Wave 12 Exemplar Recognitions were announced and posted on March 29, 2018. Such announcements can definitely bring a “feel good moment” for the recipient of the nomination. For this write-up, we reached out to the author of the nomination and asked them to provide more details or backstory to the nomination, and since we’re talking about “exemplary actions”, what can other judges learn from such.

Now, let’s meet some of the “rockstar judges” of our region who received a recognition from fellow judges.

Nomination for Kwok Siang: Hello Kwok Siang, I want to recognize you for the efforts you have made to both mentoring new players and the tremendous amount of effort and time you have placed into organizing the logistics and accommodations for the SG Judge Leadership Conference. Even though you become L2, you have never stopped helping new players in the store feel welcomed and familiar with the game. In terms of organization, I was very impressed that you made sure that the facilities were well-equipped for presentation and helped overseas Judges made the most of their trip in ensuring their needs are well-attended to. Your actions have benefited the image of our helpfulness of judges in the Program and I encourage you to continue your amazing contributions to the SEA community. Well done!

Wei Jia added:

Kwok Siang has been a key supporting pillar of our Singapore Judge community. He puts in dedication into making sure that events go according to plan, our Judge meals arrive on time and piping hot ready to be served, that transportation is arranged for and ready Judges to the next meeting location, making sure that the projector and other IT equipments are in good working order for the conference and most importantly, making a foreigner feel welcomed and very much at home in the Program. In fact, I feel that to act as a personal host to your overseas Judge friends is an honourable task to undertake: to be able to show your overseas friends what your country is really about from the eyes of a local.

To pull something like this off in an almost-consistent manner is no small feat: It requires a phenomenal amount of time and energy away from his personal commitments to make sure that these events go as smoothly as possible. Unfortunately it is a fact that such efforts mostly go unnoticed at the end of the day, but it plays an essential part to making any event a success. Kwok Siang has demonstrated that amazing example of passion and dedication towards benefiting others in the Program.

Even without going to such lengths, to help others in the Judge Program is one of the key cultures that we always impart to our juniors. It could be something as simple as helping a lone Judge to distribute result slips, or to teach new Judge candidates about the proper steps to casting a spell. The possibilities are endless regardless of your status in the Program, and that’s what makes our Program great. After all, those who are happiest are those who do the most for others!

Nomination for Wendra: “Wendra, your idea to make our regular judge meeting more interactive is a fun idea. It makes us exchange ideas on the cards from the new set and learn about their possible interactions. Sweet innovation! PS: for the others reading this: The activity is simple, each participant opens a booster pack, and find interactions among the cards in that pack. Then we take turns explaining our finding. It doesn’t have to be new or complex interactions. Even a simple interaction with layers or about combat or maybe priorities, is good to brush up everyone on the basics.”

Maykel told us that:

We used to have a rather ‘boring’ meeting. A moderator would lead the meeting and share the updates, followed by Q&A session.
Wendra’s idea was to make it different, We used to have free draft for participants, some of us don’t like to draft
and prefer to crack the packs right away.
So Wendra suggested that each of us crack a pack and try to find rules interaction among the cards,
Well for others to replicate this exact thing might be redundant but the lesson to take from Wendra’s nomination would be “INNOVATE!” Find things or ways to improve anything you could find ,be it deck check tech, judge meeting or anything.

Nomination for Mark Ian:”You’re doing a great job promoting Magic as a hobby in your area. Setting up “Learn to play” booths in various events, and being a leader for the judge community there in your area. You came to me to ask for the slide I used for the RIX rules update, asked me for things that you didn’t understand, and eventually using it to cascade the update to judges in your area. Thank you and keep up the good work.”

During our chat Ian mentioned:

The gist is he went above and beyond to promote and enrich Magic in his area. Plus, the fact that he is very consistent with his deeds.

Nomination for Nicky: “Nicky, I was impressed by your behavior during the 2018 Singapore Conference. When a speaker had to substitute another scheduled présenter that couldn’t make it, and didn’t have time to prepare a presentation to go along with his talk, you were not only actively listening, but preparing the slides for him on your phone as he talked. That’s a great lesson of applied Teamwork and inventiveness. Thanks!”

To which George added:

Here’s the situation.

One présenter had to cancel last-minute. Khanh Lethien offered to present a second seminar, but he didn’t have slides for it and it was mostly improvised.
While Khanh was talking, Nicky had Google slides open on his phone, and adding titles and notes on every slide.
This way, he said, next time Khanh will already have the slides ready.
Even without going to such lengths, other judges can still pay attention and take notes of seminars. They help the memory, and they also can share the notes with their local community.

Nomination for: Boonyakiat: “Nhong, it was great to hear that you took part and contributed to the JudgeApps exam content conversion project. This was a tool that was necessary for the future of the Judge Program, and you helped make it a reality by proofreading questions, making sure CR and JAR references were valid and that the mechanics being tested were valid for L1 candidates. You stepped up when help was needed and are an example for others to follow. Thank you!”

During out chat Wearn said:

The takeaway from it is judges of all levels can contribute to the Judge Program, and people shouldn’t think ‘oh, I’m only level 1’