Hello and happy New Year!

This is the first of an ongoing series of periodic updates from the Program Coordinators. These are written collaboratively by all the Program Coordinators.

Mail the PCs

The goal of the Program Coordinators is to create an environment for the Judge Program to grow, develop, and serve the Magic community. The best tools we have to achieve that goal are judge projects. We have to identify what is needed, and how we can empower the right people to meet those needs. We also provide advice to those people when asked.

7,000 judges can see more than five Program Coordinators. Every judge provides a unique perspective on the needs of the Judge Program. We invite your input on the ways in which the Judge Program can improve to meet the needs of judges all over the world.

You can send us your input at mail-the-pcs@googlegroups.com

All comments are welcome, we ask you to please keep them constructive and, where possible, to propose solutions to the problems you identify. We look forward to hearing your thoughts, ideas, and opinions. If you aren’t sure if a topic is appropriate for the Program Coordinators, check with your Regional Coordinator first, they should be able to help you determining the right path to follow. Messages to the Program Coordinators are preferred in English, and responses to messages in other languages may be delayed. If you can’t write in English, seek help from your Regional Coordinator.

Thank you very much for your help!

Sphere Recognition

Just like the Regional Coordinators, the Program Coordinators have an additional foil allocation that we’ll be using to recognize people who go above and beyond in helping out with Judge Program projects.

We’re implementing this on a per-sphere basis, with the recognitions nominated by Sphere leaders. While the recognitions will go out along with Exemplar, they’ll be their own thing. There are a few reasons for this:

• We want to be able to track the data on these separately.
• It lets us adjust allocations without affecting the Exemplar team’s process.
• It means the recognitions can be done on the Sphere level rather than as a personal recognition. This ensures continuity when a Sphere leader changes.

The PCs will be responsible for reviewing these recognitions. A test mailing went out with the last Exemplar wave, and we expect to have it fully up and running for the next one. We appreciate all the hard work judges do for the program itself and are glad to have the opportunity to highlight these efforts.

Judge Program Organization

We also would like to introduce two tools created to provide more clarity on the current structure of the Judge Program:

• The official pages for each Sphere (Under construction – thanks to David de la Iglesia, the Official Resources site project manager)

In each of those pages you will find the description of each Sphere, what projects it contains, who participates in them, etc.

• The updated Organization Chart for the Judge Program (Thanks to the leader of the project Zohar Finkel and the team Ronald Thompson and Nate Hurley)

This is a graphical representation of the international projects currently going on. We’re aware that this chart may not be 100% accurate and we’re looking for your help to release an updated version by the end of January.

If you have an international project not displayed on this chart; if a project on the chart is inactive or discontinued; or if a project is listed under the wrong Sphere, please contact Zohar Finkel.