Here are the May 2019 judge anniversaries for which we have historical data!
20 years
Johanna Virtanen15 years
Carlos RobledoJoe Lau
Traci Seaton
Yan Zhi Wang
Edward Zinger
Andre Tepedino
10 years
Aaron CandibNeil Pendon
Dave Unni
Steve Carpenter
Joshua Marin
Michael Fortino
Christopher Greene
Brian Coval
Adrian St. John
Jason Wong
Michael Chamberlain
5 years
Mattia ScorranoErika Moriya
Toni Grundström
Jonah Portman
Juan Carlos Vazquez Rojas
Taro Okada
Szymon Wiaderny
Maico Paschold
Tomas Daniel
Philipp Schnell
donato vacca
Norbert Sárkány
Heidi Dixon
Michael Douglas
Michael Bryant
Caleb Bethune
Max Sorensen
tianhang zhao
Matteo Strazzera
Amanda Coots
Hitoshi Tomomura
Charles Ferguson
Ben Reit
Domantas Zavadzkis
Jacob Sudds
Guilherme Lemos
Mark Litvak
Sandro Rajalin
Jean Simard
Robert Cutler
Pablo Gamboa
Ryan Sextro
Juan Agustín Cuch
Gonzalo Velasquez
Sander Baars
Frank Rodriguez
Joe Weber
Alex Lloyd
Matt Britten
Przemek Bok
Tyler Priemer
Arman Gabbasov
Jeremy Fain
Keita Okamoto
Vladislav Prokhorov
Braulio Gutiérrez
Hiroshi Makita
Jimmie Johnson
Lukas Kuhn
René Oberweger
James Beltz
Trever Allcock
Tyler Hittle
Congratulations, and thank you for all your hard work!
This month we are featuring 4 judges: Johanna Virtanen, Michael Chamberlain, René Oberweger, and Braulio Gutiérrez! To start off with, I wanted to say a few quick things about Johanna for her 20 year anniversary:Johanna is the original founder of the Judge Anniversaries project and a few years ago I joined the project to help her make the monthly posts. During all of that time, I’ve gotten some direct insight into who she is as a judge and leader within the program. Throughout all of that time, my respect for her continuously grows. She has had to deal with some seriously difficult situations (being a PC and the lead of committees tends to do that) and she consistently remains professional and respectful. She is, in my opinion, an ideal judge that many others look up to. She has connected with countless judges over the years and has impacted the program in a profound way. I hope that she wants to stay around for many more years!
Johanna is also seriously the foodie and I really enjoy getting to chat with her about all of the various fancy foods we’ve eaten. 😀 Thanks for everything Johanna!! <3
Next up, we have Michael Chamberlain! He is celebrating his 10 year anniversary and JackThey say you need 10,000 hours to master something. Over the course of his ten-year career as a judge, I'm pretty sure Michael "Mav" Chamberlain has spent that much time guiding and shaping his community and local judges, and he's definitely mastered it. I'm constantly bowled over by how much time he's devoted to me personally (and the "office" of RC), and I know this is true of dozens of others in our community.
Throughout my time as Level 3, and later as RC, Michael has moved from strength to strength as a judge and as a human. He set his mind to the Level 3 process (it's still unclear who panelled whom), he's broadened his horizons into important program projects, and the significance of the UKISA community and its judges (and I'm sure, many further afield) is always clearly at the forefront of his thoughts.
Most recently, Michael was on staff for MC II in London — a home Mythic Championship. Throughout the application and acceptance process, Michael was very open about proving that he deserved that slot. Michael — I think it's real easy to say that you crushed it. Fantastic work.
It remains only to say how grateful the UKISA community is for Michael's presence and contributions over the last ten years. Michael's effortless balancing of his professional expertise and judge program expertise is awe-inspiring. Thank you, friend.
Next up is René Oberweger. His RC, StefanRené is not only an excellent event judge, but also a cornerstone of the German-speaking judge community. Apart from being Area Captain for Austria, he is one of the most prolific mentors in the L2 mentoring project, helping shape the curriculum and leading group after group of L2 candidates to success. I always love working with René, because I can be sure I will get great feedback that makes me evaluate myself and improve myself. At the same, René works tirelessly to make the judge and player communities more inclusive, and events a more welcoming environment for everyone. For example, his workshops and seminars on the topic are a great introduction to the topic, and he is a collaborator in projects focused on diversity and inclusiveness. And all that without putting himself in the spotlight, preferring to be the wise and supportive voice in the background. René, thanks for being a paragon of the judge community and for being a mentor and friend and travel buddy to so many of us!
Finally, we have Braulio Gutiérrez. Fellow Central American judge Jeffry SolanoI had the pleasure to meet Braulio when he was taking his first steps as L1, and I never imagined he'd get to be the judge he's today. I remember him as a shy and absentminded person, and he's nowadays a very knowledgeable judge that after having a great desire to attend a Grand Prix, he is a fixture in the circuit. He went from being a student to being a teacher in many areas. One of the best memories I have is when we visited him in Managua, and Braulio managed to pass his L2 Practice exam, as that's when one of the best judges from our region started to come forward. He's one of our leaders, both inside and outside of tournaments, and above all, a good friend that is always willing to listen and give you advice.
I also remember those few times I interacted with Braulio at first. He was a L1 from the lost land of Nicaragua, where organized play almost didn't exist, but he was eager to help change that and create a real community in his country. The first ever Nicaraguan L1, Milton Gómez, once told me that we should focus on Braulio, as he was the real leader of Nicaragua, and that ended up being completely true. He helped would-be store owners and TOs start with their events, assisted with the first PPTQ in the country, bridged the gap between his community and the rest of Central America, and eventually took over the reins of conferences in our region. It's true that Braulio can get distracted often (like when he went to JFK when his flight after an event in New Jersey was from La Guardia), but he takes those incidents with a dose of humor and shares them with us, and it's hard not to love Braulio, being as friendly (and distracted) as he is. =)
Happy anniversary to all of you! We look forward to many more years of judging from you all.