Hello Magic Judges,

The Magic Judge program has a few core beliefs.  These foundations are what keep us together strong, united and in many ways unique in the gaming industry. One such tenet is the constant desire to improve; whether it be ourselves, the events we work, the general Magic Community, or our fellow Judges.

One demonstrable way to show our interest in the improvement in another judge is through a review.  Reviews play a key role in that development. While a simple review can point out a strength and/or an area of improvement, a well-constructed in depth review can be life changing.

When someone writes a review of you, regardless of what else the words say, the author is saying “I care enough about your performance to spend the time collecting my observations and writing them down”.  In today’s culture, that is becoming increasingly rare, and not something we want to lose. In conversations with several senior judges we decided it’s a behavior we want the judge program to continue, reinforce and recognize. To help recognize judges who invested the time to write reviews in 2018, we will be sending judges a ‘Thank You’ for providing support and employing your time to help others and promoting improvement.

In 2018, if you wrote a number of reviews equal or greater than twice your level (as of the middle of the year), and ended the year as a certified Judge, we will be sending you an email in order to collect your address. We also want to recognize those who went above and beyond in this area so there’s something extra in there for those who surpassed an even higher threshold. While this activity is separate from Exemplar, address collection and mailings will be coordinated with Exemplar Wave 17 in order to reduce the logistical burden of shipping.

Thank you all for investing time and energy into the betterment of your fellow Judges.

Additional Thanks to the following judges for data, feedback, and good old-fashioned spreadsheet gymnastics:
Dan Collins,
Kevin Desprez,
Damián Hiller,
Sebastian Pękala