given that we have these things in common, I can’t help but like him.  Aaron started his judge career literally on the edge of the United States.  It’s safe to say that he didn’t have any mentors nearby because Hawaii doesn’t have a lot of neighbors, but Aaron got connected to other judges, and used those connections and his own hard work to overcome that isolation.

Now Aaron dedicates his time to making sure judges in his corner of the United States are connected, educated, and have opportunities.  His devotion to the judge program is overshadowed by one thing only: his devotion to the judges that make up the program.  Congratulations to Aaron on five years as a Level 3!”

Finally:

– Shawn Doherty will be joining the anniversary announcement “team” and taking care of the L3 anniversaries, starting next month.

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