Congratulations on passing your Level 1 test and interview.
As a new member of the Benelux Judge community, there is probably still a lot to discover.
This document is here to help you on your way.
First things first, you may want to look into the general L1 welcome message.
Beyond this basic information, the Benelux offers a variety of information platforms:
JudgeApps
The forums are a very important means of communication in our region. All official announcements are made here. This platform will also have information on all the judge related events (such as Conferences, Dinners, etc.) as well as the means to apply for them. For more information, see below under “Events”.
Many organisers publish their events in search for judges on this platform as well. You can apply for those here.
Small tip: make sure to upload a profile picture as soon as possible. Applying for events is always better when the event organiser can recognise your face.
Toby Hazes wrote this nice blog post to help you optimize your JudgeApps notification settings. Go give it a read right now!
Facebook Group
Our Benelux Magic Judges Facebook group is fairly active. A lot of interesting judge-related articles are shared here. Occasionally there are some rules or policy questions and reminders for some of the regional events.
If you ever run into trouble at an event, this is probably the channel where you can get immediate help, as most people with notifications enabled reply very quickly.
BeNeLux Regional Blog
Since you are reading this, you already found it. This blog is used to publish articles, reports, interviews, and holds some information pages like this one. Contributions to the BeNeLux Blog project are always welcome.
Events
I mentioned above that we have some regional events you might be interested in, so allow me to give you an overview:
Conferences
Conferences are a great way to get to know other judges, share knowledge and generally have a good time with a bunch of fine people. The BeNeLux has 3 yearly conferences. There is a smaller 1-Day Conference somewhere around November and a larger Weekend Conference around June. Both are limited in attendance numbers, so make sure to apply as soon as possible. The other conference is a Leadership Conference, which is invite only. These are some of the greatest opportunities to gain experience you can have as a Judge and we’re all looking forward to meeting you there.
Judge Dinners
Every Wednesday before the prerelease there are two mini-conferences taking place, one in Belgium and one in the Netherlands. We get together to enjoy some food, have some seminars or workshops. Afterwards, some people like to play a game were others engage in social activities. These informal gatherings tend to take place in restaurants or other suitable venues and try to accommodate Judge candidates as well as certified Judges. Keep an eye out on JudgeApps when the next prerelease draws near, because that’s when the applications are open.
Now that you are fully informed about the information channels and the events in our region, let’s take a look at some of the people you might want to get to know:
Area Captains
Our region is split up in areas and each area has a Captain. Information about the Area Captains and their responsibilities can be found right here on the BeNeLux Blog Area Captain pages.
Regional Coordinator
If you ever have a judge related issue and don’t know where to go, your Regional Coordinator should be your point of contact. This position is currently held by Niels Viaene. He is responsible for all of the Magic Judges and activities in our region. On top of all these responsibilities, he is the main organiser of the Judge Conferences. He often visits one of the Judge dinners as well if you just want to have a chat.
Project Leaders for Regional Projects
If you are interested in one of our regional projects, these are the current project leaders:
- Area Captain Project: Niels Viaene
- BeNeLux Blog: Jonas Drieghe
- Facebook Group: Emilien Wild
- Mentorship (L1 → L2): Dustin de Leeuw
Judge Playmat
Our region has its very own playmat, available through our webshop.
Translations
This page is also available in French